pruning

Friday morning dawned clear and sunny, I felt something was different about this day. When I opened the door I knew what it was, it was warm. Yay! I was craving to go outside into the backyard and do some work.  I had been eyeing up the pear tree for a few months and knew that if it wasn't pruned soon the buds would all be out.  I got the clippers and started with the lowest branches. 
The girls were happy to put on gumboots and dig in the dirt.  When I couldn't reach any more twigs I looked at the tall ladder leaning against the house.  I really wanted to do more and yet that seemed a bit much.  I thought hmmm... this is something Tey should be doing not because it's a man's job but because it was too big and heavy for me.  But something in me wanted to be the one to prune this tree so I lugged the ladder over to the tree and set it up awkwardly.  After starting to reach and few limbs higher up I grew bolder and soon I was at the top of the ladder feeling like I was in charge. 
Part of me resisted this work and the other felt a sense of pride that I was caring for this tree.  The first summer we lived here I canned sixty jars of pear sauce.  The next summer I had Nora and the number went way down, maybe a dozen or so.  This summer I had some plans for me and this tree and I wanted to really own it.  Maybe it sounds weird but I felt I had something to prove. Having wanted a yard for my kids for so long I felt like I had to make every part of it count.  
Since moving here I have been envisioning what I want the garden to look like and so far I am seeing large beams making arbours with wild flowers peppering every square inch that isn't grass.  I have plans to build (with the help of my husband and brothers:) a play house for the girls by June 1st (it's in my goals:) This summer I want to "live" in the back yard.  I'm not going to plant as many vegetables, just my favourites, green beans and cherry tomatoes for the girls, maybe some lettuce planters on the deck. 
I had gotten to the point with the pear tree that I needed to step off the ladder and climb into the middle of the tree to get to the top.  This strangely wasn't as comfortable as I thought it might be, I had climbed many trees as a kid but now I was so conscious of falling that I second guessed each step, it was very frustrating not be feel sure of myself. 
Slowly I could start to see the end of my task and by dusk it was done.  My hands were covered with scratches and I had dropped the clippers on my foot, it was cut and a bruise was forming but as I stood back and surveyed my bare tree I felt good, really good.  It was a challenge I had risen to and conquered! It was good day!