i feel as though i should come up with a new category for this post, but it would likely be “NIMBY” and that just isn’t very nice. change happens, progress is unimpeded by common sense sentimentality. it pains me, though, that just this spring, this was the view from my bedroom balcony:

lovely. just lovely. a vision of dogwoods, azaleas, lilies of the valley, a thicket of gooseberries, rhododendrons, and filled with butterflies and birds. unfortunately it wasn’t our property, and its prior owner wanted more than we could afford for it. so it was sold.

months passed with no action on the lot. no one knew who had bought it, or what was planned for it. finally, about a year ago, the new owner introduced himself. he was going to build a house for his family on the lot. it was inevitable, i suppose, and someone building for himself was preferable to a developer. then, in late november, the dreaded event happened: the clearing of the land.

how sad, all that land exposed, all the trees gone. ah, well. again, inevitable. at least i had been reassured by the county that the large trees would be properly protected from the excavation and construction. unfortunately, whoever was in charge of positioning the house - the architect, most likely, and the owner, eager to build the biggest house possible on the parcel - didn’t take that into account. “tree protection” apparently meant “root destruction.”

so, currently, my bedroom balcony looks over a big, red hole. and a conversation with the arborist indicates that they’ve done what i feared — they’ve pretty much guaranteed the death of a 100-year-old tulip tree on my property. what will happen next… *sigh* i’m sure i’ll blog about it.