It's all good

The landscapers worked almost a solid 12 hours in my yard yesterday.  Honestly, they barely took a break for lunch.  I put out coffee and muffins and replenished during the day, with cold water as the day got warmer.  I appreciate their hard work and honestly feel sort of bad they worked such long hours on my behalf.  But I do know they'd do that wherever they were working.

The steps are so nice, the cleanup amazing, and the patio - well I had not imagined how pretty it would be.  They said there were not enough of the bluish rocks I already had, so we decided to go with some larger ones for a small additional charge, and they would use my other rocks for a pathway.  I'll get pictures when the sun comes up.

I decided to go ahead with the project on the west side while they were there.  Their prices are very reasonable and it's work I need to have done.  They are putting in a couple of retaining walls for me and taking out the old all-but-dead apple tree.  They cut down the tree late last night, and it was a shock to walk out and see it gone.  I have an emotional attachment to that tree.  It's where I've most enjoyed watching the birds from my dining room all these 30 years I've lived here.  I will need to replace it and soon.  My heart can hardly stand that vacancy.

They are going to be cutting down some other things today too, but I might put a hold on one of them, my last remaining old pfitzer bush.  It's another place the birds love, and it provides a small barrier between my deck and the road.  I think I need to keep it lest I feel totally naked to the world on that west side.

Pictures soon, I think.

UPDATE:  Okay, here they are from the dim pre-dawn light.  The bark is coming along nicely.  This picture doesn't do justice to how pretty the new round patio is.  But oh what a mess where the apple tree was.  In the light of day it's an even greater shock.  Patience, Becky, this wiill get better.  You can see the steps, not as wide, not as steep, more of them.  But we exposed an old unused sprinkler line in the process and that will have to come out.

Just for a point of reference, here's how that tree was looking two years ago, already quite dead:

I realize things sometimes have to get worse before they get better. I remember when they tore down my room addition to turn it into a covered patio. I so love my patio now, but that, too, was such a shock at first. Why do we cling to things even when change is so needed?