Oh, my gods — they’ve just cut down the huge lilac tree that stood behind our backyard fence. I went out to bring the laundry in off the clothesline and I saw the bare stumps of what was once a magnificent tree, broad and almost as tall as the powerlines, and they were naked, brutal, and ugly. Words can’t describe how dreadful it looks, how open and exposed the backyard suddenly feels.

Everything was fine an hour and a half ago when Liam and I were out there. And now, it’s gone.

I’m fighting tears. I loved that lilac tree.

UPDATE: They had a whack at the other lilac tree as well. HRH talked to the people who were cutting them down, and they swear they’re just trimming them so they’ll grow back thicker next year. HRH looked at them and said, “Yes, if you haven’t killed them, because you’re supposed to trim them in the spring, not the high heat of summer.” And ‘trim’ doesn’t mean a hack job leaving a couple of feet of bare trunks, like these people have done because they don’t know how to prune properly.

We’re getting a crabapple tree to give us shade and privacy, because this is ridiculous.