Unkindest Cut

Unkindest Cut


Walks in the suburbs this weekend revealed the full damage from our recent snowstorm. Trees without tops, our own witch hazel decapitated. Large limbs littering yards and driveways. And in the woods, downed trees block paths.

The pears and fir trees took it hardest. They are bent and broken. But there is scarcely a yard that’s untouched. The light brown of sheared wood stands in stark contrast to the silvery gray of weathered trunks.

This is nature’s way of pruning dead wood. But unlike the gardener who trims kindly and judiciously, wicked weather takes what it wants. Its methods are ruthless not artful. The unkindest cut.

3 thoughts on “Unkindest Cut

  1. We have limbs down all over the place still. Folks are just now able to get some help by way of professional pruners and chippers to get rid of what's left. Sad! But as you say, nature's way. Now to figure out how to get that limb off of my garage roof. . .

  2. I have mourned a tree. Several, as a matter of fact. And particularly one that fell on a beautiful summer morning, seemingly out of the blue. It was a red oak split down the middle, a victim of its own torque. I miss that tree every time I see the empty space in the sky where it used to be.

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