It is nice to have something in the foreground to lead the eye into the scene. But here the stuff in the foreground is just too prominent and takes all the attention away from the background.
This is more representative of the overall scene. The good news is this is a 5 minute bike ride from my house so I'll get ample opportunity to really get the right version at some point.
I agree with Helen, the out of focus branch in the upper left and along the bottom really distracts from the image. The 2nd image you posted is much nicer. You could bring out a bit more detail in the sky, as the clouds add some nice detail.
