This is Pippi, my little pet rat and faithful companion.

 Today, I had to take her to the vet to be euthanized. 

She was very old and had been ill. Last night she became very distressed.

I kept hoping she would pass away peacefully. But this morning, I drove her through heavy rain, water covering the roads and hail collecting in mounds on my windscreen. Then I brought her home again, and buried her in the garden under the jacaranda sapling, facing her sister, who died a month earlier.

Rain hung in the old bird netting on the trees. 

I need to cut it all off now the trees are starting to grow again. 

It seems appropriate. 

I have a yard full of trees that need to be freed.

The house is cold and very quiet. 

I have only a fish now, who waits patiently in her tank by my front door for me to feed her. 

In the garden, I discover the first plum blossom of spring.