One of the things I love about the neighborhood where we live is the large beautiful oak trees.  Slowly over the years, in the name of progress, they have been coming down, one by one.  Yet again today, the noise of the chain saw made me cringe as I went to see which one would no longer be around to bring joy.  I was sadden to find that it was the one shown in the first picture above.  I will miss seeing this beautiful tree, and though it’s not spring yet, I join in the sentiments expressed by Charlotte Mary Mew when she wrote:

“It is not for a moment the Spring is unmade to-day;
These were great trees, it was in them from root to stem:
When the men with the ‘Whoops’ and the ‘Whoas’ have carted
the whole of the whispering loveliness away
Half the Spring, for me, will have gone with them.”