They cut down my third-favourite tree today. On my walk to the Skytrain, I noticed an unexpected piece of sky where there wasn't one before, and discovered a carnage of logs and branches just about to be carted away in a truck. I was told that the tree had been a danger to passers-by, old and leaning over the fence as it did, and was removed for safety's sake.
The tree was one of the first harbingers of spring around here. Long before other trees produced any sign of new life, its net of fine branches showed a subtle thickening from masses of barely incipient buds. The cloud of pink blossoms that followed a few weeks later snowed wispy drifts of petals beneath the tree.
A shame, really. Humans who get old and bent over are supplied with walking canes and other supports for their old age – trees just get lopped down. Every spring, I'm going to miss this one.
The tree in March 2005.
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