On the Southeast corner of my humble abode stands this enormous, really beautiful tree. Seen below on a cloudy recent morning. It is at it’s most striking right now I think. With it’s usual spotted brown bark stripped in the fall and now standing there stark bare waiting for spring to begin. You can spot it from miles away. Quite a sight to see really.

I mean it is truly a beautiful tree to look at. Look at it. Enjoy it. In the Spring and Summer, it has this amazing shade since it’s leaves are really huge. But those very leaves seem to attract all the bugs in the whole neighborhood! Because under this tree I get all kinds of bites in all kinds of places. I don’t even sit under the stupid tree anymore!

Then in the fall, those huge leaves fall. I mean I get it, the leaf is huge, but it must be one of the largest leaves ever. They pile by the fence, pile by the gate, pile by the door, fly inside the house when you open the door and so on and so forth. A few leaves fill up one of those yard waste bags . But even that I don’t mind. But I mind the bugs Too many bugs or allergens if you ask me. A few years ago, I went to rake a pile of leaves and ended up with bites all over my chest area. I had to take antihistamine and aleve, I was feeling so ill. My whole upper chest area had a painful rash and was swelling–almost ended up at the ER. Okay, maybe it was something in the pile of leaves that did it. BUT it was a pile of sycamore tree leaves that I was raking at the time, ergo the evil Sycamore tree must have been somehow involved.

And then, there are the seed pods. These are small round balls filled with maybe a gazillion seeds. Let’s stop there first. Why? Why do trees produce so many damn seeds? Anyway, the balls fall off the tree, break open and out fly all these seeds and they go everywhere. They block the gutters, they block the cracks on the deck, they go into the air conditioner, they congregate on the driveway, they clog the drains, scatter all over the kitchen garden

Oh My God, did I just talk myself into chopping down this tree? I won’t do it. I do love it. I love the shade it gives, I love the privacy it brings to that corner. But it sure is tempting 🙂