broken tree eats time whole!
Today was beautiful - warm sun, blue sky, light breeze, low-ish humidity - and I was all set to enjoy the true English summer experience with the laptop (to reply to people like
mingoes who must have the sorest eyes and the tiredest brain in the world after reading so much of my stuff in one short space of time - Mingoes, when I commended your persistence, I didn't mean that you had to exhaust yourself proving it!) and with a couple of Japan guides (yes, I want to figure out if getting to a Gackt concert can be a reality!)
BUT
nature had other ideas....
because, in the afternoon, a large piece of one of our apple trees fractured and hung suspended perilously over the garden. Bad news. A saw, loppers and two sticky hours later, order was more or less restored and I celebrated (that really isn't the word! However, nothing much got damaged - apart from my hands - and I think I've saved two side shoots which might help to balance the tree in the future) by taking a couple of pictures
SO
to everyone waiting for something - replies to comments, posts, emails, fic, admin, a miracle, whatever - here is my excuse presented visually!
To give you a sense of scale (and threat - you want a branch this size hanging over your head?), here's a shot with one of the abandoned Japan guides - sigh. Apple tree no Gackt fan clearly.
The rest of the mess - smashed apples (lots) and all the lopped off side branches - is off stage right. And that was the afternoon all packed up and gone away. Sigh. Newton only had to pick up a single apple; how come I had half a tree to deal with??