One of the things that I found truly oppressive to my spirit this spring was just how overgrown the perimeters of the yard had become. I knew they were overgrown, but I hadn't actually thought about it and how much psychic weight all those leaves and vines carried, until I had time to sit back and actually take a look.
Last week we had over a dozen large trees taken out, for the most part trees that we at the bottom of our cliff and which had finally grown up high enough to begin impinging on our view of the Hudson. This week I had the small brush person here cleaning up the woods along the perimeter of the driveway. When I first moved here I could see the rock ledge between my house and the street year round, and I could see the house as I rounded the first bend in my driveway. These views had been obscured by trees and shrubs for years, since G stopped spending many weekends cutting back trees and brush 5 or 6 years ago. No wonder I had started liking the winter view more than the summer view. Now that is about to change.
Here are some before pictures:
And here is the view coming down the hill now, from roughly right behind where the chipper is standing in the above photo:
And here is one end of the large rock outcropping between us and the street:
You can only see a large vague dark shape in the background. The rest of that outcropping is still hidden by brush and small trees. We had only scheduled 2 days of cutting and chipping and needed three, the last day will be the end of July, but already it is a great improvement. Rather than feeling like I am descending into the bowels of the jungle as I approach my driveway, I am filled with lightness and relief.
I will spend some of the weekend redistributing the piles of wood chips more evenly among the trees, and cleaning up some of the small things. But mostly I am still working on the finer points of the front yard, although it is much improved over last year.
