Out on my walk today… and discovered that yet another of my favorite loquat trees had been cut down.

It was not a volunteer one either, but a select variety. Fully mature, every spring it would be loaded with hundreds of the orange-flesh type.

Now … all gone. I think the woman who was living there must have died or now can’t take care of the place. Last year when I stopped by to ask permission a younger male answered the door - I assume the son.

Most of her well planted fruit bearing yard is now dead or cut down. And what is left is not being maintained (basically weeds growing.)

So sad to see.

And while I was walking around I’m seeing quite a few lots not well maintained.

My well worn soapbox: people (real estate agents in particular, but also the younger “aspirational” couples) have this view of property that is not tied to the physical world, the world of rocks and atoms, and of plants and animals. To them a piece of land is just a number on a loan, which exists to be over-priced by inflation, so some mythical “wealth” can be extracted to buy a fancy car that they are supposed to have to prove to the world they are “successful”.

Well, not to me. A single loquat tree is more valuable than the latest Mercedes SUV.