from my front porch, i can see

...devastation.
So many trees in the Forest Hills park were tossed down to the ground, never to rise again.
Heartbreakingly sad.

... blockage.
When the tornado swept through my neighborhood around 4:30 AM on Saturday, October 8, 2016, it left clear evidence of its passage.
Just three doors down from me, these trees were felled, blocking that egress for cars and bicycles.
To the left of the photo, the tornado had tossed a pine into a house.
Then, the destructive force had smashed through the park, claiming all in its path, before throwing another tree into another house.
I am so terrifed of tornadoes.

...shattered homes.
That trunk, with its splintered top thirty feet in the air, is all that remains of the pine which was home to some birds that frequent my yard.
Some of the branches torn off were thrown four inches deep into the ground and had to be forcibly tugged upon to be removed.
I have no idea where the top of the tree fell.
i thank God it was not launched into my house.

...perseverance.
This beautiful oak is directly across the street from my house.
When I was picking up its hurricane-removed limbs after that terrifying night, I saw buckling of the asphalt of the street.
The roots of the tree had fought to stay firm, had fought for the life of the tree...
and they had won.
Time will tell if their bruises will heal and allow the oak to stay strong.

...progress.
The four piles (plus one to the left of my driveway) in my front yard represent at least eight hours of my work, over the course of three days.
Other piles of once-living growth line the streets to both sides.
My flowering pear tree and my Japanese magnolia both survived. Moss had been torn from the limbs and scattered all over the yard, like odd blobs of gray snow.
But my two trees were intact.
i thank You, God.

...path ahead.
My street is now clear of the trees which were slain down. Their trunks have been chopped and piled in the park for the county to eventually haul away.
The trees within the park are still on the ground, as they have been all week. I suspect that will be the case for several months. If this had been a park downtown, it would have already been cleared. But it is not such a park and will have to wait its turn for the time and the budget to allow clearage.
We shall all have to keep the faith until that time.