I will bring them to my holy mountain,
    and bring them joy in my house of prayer…
    My house will be known as a house of prayer for all peoples. Isaiah 56:7

This week’s trip to Wake Forest involved a little extra work around the yard. Fortunately, in general, we have engineered things to be maintained without the need for constant attention; but that doesn’t mean the branches don’t fall and the weeds don’t grow and the edging and mowing and more do not have to happen.

But – and this is pretty much always the way these things turn out – by the time I was finished I was glad to have done the work and pleased about how things look.

I am especially happy with our decision to remove the fake “shutters” around the front windows. Just about every house in our neighborhood has them, and all they seem to do is attract stray pine straw and spiderwebs or lose a fastener then hang askew.

When we removed the shutters at my parents’ home it improved the appearance 100%. It would be a different story if they were actually functioning rather than ornamental, designed to be closed to protect the house in a storm. But, no; so off they go and a much improved look.

I am also amazed at the progress of our Japanese Maple collection. We have at least eight of the ornamental trees around the property and over the past couple of years they have all started to make a significant visual impact.

So that is the update on MaulHall Wake Forest – the home with likely more than one hundred trees. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost eleven years since we first rolled into the neighborhood.

Peace and good gardening – DEREK