North Wind

The North wind will be a bit stronger this year. In 1948 they timbered the neighborhood. I’m not sure what they cut down and what they left at that time. I just know that near our cul-de-sac there was a rough cut milling operation. The neighborhood started about fifteen or so years later. Houses, roads, children riding bicycles. Three lots sat there. They are all behind our house. WE knew last year that empty lots were not going to be there much longer. They cut driveways into them. We look down on the lots from the peak of the hill.

Today they started cutting into he hillside for the first home. Huge trees that grew there are dropping. They survived a few hurricanes. Their last big one was Isabelle.

Children have wandered back in those woods for years. Three of my boys did. I won’t talk about some of the events that happened back there. I do suspect that my grandfather’s hammer with the leather handle is back there, somewhere.

I went into the woods last year and transplanted a swamp azalea and a Japanese maple I found. I transplanted a few other plants. They survive in our yard. They’ll feel the winds again this winter.

Change happens. It will look different this winter when the leaves have dropped. We’ll be looking down on a new home. At some point we’ll get new neighbors. They’ll never remember the trees where there home is. Of course, I don’t remember the trees where my home is. I do have one advantage though. My house isn’t built into the side of a steep hill. Walking that slope reminded me of mountains in North Carolina- except the view from the top isn’t as grand.