Preparing for Spring

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=105 BGCOLOR="#66CCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="38cfc011egdypo.jpg"> <div> <B>  </B><B> </B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Nature and Spirit</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Parisian BT" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#66CCCC" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>  </B></FONT><B>|   </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spirit and Nature_Alan Lorefice"><U><B>home</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#66CCCC" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=375 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> With the arrival of Spring there is much to be done. </div> <bR> <div> First, the trees must be pruned. Here is one of the wild apple trees which sit on the far end of the grove. For more pictures of their life in summer, you can go to the <A HREF="http://www.alanloreficeandcompany.info/friends/id252.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.alanloreficeandcompany.info/f"><U>Wild Apple Tree</U></A> page... </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="39f80e00.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="480" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>                             Pruning Akbar </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Here the cherry trees are getting their spring pruning.</div> <bR> <div> Before...</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3a080000.jpg" border=0 width="384" height="512" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> After...</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3a1e0800.jpg" border=0 width="480" height="640" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Yikes! </div> <bR> <bR> <div> I still find pruning difficult because it was so hard for all those branches to grow in the first place. I try to think of it as giving them a haircut. In the end, they will be stronger, healthier and more fruitful because of it. </div> <bR> <div> My coat sits to the right. I'd like to say it was included for scale. Actually it is because the temperatures change a lot this time of year. At that moment it was a bit warm and clumsy. Like so many other defenses we humans create for ourselves in this changing life, a winter overcoat often becomes cumbersome, uncomfortable and limiting. Or so it seems to me sometimes. I am sad then. </div> <bR> <div> Perhaps, someday, when we have grown enough, there will no longer be the need for these barriers between people. </div> <bR> <div> Here's the big water tank. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3a280e00.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="480" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>                              water tank<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0033CC" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> A neighbor has given it to me and I am setting it up to hold water at the top of the hill. </div> <bR> <div> And here it is, a bit further along... </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3a380200.jpg" border=0 width="384" height="288" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#0033CC" FACE="Parisian BT" >         </FONT>Setting up the water tank </div> <bR> <div> Alas, this is all there is time to show right now. I must rush off like a beleaguered chipmunk. I will add more soon. But you can see the start, anyway!  </div> <bR> <div>           <I>( sadly as it turned out, my computer crashed and all the pictures for this were lost.  But seasons change and next spring will come. )</I></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>