our neighbors cut down over 30 trees last week, all tall old oaks. i cried. it was hard to watch and the thud was felt at my home every time they dropped huge pieces of trunk to the ground. i went around and hugged all my large old trees, telling them  not to worry and that i felt the pain too. we are not close to our neighbors, but we are not on bad terms. we just live our own lives minding our own business. a wave here, a hello there. sometimes a bag of clothes for the boys on the doorstep when they are cleaning out closets. in the midst of the tree cutting our neighbor stopped by. she reassured us that things would grow back and that it would fill in, not to worry. she was worried that the trees were to close to the house and the power lines, understandable. then she look at me and said, you kids can have all the wood in the corner of the driveway. i was astonished. there was a lot of wood, that wood would last us through a winter (not this one, but maybe the next). all we had to do was get it. hubs and i worked all weekend cutting and hauling wood. as we were working  Sunday night (josh with the chainsaw, me loading the trailer), she yelled across the yard, you kids are doing awesome, i’ll make sure to save the rest of the wood. you keep working at it. so each night after josh gets home from work we go and cut and haul wood. thankful for the generosity of our neighbor, who not only offered us a lot of wood, but also the neigh boor on the other side and another friend of hers. people are amazing and generous and kind.

about half of the wood given to us by our neighbor.