All That's Left

Dear Diary,

It was so hard to watch the man take down the old maple piece by piece so I didn't, mostly.  Instead, I worked on my needle felted Horatio Hare, the first of my backyard friends I've attempted.  When all was said and done, Henry insisted that I have Horatio pose on what's left of the tree, a rather sloped stump.  (I'm rather pleased with how Horatio turned out.  He's about 7 inches tall and very soft.  His arms and legs are bendable and he has horse tail hair whiskers and lovely glass eyes.)  The front yard seems so empty without the tree.  I don't know what I will do with that space now.  Henry, Horatio and I will have to think long and hard about it.  One thing I did see during the removal was an interesting shape when he cut away the largest branch. (extra)  I call it the 'spirit of the tree'.  I've also added a picture from October, 1995, three months after I bought my old farm house with the maple in all its golden glory.  I'm going to miss that tree.