03 The Tree of Life:

There is a giant pine tree growing on our neighbor’s property…

… it sits right on the property line… when we first bought the house, H dubbed it “The Tree of Life” because of all the animals she observed making use of its trunk and branches…

… over the years our attitude towards the tree moved from one of reverence to one of annoyance… it dropped truckloads of needles on the garden, pine cones too… it cast shadows over the rear yard that made growing vegetables difficult… during storms in the winter, it dropped enormous branches on the roof of the garage… it casts a shadow onto our solar panels and reduces their efficiency… it threatens to fall on our house if a storm ever brings it down…

… we have said to ourselves that we wish our neighbor would take it down, and to our neighbor that we would help with costs if he ever did…

… based on my readings about the significance of pine trees in Japanese culture this morning, i am thinking we should return to the reverent attitude we used to have…