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A tree FALLS on Brooklyn (avenue) & West Hempstead loses a tree friend...

Original Post: 8/19/24...Updated 9/10/24

This adventure began on this afternoon's walk near our home on New York Avenue in West Hempstead, as I turned west on William Street in front of the George Washington Elementary School. When we moved from our Queens apartment, our son John started here and finished in the High School's Class of 2006.



Six Months Before the Fall...


A photo I snapped on Feb. 5, 2024. I saw an ancient king offering a cup to the heavens...perhaps for the tree's reprieve from what lay ahead...It appears that some of the tree's life blood is falling to the ground...





The Fall...


Thankfully, it let go of its aged limb before school reopened...






Update 9/10/24


In its Younger Years



Eulogy for the Tree


Sometime in the past week, the entire tree was cut down. Using the imagery of the Passover meal, it seems that the blood on its trunk (see earlier image) wasn't enough for the tree angels to prevent the tree removers from passing over it...


Here's the new view from Brooklyn Avenue:





"Where have all its branches gone...

Gone to sawdust everyone..."

(inspired by Pete Seeger)


West Hempstead's "SHIRE" section...


On Poplar between Hempstead Turnpike and Fairlawn, you'll find a representation of this LOTR Ent:





Trees: Heralds of our lack of care for the Earth




Sermons in Wood...


Listening to Creation

Wednesday, April 24, 2024


"Sometimes, when closely reading the Book of Nature, the profoundest of lessons are learned from the quietest, most quotidian of happenstance. Suddenly seeing what you might have walked past countless dozens of times. Being awake to gospel in the plainest of wrappers. A buck-naked tree, perhaps. A tree whose very nakedness suddenly offers aha!"  (continues at the above link)


Spoken Wood PoeTREE...


"I know that I shall never see

This tree as lovely as was she..."




"Picture yourself by a tree in a schoolyard..."


Practicing my tree hugging by George Washington Elementary School directly across from our home:




"...With tangerine trees and marmalade skies..."




The above two images and the following song are morning-after plantings from other times and spaces in my life...


My 20's were also a time of experimentation...One day, I "dropped out" of normal consciousness and "dropped into" another state of mind and proceeded to walk from my parents' home in Richmond Hill and into Forest Park. I had no idea what lay before me...and though I was alone, I felt comfortable among the trees...




For Further Strolls Among the Trees...

Bayard Cutting Arboretum


Eileen and I have spent many wonder-filled times here with our friends of the local Baha'i Fellowship.



The next link tells some of the adventure...


This gazebo is a favorite gathering spot:




Off the Beaten Path...Nahko: A Tree Grows in Hawaii...


I discovered Nahko's tribe a few years ago at a Summerstage concert in NYC's Central Park. WHEW! What an adventurous spirit!


Musician Trevor Hall shown below is a friend of the Medicine People. A great person and music-maker, I've enjoyed him live at Mulcahy's in Wantagh. His songs are in several of my blog posts.







VOTE!!!


Another find that day in Central Park was learning about Headcount - an organization that shows up at music venues and encourages attendees to register to vote. The Grateful Dead's Bob Weir is a national spokesperson for Headcount.


Here I am in 2023 after casting my vote at George Washington Elementary School:




A Tree Grows in Brooklyn film


This posts title was inspired by this 1945 classic film that takes place in and around the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg. Eileen and I enjoyed it's heart-warming stories tonight.





Extra Branches


Local children in Tulsa, OK affectionately called this old cottonwood along the Arkansas River "The Rainbow Tree"...




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