Cutting up and down

Nick and I took an early walk across the road to the garage for milk. It was a beautiful morning, mild and still - just warm enough for short sleeves. An hour or so later the wind had blown clouds in and we had some rain and chill. But no matter, not too long after that the skies cleared, the wind started up again and we had more hot, blustery weather with strong nor'westers. I decided to crack open the Christmas cake today and oh dear...it wasn't quite what I had expected. Definitely edible though and I'm sure I can fob it off onto hungry guests so on the whole it is good. Aaron tells me he's "never been a fan of fruit cake, no offense though". None taken, small boy. Nick left soon after the cake cutting to get the car serviced and retreaded; another thing off the to-do list. After lunch I decided to finally do something about the dark diningroom. We have a window which looks onto our neighbour's house, separated by thick foliage. The trees had grown to a point of blocking 90% of available light and with their branches touching the window there was the most awful shrieking during the wind. Enough. Got the saw and the neighbour's permission; thankfully Nick was available to lend a hand as well with the bigger branches. Turns out that was the easy part though - we have a huge pile of tree debris nearly blocking our front path now! Still contemplating what to do with it.
After tea we made another attempt at a family photo - we really have been struggling with the timing of this seemingly easy job. Found a lovely location but the wind was still strong and at 7 pm, the sun still too high, so this is what you get: