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Our Lovely Old Ash Tree
It is with great sadness on my part, but possibly great joy on my neighbours’, that our lovely old ash tree is being taken down.
She was here long before any houses were even thought.
She has watched countless cows and sheep munch away at the grasses below.
She has seen birds and squirrels playing in her branches.
Felt the strength of the autumn winds and the weight of winter snows.
She has enjoyed the spring energy and summer glows.
Our majestic ash has been ailing for a few years now and each spring has burst forth with new growth.
Too frequently have the little twigs fallen and branches broken off.
Too many leaves blowing away before the first frosts; and too many landing on our neighbours’ gardens.
Too often have we had the doctor out to trim a bit here and trim a bit there.
Not so much letting go, but giving over to the inevitable.
Fungus is now her bed fellow.
He has settled in her roots.
He has worked his way up into her heart; and broken it.
His fruit bursts out each September; beautiful and deadly.
This last year he has produced offspring of his own, which came out in glorious mounds of mushrooms. (Edible I believe, but I did not try).
He came from underground, after spending a lifetime with another ash and will no doubt have moved on already to some other unsuspecting young sapling.
And so the cycle goes...
An owl visits in the spring and autumn on its journey somewhere.
It sits and hoots in the small hours, possibly hoping to meet a mate.
I don’t know where it will perch in the future, but I am sure it will just simple move on to another tree nearby.
I will miss it more than it will miss me.
We have our memories; of the joys she has brought.
New leaves after the long winter months.
Plenty of mulch to feed the garden.
Several families of squirrels scampering around her branches.
The sound of the leaves rustling in the breeze and the rain cascading down the trunk.
A myriad of photographs will mark her existence.
A montage to show her full glory.
She is in all our garden party pictures.
She was present at weddings, special birthday parties and gatherings of family friends and neighbours.
She saw it all.
She will be missed, though the light we will gain will be a lasting reminder of her greatness.
The men will come to take her and I will not be there.
I cannot.
Good bye old friend you have been great comfort...
Dorothy Lauder 2013
