Man, this is some crazy weather we have had over the past few weeks. For those of you not in the Boston area, Thursday was a fun day with rain, sleet, and a little hail. This weekend, a Nor’easter decided to visit, bringing large amounts of rain and violent winds.

This morning, we woke to find that the huge tree at the end of the street had been uprooted! This house is just three doors down. Luckily, it appears that no one is hurt and most of the house is structurally intact; the root structure must be supporting most of this massive weight.

I don’t know when this tree was planted. Like most of Arlington, many homes in our neighborhood were built in the late 1920s. Since this is New England, streets are all tree-lined (if not, I’m certain some archaic statute would be violated). Most of the trees don’t appear to predate the neighborhood construction. This whole area was stripped of lumber (feeding the building demand in Boston) and used as farmland.

This raises some questions about our recently departed tree. It appears to predate the housing in the area. Why did it survive the 1920s construction? If this neighborhood was indeed farmland, was this tree present? Maybe it provided shade for a local farmhouse. We are on top of one of the Arlington hills and have good views of the surrounding land. On a clear day, you can even see into Boston.

About an hour ago, two trucks from a commercial tree service drove up to the tree, stopped for a minute, then drove off. Scared, maybe? Trucks from the Department of Public Works have just started showing up. Backhoes, front loaders, chippers .. no need to watch Extreme Machines today!

Update: And now a crane! The Arlington DPW is pulling out all the stops!

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I’ve been lax about rolling out the remainder of my eight passions which I started going on about here. Why such a slackard? Mostly, I wasn’t sure I could come up with seven more items about which I could claim to be truly passionate.

A story in the news the other day however set me straight. Here’s the story:

HONOLULU — Isolated from most of the world, Midway Atoll could open to visitors next year on a limited basis.

[…]

Midway, located 1,250 miles northwest of Honolulu, is at the tip of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, which was established in June.

So, where’s the passion? Oh baby, here it is:

Hawaii
I am mad about Hawaii. I’ve been several times. As mentioned above, Midway Atoll is part of the Hawaiian Islands. And though not a tropical paradise, I do hope to get to Midway some day.

Hawaii is easily one of my top-three passions. I love the sun, the land, the sea, the people, and it’s history. Forever I’ll remember my wife and I walking around the giant heiau by the Wailua River on the island of Kauai; fascinated by the massive structure, frightened by the noises coming from the tall grass, awed by the aura of the place.

History
I love history and the Battle of Midway was really my introduction to that subject outside of school. I remember repeatedly reading a paperback history about the battle. I believe I was 11 or 12 at the time. I still read quite a bit of history mostly WW II and the American Revolution.

But, let there be no doubt: I want to know the history of everything. I can’t get down half a city block without wanting to know the past of some building or street. Nevermind when I find an unexplained artifact in the woods. My behavior is downright compulsive.

Maps
I am also compulsive about maps and anytime I see one of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands mentioned I need to consult a map to see just where in the chain the island lies. Here’s a map now!

Almost any map will hold my attention for 30 minutes. Especially if it is someplace I’ve lived or visited or read about or want to visit. Especially if it is out of date or old. Especially if it is some combination of the previous. You get the point.

In Closing
Okay, so there are three more passions. I realize that I am not presenting them in rank order. In fact, these three are probably very near the top of my list!

Hmm!

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