on the other side: self portrait

confounding

Pausilypon: the place that soothes all worries

Is a soul as light as a feather and does it float like a cloud?

No name or the Aster encloses her heart with her bedewed wings

A brown-eyed Susan keeps warm as she waits for the sun

Could this be winter? No. It is death by chemicals and age

The change of seasons: fall yellow

Aesop and Emma: how dogs communicate

Emma (red collar) questions Aesop (blue collar)

"she was blinded by the light"

A Cherry Tree, its final fruit. Tenafly, N. J. killed by pollution.

Tenafly has a major pollution problem, and it is in the drinking water. The Cherry Tree is "a canary in the mine." It is dying, as are all the bushes and trees along the feeder stream exiting the Tenafly Commons Pond and feeding into the Tenakill Brook. That brook carries the water to The reservoirs from which we get our hosuehold water. The water the flora is ingesting is the water we get from our tap water. All the pretty plants around the pond do not clean the water. E coli is still a problem. Only instead of geese, egrets and all the rest of the avian world carries it too, depositing it in the water and on the land. And other animals?
As for the chemicals, Rutgers, that kindly installed the plants and advised Tenafly on how to chase geese from the area never tested the water for chemicals. They dare not. And the people who periodically tested the water during the summer of 2009, the people who actually entered the water, wore hip high rubber boots. No wonder. And when asked about walking in the water without protective gear, I was advised that it would not be safe. It is evident in the pictures why this is the case.

Aesop: in memoriam, May 8, 1997--September 21, 2009

Aesop's biography and tales will be recounted shortly. For now, pictures that show him in his prime, with his sibling Emma, and his loving relationship with Harold.

Aesop: the handsome sweet scottish terrier, in health

Aesop before he contracted his terrible cancers: digital melanoma, first, and lymphoma second. To save him from the horrors of suffering, we will have Aesop euthanized. More on his tales and his beautiful character after the procedure is over.
Harold is holding his beloved dog

Life

motion: visual perception and mind. yes and no

Mother and Child

Lovers and Friends

in harmony but bowing in opposite directions

An Extrusion: a chance discovery

masses are extruding from within the tree, breaking through the birch tree's skin, its bark, forming bulbous deformities

Two Realities

Contentment: radiant nature

understanding

The Heart Weeps: science and sentiment

A Proto Microscope: a feather and drops of water

Little Soul, after Hadrian. W.S. Merwin, translator, 2

Little Soul little stray
little drifter
now where will you stay
all pale and all alone
after the way
you used to make fun of things


W.S. Merwin, The Shadow of Sirius (Copper Canyon Press: Port Townsend, Washington, 2008), p. 51

Little Soul, after Hadrian. W. S. Merwin, translator, 1

Little Soul little stray
little drifter
now where will you stay
all pale and all alone
after the way
you used to make fun of things


W. S. Merwin, The Shadow of Sirius ( Port Townsend, Washington: Copper Canyon Press) 2008, p. 51