The Stories of our Lives

Four victims later, the orange serial killer was finally apprehended yesterday. This monster had seriously reduced the original population of this small community, and had recently murdered the blue resident, as well as forcing another inhabitant to live as a fearsome recluse – never to be seen, repeatedly believed dead. In addition to this, the prowler just started to pick on the bigger of the cleaners, snatching chunks off its tail. Since the culprit was taken out, peace was restored, and our former recluse has been seen regularly out of its hiding place, showing off its lovely colors and generally enjoying the relief from stress.

I say good riddance, you mean fish.

As a sort of leverage for our karma, we planted two trees in the yard this weekend.

Before we build the house, there were two or three great pine trees on the lot, but the location of the house meant, sadly, that we were forced to cut them down. A young red maple was planted far in the backyard the same year; it is a nice tree, growing nicely if slowly. Last year – the summer of Xavier’s birth – we added a small cherry tree in front of the house. Those are the only two trees we had, though.

While an almost completely bared lawn is useful at mowing time, it is certainly unappealing when comes the time to enjoy an afternoon out in full sun. The aesthetic of it is also lacking. Enter our new hopes in sunshine management and visual appeal :

Up front is a Camperdownii pendula (elm), beautiful leaves, a lot of foliage, and it will grow to 6m, enough to give our high patio some privacy from the neighbours. The second one, harder to spot in the picture, is a flowered tree which I’ve already lost the name of. Its foliage and flowers are simply beautiful, and gorgeous in colors, and it will grow to 15m. The red maple is at the back in the picture. We spent a little more than we wanted on the trees, but I’m really enjoying both our new natural air purifiers and am not regretting any cent.

Camperdownii pendula