Thursday, January 10, 2008

Today's forecast: High 2 degrees, sunny with cloudy periods

Winter is joyless without snow. The warm weather has melted most of it, but my magnolia tree remains interred under a lingering pile in the front yard. It's not so much a tree as a stick, like something Charlie Brown would bring home. It lives in a rough neighbourhood—close to the neighbour's driveway, and she's an avid shoveller. The weeping maple I planted there died, its beauty too fragile to withstand the heavy snows. The weeping cypress survives though, an elegy for Bella.

This sorrowful landscape needs some sun.

5 comments:

Indigo Bunting said...

OK. Who's Bella?

Helen said...

In addition to being dessert lovers, the Cake Mix Research Group were also cat lovers. I love animals too, but moved around too much during my adult life to ever get a pet. But they convinced me when I bought my house to get a cat, so I got two for good measure: Bella and Festus. Bella had been an indoor cat, but she wanted to go outside so badly that I let her go. Three months after I got her she was hit by a car.

Now I have Festus, Charlotte and Bo. And sometimes when I come home from work there's a stray cat I call Spike lounging in front of the fireplace (I have a cat door).

Indigo Bunting said...

I had a feeling. Here's to Bella! (And to Spike for being so smart. But why did the alternate name Deloney suddenly come to mind?)

Helen said...

Well, I actually thought Deloney would fit well into the landscape. He could shed tears for the old joy of cooking while the cypress weeps for Bella.

Helen said...

Meanwhile I will be sobbing hysterically in the background. The door to my newly renovated bathroom wasn't closing properly, so someone took a look at it yesterday. They phoned today and started the conversation with: "You're not going to want to hear this but...".