I live in an apartment with a balcony. The balcony overlooks a woodsy area. It's not really that many trees, but it was always just enough in spring and summer to blot out the view of houses, cars and the street below, down the hill. It made me feel like I was in my own private little space. It made the deck a place of refuge and some quiet, unless one of my neighbors was playing their music really loudly.

A couple of weekends ago, one of the people who lives on the street below (it's kind of down a slopey ledge from my building) cut down some trees in what is their backyard. It was loud. I looked out there, kind of grumbling, but saw that the trees were dead. They needed to come down.

Now I can not only see the back of that house and garage, but the house across the street from them. It's the kind of thing that feels like an invasion of my privacy. They won't likely notice from the street. Others in my building might not likely notice, as it seems many don't sit out on their decks.

It's a hole in my bubble, it seems, and the world can see in.