Comings And Goings On Cathy Lane

Sometime in the fifties a cover of Sunset Magazine sported a picture of a Monterey Pine with the title "Tree of the Year" and encouraged everyone to cultivate them. Thousands were planted in my area including the wide median on the divided five mile drive on the crest of the hill leading to my place. No one looked ahead to consider their life span of just about fifty years nor could they foresee the infestation of the pine bark beetle which is slowly killing all of them. The one shown here in my driveway will be mulch by tonight, will improve my neighbor's view and will hit my pocketbook deeply for 2M. I hope no birds have nests in it today. It would have made a mess if it hit my carport or the utility lines.  This will be the 12th forest giant I have winced at removing in the last dozen years.
I must say I miss them all.  

Yesterday my freshmen sorority roommates brought lunch and we mused over 64 years of memories.  These days we talk easily about our arthritis, trusts, refinancing, need for hearing aids, high blood pressure, books we are reading, etc. Each time we meet its like picking up a loose thread and weaving another chapter.  Shirley and I are regretting our old dogs are getting older and more infirm and Dolores is wondering when her second cataract surgery will heal.  Shirley and I notice that Dolores' hair is turning a gorgeous white while ours are still mousey mixed with washed out white.  Here they are posing around a painting I just finished of the matillja poppies in bloom in my front yard now.

There is little wind today so I just snapped this photo. In a few minutes I'll be bringing Kodi in to shelter him from the noise of six men and several trucks sawing and grinding all day in the driveway. Since he got sick last October some changes have happened in his brain. Now to get him to come in I have to say "Sit" and he bounds in.  But if I say "Kodi, come" he instead stands immobile sometimes barking and looking at me if I have lost my marbles.  Life goes on! Happy June. .