late afternoon
sunny but cool outside
There's a tree in the house. We drove up into the hills today and cut it down. But it wasn't quite that simple.
We looked for the tree farm we got last year's tree from but to no avail. So we followed some signs - first to a place very much like a forest - but we couldn't see the trees for the forest and decided to follow more signs.
We found another tree farm which seemed more promising, "Squaw Creek Tree Farm," which happens to be for sale. We wandered around in the drizzle looking for the right tree. A couple seemed almost right; then it started raining harder. We went back to an almost right tree and cut it.
As Scott was cutting, I came closer to catch the tree and spotted a fuzzy caterpillar clinging to one branch, right as it fell into me. I never saw the caterpillar again. Now the tree stands in the living room, looking a bit forlorn. I'll cut back a couple of the longer branches and tomorrow we'll begin decorating. If we're lucky we'll finish, too. The smell of the douglas fir suddenly makes it feel like Christmas.
The ghost of Christmas future...
