Windfall

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

Who Has Seen the Wind? Christina Rossetti

Here is the beginning of the blog. It’s been five years since these pictures were taken, but I’m at a point where I feel like writing. I hope it helps you, too. I don’t have the best of writing skills, but I like to use turns of phrases and looking at words in different ways. And so, here we are at windfall.

No, not that kind of “windfall” where money rolls in the door faster than you can count it. More of the “wind blows hard and trees fall” type, but certainly a turn of words can make it lemons-into-lemonade. It was Hurricane Michael in October 2018 where it began. As Michael moved northeast across the Chesapeake Bay, it spawned, what the insurance agent called, “many mini-tornadoes” and pushed trees down all along the Potomac River coastline where it meets the Chesapeake. We lost a dozen trees that day of varying diameters. Below are a few of the trunks.

It was more than I was used to handling and more than us or our neighbors could use for firewood before the next storm blew more trees (spoiler alert, it has). As it happened, I was talking with a friend, who noticed there was some cherry trees in the mix and convinced me that it was worth my time to save it. I can be a bit of penny-pincher, so it seemed like “sure, why not.” Well, logs are heavy when they’re long, and when you’re saving them for wood, that’s what you want. So, there started the learning experience about how to get these moved! A lot of grunting and twisting and some sliding and we had a stack sitting until I figured out what was next.

Here the journey begins, back in 2019, with some logs and a concept. I am an avid gardener and naturalist and so it was a switch of hats for me to look at the wood after it’s down. We took pride in cleaning up the property from invasives and restoring the health of the tree canopy over the years. There is not a day out of the year where I can’t be under the trees and be happy. The above shot is typical for anyone “felling a tree,” showing human’s dominion over all. But, honestly, while I was standing there, I was feeling some pain for these trees that we lost.

So, this switching of hats took a while. I wanted to make sure that whatever was done was out of respect and brought some joy and connection. I’m a software developer by trade, and while I enjoy working hard and producing product, I’m looking at this path differently. I want to give and feel growth through this. I want to write, to produce, and, hopefully have a laugh along the way. Lord knows, when I look back at this writing I’m sure I’ll wince, but get a kick out of it, too.

This process is a little different as I’ve taken a lot of photos the last 5 years, but haven’t written anything. There are around 50 articles being written up from 2020 through 2024. Some will be short, some more lengthy as I get into describing the process or about a side journey. I’m really looking forward to this writing. You probably won’t see any of these until this site goes live and all are published. If you’ve found yourself back to this original article by some way, then welcome and by all means, I’m glad you’re here!

Windfall?

May all things fall into place for your own path.