Trees

I live in an old house. About 5o years old. Nine years ago when we bought this home we had two choices, a newer home with almost no yard or an older home with a bigger yard. The main reason we even wanted to buy a home was to have a yard so the decision was made. Lately I have been frustrated with living in an older home. Plumbing and electrical problems are a constant, never ending problem. Then I had a friend email me about the new home they live in and how boring the immature landscaping is. She's never seen my home and asked me what kind of trees we have in our yard. I get so caught up in the problems this home has sometimes I forget about the things I love about it and why we bought it in the first place. Here's a couple of the reasons:


Our palm trees. When we first moved to southern California I told Shaun that when we buy a home I wanted it to have palm trees. Growing up in Wisconsin and Utah I didn't see a lot of them. They seemed so exotic and tropical. I guess I figured that if I had palm trees in my yard it would be like I was on vacation every day. Well I got my palm trees, three very tall ones that I do love, but life is certainly not like vacation every day. And palm trees are messy. They drop tiny little dry prickly flowers that land all over the trampoline. Then they drop their seeds. They drop what seems like billions of peppercorn-like mushy seeds. We quickly learned to get our palm trees trimmed EVERY year to avoid this. And that is quite possibly the coolest part of the trees, watching them being trimmed. A man, carrying a large chainsaw, climbs up them with nothing but a rope and his spiky shoes to hold him on. Amazingly, for as tall and skinny as these trees are they do provide shade in our backyard. I love my palm trees!


Our olive tree. I really like this tree. It is the bane of Shaun's existence. He hates when it drops the olives because they are messy and they get tracked into the house. At one time he suggested cutting it down, but I love it. It's really pretty and adds character to my house. It provides shade for my front yard, and it's right outside my kitchen window so it shades that plus it provides a great view. The kids love the cool shape for climbing and posing for pictures in. On top of that it's just so Biblical.