Good-bye Old Friend

Hello big sky.  They say when one door closes another opens and that is how we are looking at the major change that happened to our backyard landscape during the big snow storm.  One of my favorite features of our backyard has always been our weeping willow tree which was located in the center of the yard and provided a nice canopy over the yard in the summer.  Growing up I had two willow trees in my yard that I loved to play under.  When Matt and I looked at this house, I saw the tree and fell in love.  The tree was not much to look at when we moved in since the backyard had not been maintained and the willow was leaning quite a bit in an effort to get some sunshine.

{ Spring 2004 }

We cut down over twenty alders that were shading the willow and gave it back its rightful place in the yard.  We also cleared out the rest of the overgrown bushes and trees and had rock wall built to contain the hillside near the willow tree.  We've put a lot of blood, sweat and even some tears into our yard and all the while the willow was there with us.  As we had kids we added a swing to one of it's largest branches and the kids loved to grab at the leaves as they soared through the air.  

{ Summer 2011 }

When we had our big snow storm this year the willow had some snow on it but it didn't seem to be anything more than normal.  I took a picture out the kitchen window when the kids and I were eating breakfast so I could show Matt how much snow we had.  

{ 8:30 a.m., January 2012 }

We played outside in the backyard and under the willow, I decided to remove the swing from the tree so we could dry it off.  At lunch time I noticed the branches seemed closer to the ground than normal.  I walked the kids up stairs for naps and saw the willow had fallen when I went to close Ben's curtain.  The cold and the weight of the snow must have just been too much for it.  We lost two other willows in our neighborhood during the snow.

{ 1:00 p.m., January 2012 }

Now we have a big mess to clean up but we also got one thing that I've been wanting for for a while - big sky.  With such a large full tree in the backyard sometimes I felt like I never got to see the sky.  Now we have a perfectly good view of the sky, enough to keep me happy anyway.  So we'll remember our beautiful tree for the time we had and be glad that we didn't have to make the choice to cut it down someday.  We can hit our  baseballs a little higher, play soccer on a bigger field and we'll enjoy many a great bonfire with friends from this giant of a tree.  

{ January 2012 }