Storm Blew Down Tree and Ripped Away My Skylight

 Oh friends, earlier this month we had wild winds and heavy rain in my area of California. 

 The neighbor's large old tree in her backyard fell on her redwood fence, across the alley and then on my redwood fence, landing on a canvas awning and hanging over my patio. The tree landed one foot from my house and no damage was done. It brushed my brand new gutter but did not hurt it. The second photo is taken while I am on my patio. Even the yellow solar lantern survived.

One of my skylights was ripped off the roof during the rain storm. It is the type of skylight that opens and closes and it was 40 years old and the metal hinge rusted through. So I spent a lot of time mopping the floor. The roofing company came over quickly and put in a new glass skylight.

Above shows where the skylight was, that is the clouds you see.  Not too dramatic in the photo but rain poured in and I mopped and mopped.

I said lots of prayers of thanks to God that no damage was done to my house when the neighbor's tree fell and landed on my fence and patio. In the same storm a young man was killed in his house when a tree crushed his house. That is shocking and sad. So I am counting my blessings.

The two photos below show my neighbor's tree on the right hanging over her fence, blocking the alley and leaning on my fence on the left side of the photo. The tree had a huge six foot root ball and was a big job to remove. The neighbor called her tree guy and had the tree removed. Earlier this year her other large tree fell so she knew a tree company.

In the photo below my house is on the left and you can see that her tree is a foot from my house and new gutters.

On a happier note the photo below shows that my patio, fence, canvas awning and pink camellia survived beautifully. The tree landed right on that section of fence and on the awning.

Amit Sood and His Ideas to Increase Our Resilience

 Dr. Amit Sood has some great and easy to start ideas to increase our resilience, our ability to get through trouble, loneliness and sadness. He wrote "Just as trees grow their branches toward the sun, spend more time with people who are your source of light." 

One idea of Dr. Sood's I like is "Greet at least one person each day as if you haven't seen them for a month, with enthusiasm and energy."

Here is a picture that might make you smile, it makes me smile. This is a painting of my pup, Bounce. Yes, he has a Hawaiian shirt like in the portrait, and he is holding a ukelele in the painting, the artist's creative idea.

 

Dr Sood also says try to notice one new thing each day. I find that takes a bit of work, it is not as easy for me as I might have thought. Another of his ideas to build resilience in us is to send a silent good wish to someone you're connecting with. He does this all day, which makes him feel uplifted. Dr, Sood is a former medical professor at Mayo Clinic and is now CEO of the Resilient Option.

Me in 1966 riding a donkey to a picnic spot on Buyuk Ada, an island near Istanbul. My Turkish friends planned the picnic which included a carriage ride and they cooked shish kebabs and other goodies outdoors. Fun. New Things. Let's Do It.