Back when we built my studio nine years ago we oriented my windows to the east to take advantage of spectacular views of the mountains. We raised the studio floor elevation by four feet so I could see over a fifteen acre hazelnut orchard. The trees were slowly but surely getting taller every year.

Our friends and family love to tease us because we lived next to the nut farm. We didn't have far to go. But last Friday the tree cutting crews rolled in and started cutting. We thought they were merely trimming and thinning as they do every year but this year things would change dramatically. They are in fact removing all the trees. Our vista will change dramatically in the next week or so.

Life is about constant change. Just as we are building a new house and the landscape surrounding it our neighbors have the right to do new things on their property. It will be interesting to see what unfolds.

-grampa dan