Our Willow Tree ..

Hello my dear friends,

it is astonishing how you can get attached to 'things' in your life.

The first time I viewed our house in 2007 when it was for sale, I really liked the house but the one thing that made this house for me wasn't inside but outside in the backyard. It was a huge willow tree that was standing very tall and proud ... almost majestic and looking oh so beautiful too.

We bought the house and the gentle green giant became ours. We loved the tree so much we even gave it a name ... 'Salisbury' after the city we lived close to in the UK, which has a large willow tree in the city center standing right next to the river Avon and the swans lived under. We we walked there so many times whilst living there.

In 2009 during a thunderstorm our willow tree was stuck by lightning which left it scared in many places and especially a huge wound all the way down the trunk. After consulting an arborist right away we were told that only time will tell us if the tree would survive.

 

 

As you can see our gentle giant towers over our house.

 

 I was just recently told that our tree might be slowly dying. The wound is too large to heal fast enough and too much damage was caused inside the willow by the powerful lightning stroke. We were advised, that to help the tree stay with us hopefully a few years longer,  the best thing would be to cut if back quite harshly to take a lot of stress of the trunk because of it's size ~ our tree is about 65 feet across and 75 feet in height so we are looking at loosing  about 30 % or maybe more of the size of her. 

I am quite sad about this and I am dreading the day the tree people will come and start to work on her. I have asked to make sure I am home so I can keep an eye on everything and it is going to be hard to see her being cut back so much but I know it's the safest and best thing for the tree and for us too. By doing this I hope our tree will be able to survive many more years because I know it will break my heart the day she has to be cut down completely which hopefully won't be for quite some time.


 A short update on my friend Heike ...

... I was able to get in touch with her husband this afternoon and she has opened her eyes!
 The doctors think that her injuries might not be as bad as first thought!
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and please don't just stop yet.

I would especially send my deepest heartfelt thanks to Manu in Germany.
Manu is a sweet lady who e-mailed me after reading about my worries for my friend Heike and she offered to get in touch with the hospital to find out how my friend was and let me know.

You are in my heart forever Manu ~ thank you for being such an thoughtful person.


I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day,


Karen B.