Paper Soldiers

It's a tree aficionado's nightmare around here.
(Although I am always eager to dazzle readers with snazzy words, I did not use the word "arborphiliac" just now because it turns out that is a real thing with a very different--and disturbing--meaning! Trust me, you don't want to look it up.)

One little ice storm has devastated the landscape.
Okay, landscaping.
Death and destruction everywhere you turn.

Many of the trees and bushes that have dutifully guarded our front walkways and protected our backyard privacy succumbed to the recent weather crisis.

It's very dramatic and heartbreaking.

I lived in New England for 18 years, and I don't remember seeing things like this each winter. 

Maybe those northern sentinels have an age advantage-- sentries for centuries, they've an internal strength that our newbie trees do not.

Are the trees more resilient to the cold up north, or are the people more resilient to the sight of broken trees?

Now, it could just be that my memory is inaccurate. Or it could just be that there are just so many trees around that area that it skews the proportion and perception.

But I like to think that the trees up there--because they are more plentiful, and because they are usually clumped together in those things called groves and forests-- are able to withstand all the cold temperatures and ice because they are sticking together.

Supporting each other.
Holding each other up through the hard times.

Those are the kind of trees Robert Frost and Joyce Kilmer used to write about. 

Nobody ever writes about our trees. 
Except me, I guess.


_______

The following photos show the damage in my immediate neighborhood. This is only a part of what fell within a 50-foot radius of my house.

I had to take this picture from the upstairs window because I duct-taped the back door closed, and the fence gate is still iced over.

This sidewalk leads directly to the middle school. How many kids thought about turning around and calling it quits at this "roadblock"?

Their lawn crew comes twice a week. I'm sure this will be gone by morning.

I feel especially bad for this family-- under all that debris is an impressive Christmas display. I wonder if the manger offered any protection.