Hugging My Tree

This past Wednesday was an extremely windy day.  So windy, it made the dog nervous.  So windy, it blew all of the papers off of my desk; my desk does not sit near a window.  So windy, it cracked a branch on my favorite tree in our backyard.

I love that tree.  It is awkward and misshapen because it was neglected when it was young; much the same way many of us are.  Someone planted it and never paid it any more attention.  It needed pruning and more sun, but it had to march on without.  (That all happened before we lived here.)  So it looks kind of weird now.  But it's awkwardness is what I love about it.  It drapes itself over our deck and cradles us in shade on the hottest summer days.  It holds the other end of my laundry line, making it possible for me to hang laundry out while standing inside my laundry room doorway.  (The day my husband installed the pulley, I insisted he tie it around the tree, no holes would be burrowed into my tree.  She has repaid me by holding whatever I hang on that line, even on the windiest days.)

The branch that cracked was a large branch and the lowest lying one . . . the one that fancies itself an awning for our deck.  It was large enough that, had it broken completely, it would have smashed the side of the chicken coop . . . the one that has taken our family (my husband, mostly) all summer to build.  So my sweet tree held onto that branch until we could have it removed.

The tree service came today and removed that branch and gave her a little shaping while they were at it.  She looks much different; I'll get used to it.

But I can't help feeling sorry for my poor little tree.  It seems she's been through a lot this year, this cracked branch being the most recent.  A severe gnawing by a dastardly squirrel being the worst.  That darned squirrel gnawed off a section of bark bigger than a dinner plate.  All the bark is gone, down to the bare wood.  I see that spot each time I look out my kitchen window.  It looks so much like a wound.

Then I saw these pictures and got an idea:

This was the work of Carol Hummel, genius artist.  Doesn't it just make you smile?  It's all crocheted.

Now, I am no genius artist, but I am a copy cat.  And I don't know how to crochet, but I can knit.  So (you see what's coming here, don't you?), I think I am going to knit up a little cozy for my tree.  I think she could use a good hug and a little scarf for the winter.  Yep, that's what I'm gonna do.

I'm off to research a little to I don't do her more harm than good.  Then I'm going to have at it.  I have some lovely pink Peace Fleece, that just sounds right, doesn't it?