285. It's a sign

We no longer live between the sycamores. The forestry department came out on Monday. The sycamore closest to Grand was dying and obviously on some sort of to-do list. The street was filled with orange trucks and tree-grabbers and mulchers and all that. Busy morning with the end of the street blocked and it's gone.

When we moved in, there were two sycamores down by Grand, one in the middle of the street, and one at the top corner. All the corner ones are gone now, leaving just this ancient tree in the center of the street, the tallest oldest tree on the block. Its days are numbered and I fear it will be replaced by some bozo tree like a bradford pear or flowering plum or something else ridiculous. We don't have wires in the front of our houses. We should have substantial trees. I know they are a risk in the ice storms and spring thunderstorms we get in the midwest, but they're worth it.

My house is now the most shaded on the north side of the block, with our black oak and sweetgum. They're both younger and healthier than the sycamores, but who knows? Neighbors to the east of us lost 3 American Basswoods in one year. How long until we're debating between zelkovas and oaks?

But I take this as a sign. I haven't been over here much in the past 6 months and it's time to integrate this into South City Musings. I use the same pseudonyms anyway. Gretchen and Zelda and Valerie live over there, too. So there you go. Because it's not going anywhere.

284. Halloween

In St. Louis, the tradition is that if you want candy, you need to have a joke or a song or a talent. You earn candy here. Here were a few of the jokes my children told this year:

Do you want to hear my construction joke?
You can't--it's not finished yet.

Why do witches fly on brooms?
Because vacuum cleaners are too heavy.

How does Darth Vader know what you're getting for Christmas?
He can feel your presents.

Billy? He was a train engineer. Can't you tell?? He had a whistle that sounded like a steam train whistle, and that was his talent. And costume.

Daisy was Lucy from the Narnia series. Hence the schoolgirl outfit combined with the big fur coat/robe thingy. And Fiona went as Galadriel from the Lord of the Rings. She tends to be literary; this was Daisy's first venture past cat/witch/cowgirl standards.