A Gift From the Heart....

of a good friend and of a much loved tree! 

Last January, I had to have a huge 100 foot tree removed from my garden as it had been compromised by a neighbour's excavation. It was a tree that had been here when I bought the house and had been in my garden for the 50 years since then, so losing it was a really stressful and sad time. I wrote a bit about it in my blip posting of April 2.

I am a great fan of trees...as is my good friend and neighbour Elaine. We do everything we can to protect the trees we have and when someone knowingly does something that will kill one of them, it brings out our more combative nature and our desire to fight back. Alas, it was too late to change the fact that the tree was lost.. and as I found out, even harder to get any legal justice for the loss and the huge expense. 

BUT...Elaine, as a good friend, was there for me...she went through the whole  experience with me, as stressful as it was. It was like having a sister-in-arms..she was my moral support and helped me with some of the tougher decisions I had to make along the way. She is a woman with heart...and cares about her friends...as witnessed by the wonderful gift she left under my Christmas tree yesterday...

Back on tree removal day, she had approached the crew and had them saw off a huge piece of the trunk for her before they hauled it away. I thought at the time.. for her garden? Unbeknownst to me, she had then taken it to a local wood turner and had two bowls made out of it..one for her and one for me! So, now we both have a little bit of the heart of my tree as a keepsake! 

I just love surprises like that!  What a Merry Merry Christmas it has been!