Watching and waiting

We've been a bit topsy turvy. Which is a cute way of saying we are emotionally insane. It's interesting to me how one minute your singing "O What a beautiful Morning...." and the next plotting ways of egging your neighbors house.  Like that would help. I don't want to be emo here but we did sort of have the wind taken out of our sails.

Last week I was trying to come to terms with our neighbors decimating their hill. I was trying to make light of it, joking about whup-ass and what not, realizing there was nothing I could really do about it cept plant the heck out of my fence, which, if you've seen my yard, is not really a problem.  Saturday everything changed.  I came home from SoulCollage Lunch Bunch to complete devastation. Seriously. They went from clearing the small trees/bushes/flowers off their hill to removing the huge, 150 year old Tulip Poplars off the top of the hill.  And the Maples.  And the Oaks. Wanton, willy nilly, their mammoth carcasses strewn across the land.

I couldn't catch my breath at first. Like, seriously. Kept wiping my eyes to make sure I was actually seeing what I was seeing. Ran up my hill.  Ran to the fence.  Ran out front... I had no idea what to do. I couldn't believe it.  I began to cry, "WHYYYYY????"  Why would anyone DO THAT??? Did you not see Avatar? WHO DOES THAT? I won't elaborate on all that I said... fortunately Barry came home and let me cry it out before I completely lost all my yoga training and busted down their door.

I was devastated. Now, look, I understand we are just crazy tree huggers. Not everyone feels this way about trees... that they are sacred... they are monuments to perseverance and beautiful reminders of balance and rooting. I get that maybe we are a bit over the top about trees, I have been known to go nuts on the electricity gods when they come to 'trim'. But this was not like anything I have seen here in Bowie before. Not even with the swath of destruction by BGE recently that everyone (except apparently my neighbors) was so upset about. That was nothing compared to the raping of the landscape that my neighbors did.

There is nothing green left in their yard except for the very tippy tops of the remaining trees. Not only did they cut down huge trees but they cut all the branches up as far as they could on the remaining ones.  The afternoon sun is hot and horrible hitting my poor plants that are used to shade. I feel so bad for the people on the other side who's homes are now in complete blazing sun as they watch their hostas, impatiens and coral bells shrivel up and die. WHO DOES THAT?? We have all lived here for 20-30, even 40 years. These people came 3 years ago. WHY?  Why would they move to a neighborhood surrounded by huge trees, lush landscaping and of course, our house which is an over the top, certified natural wildlife refuge... why come here?

The hardest part was telling my daughter.  She is currently on a trip to all the major National Parks out west.  She's an Environmental Science Major specifically to learn how to protect the environment. She's been studying all the beauty of the Grand Canyon, Sequoia, Redwoods, Yellowstone... you name it, she's been there.  And she's coming back to this craziness. I feel like we are living next door to BP.  In fact, I keep thinking this is a huge statement that maybe the world isn't as enlightened as I think... I think we are all the same, we are all one... I'm sad to think there is this much disrespect for God's creation, I always thought that was just ignorance. In this age of technology, no one can claim ignorance anymore.  Again.. did you not see Avatar?

I realize in the grand scheme of things this is just a bubble.  I realize there are people out there with real problems, far greater than their neighbors cutting down trees. I know we will recover, we will make the best of it, we will plant more :) It's just right now, while it's still raw, that we are asking how we could possibly live next door to folks with such blatant disregard for nature.  We've been looking at real estate elsewhere.  I've also been joking (sort of) with all my woo woo friends about having a ceremony on the Solstice (Sunday) to clear the negative energy, send Reiki Healing to the trees and pray to Mother Earth for forgiveness.   Rhia will be here!  Join us :)