Why I chose the location:  I frequently drive along River Rd to get to towns north of me. Every year trees along the road are trimmed back for the power lines. THIS year, an entire stretch about 1/2 mile long were lopped approximately in half. I felt horrified by their mutilation.

Story:  I noticed that the trees were mutilated in early spring, and took the photo, intending to come back to a small pull-out to create my GEE Act of Beauty. But when I went there on 6/12, there were already a few cars there with people fishing in the canal.  So I came back to my house. I found a pile of drawing paper scraps that my daughter had left on the deck where she had been cutting something.  I decided to use those to create my GEE bird for the Mutilated Trees, after all, paper is made from trees. I felt good about transforming the unwanted scraps into something meaningful. The scraps were very angular and sharp-looking. I assembled them into a bird-like shape and drew the eye, as I thought about all the birds that would NOT be able to nest in those trees this year. But the remaining parts of those trees have leafed out, amazingly.  Perhaps there will even still be some nests there.  My husband’s death last October has left me feeling like my own life has been mutilated, so I could really relate to those trees having to continue living with their severe wounds.  I realized that their root systems were still intact, though, as are my own.  This made me feel how resilient beings are and gave me hope that my mutilated life can continue to be worthwhile.