the eye of the whale

for R

the final performance

beautiful but dangerous

Zeus's eagle taking flight: cloud gazing

let imagination take flight

the arts and craft of nature: symmetry, contour lines

protective hair to shield the young growth

the sublime: humankind's fate

Birds of Paradise

Lonsdale had to wait today. Tomorrow without fail.

an Orwellian future is fast upon us stop radio commentators imagine libraries without books or to be fair with few stop literacy learning and social exchange stop no stacks no books stop stop and museums without art stop the justice has spoken after holding his peace for seven years. stop sounds biblical stop

red, white, and blue: it, too, no longer exists

Columbia University and Fairway

Paradise before The Fall: Adam and Eve

Eve

Adam

Paradise

like a dream: once upon a time . . .

Learn from France: dogs and their output

seen in Narbonne, a city in south-west France on the coast of the Mediterranean

instructions: text and illustrations

a pup in distress

Tenafly, Bergen County 07670: Possible pollution and vandalism

Twenty thirteen has just begun, a new year, 2013, but Tenafly's Roosevelt Commons aka The Commons  still appears to have polluted water that flows directly into the Tenakill Brook, a feeder to United Water, that supplies Tenafly (zip code 07670) with its tap water. Where does the glistening matter that floats on the top of the water come from? Most seem to come from vehicles that leak gasoline and other chemicals on roadways. The roads are washed by rain and other forms of precipitation. This waste runs into road drainage, the grills that you see alongside roads. In turn this liquid waste leaks into the Roosevelt Commons' pond and from there through a connector to the Tenakill Brook. As more and more vehicles drive through Tenafly, be they cars or trucks, the matter dripping from the vehicles is greater than in the past. What measures should Tenafly take in order to clean up its act? Could the leaky system be routed through another pathway? Certainly Tenafly is not the only borough in Bergen County that faces this problem. But it is very disturbing to see yet another asset befouled. 
Vandalism is on the rise in The Roosevelt Commons, as more and more trees are silently denuded of their branches.  Today, walking along its paths I encountered several branches that were cut off from  trees, one a fir, the other a birch. You might ask how do I know that these were cut rather than damaged in a storm? Ends are neatly cut, a cut that only a blade could make. I can make up several scenarios to explain the tree vandalism, but I would rather know the truth. Who is doing this and why? 

For those who never lived in Tenafly and are new arrivals, the borough may seem to be a Tree City, but this is not the case. In fact the designation should be removed. All the trees in the so-called Green Acres, the wild forest land set aside in perpetuity, to insure that nature is pristine, not developed, do not make up for the growing loss of trees in the borough's heart. The Roosevelt Commons' water is not a delight to look at anymore, and the land surrounding it has become a thicket of wilderness, rather than a garden or  nature cultivated intended to please the eye and a site for relaxation.