A High Wire Adventure

Yesterday afternoon, I got a call from the concierge downstairs in the lobby asking me to come down to take a look at some "plants".  Curious, I descended, and was greeted with the sight of two of the (fake) topiary trees that decorate the planters on the terrace of our new apartment.  They were sitting on a luggage cart, looking rather sorry for themselves. 

This is how they got there:  The window washers were on site yesterday, and had lowered their ropes down from the rooftop in preparation for the men to start the cleaning process.  It was quite windy, and unbeknownst to the rope handlers up above the 38th floor, the wind got up to mischief on our 9th floor terrace, and somehow managed to wrap and twist those ropes firmly around the trunks of two of our topiaries.  The next thing anyone knew, one of the tower residents noticed two trees swaying around outside her windows, rising and lowering on ropes!!!  She called down to the lobby to express her concern (she probably thought she was losing her mind!), and that's when the window washers were made aware of what was going on.  Those trees are embedded in concrete, and then planted in the boxes, so that wind must have been very strong indeed.  I'm so glad the ropes remained twisted around the trunks and didn't unravel, sending those missiles to crash down into the street below!  As you can see, the two "adventurers" are now incarcerated in the closet until we can re-install them securely.  The window washing boss was amazed -- he showed me a photo he took of the ropes snarled around the trees, and said he'd never had anything like this happen before.  He also said this incident has convinced him not to commence work if it's windy from now on.

Extra:  Mabel admiring her shadow out on the infamous terrace this bright sunny morning.