Irony, thy name is Chestnut Village or The Death of a Shade Tree

Today is Earth Day, why not celebrate by cutting down some pesky shade trees, right? 
BEFORE:

this is my little corner of the world and I think you all know how much I love that tree because it bloomed in the spring and gave me colorful foliage in the fall...

AFTER:

DURING:

My neighbor, Wendy (R) who is also Gizzy's babysitter when I'm gone. She's one of the few people brave enough to deal with him as he's kind of unpredictable and has a tendency to snap at sudden moves, i.e. wriggling toes and fingers (sorry, folks, he's terribly misunderstood - yeah, ok, and spoiled - wonder how that happend?)
Sitting next to Wendy is her daugther April having coffee and watching the tree cutting ordeal. Their side got rescheduled for another day.

I'm sitting in front of my apartment under the shade tree while Gizzy watches the commotion on our side further down the row. They're working their way up to "my" tree, so the whole neighborhood is looking on.

The row of trees across the street will come down another day. The job was postponed due to illness of a tenant in the apartments across the way.

My friend, Bobby-Jack, stopping by to offer his condolences. He's a contractor who could have taken up the slab of cement, levelled out the roots and replaced the stone to make the walkway flat again, but that was too sensible of a solution, so why not remove all the trees "just in case." It's like pulling out a tooth just because it has a cavity, right? But, hey, I'm only a renter and I have to be thankful to have a roof over my head, so I just shut up,  pay my rent and take the pictures.

They're working their way along towards me while Gizzy is trying to bark them away.

I got to keep one souvenir from the tree. I asked for a thick log to use as a scratching post for Middi, since she prefers my furniture over the one she has now, and thankfully she has been using her scratching log several times today.

All gone! That's what it looks like now on "my" side of the road - I'm the corner one on the right - it now looks just like any ole "project" housing and I HATE it!

Now I have my work cut out for myself. With the help of my friend, Bobby-Jack, I'll have to insulate windows and doors and hang bamboo covers on the outside of my windows and doors to block off the afternoon sun!

Hope your Earth Day started out better than mine - I know, I know, it could be worse, but it's just ironic it had to happen on this day.