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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Dear of troy,
That description is one of the loveliest pieces of writing I've come across here. Thank you for telling us what you get to see in those marshes. You've mentioned them before--several times, I think--but here--ah!--there was a lot of emotion in what you wrote!
Best regards,
WW
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Helen,
That is a gobsmackingly gorgeous word portrait. I think you should send it to the NYT's "Dear Diary." I'll be happy to proofread it, if you wish
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
That is beautiful - thank you helen.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
A sink brims with water. You pull the plug. The water stirs. A vortex materializes. It blooms into a tiny whirlpool, growing as if it were alive. In a minute the whirl extends from surface to drain, animating the whole basin. An ever changing cascade of water molecules swirls through the tornado, transmuting the whirlpool's being from moment to moment. Yet the whirlpool persists, essentially unchanged, dancing on the edge of collapse.
"We are not stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate themselves," wrote Norbert Wiener.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
this morning, low tide, the creek out to the bay was not much wider than a stride, and soft mud on edges looked like cuniform, a secret language created by the egrets. a cormarnt sat high, and drying, on the rotted woods of an ancient bridge. the crooked wings, hung like a great shrug, as if he were uncertain of everthing.. far out in the bay, the water was silver pink, still tinged with dawn color, and the mist of morning had not yet been sweeped away by the suns rays.. How white the hulls of boats gleamed.. and their masts reach up, like weary early morning risers, streatching there arms above their heads and yawning ,in wonderous surprize of the light of day.
[tears in eyes]
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
a secret language created by the egretsThis whole post was such a joy to read, so beautifully evocative I felt I was there, the secret language created by the egrets reminiscent of the Greek myth of Palamedes and the cranes. http://www.mintmuseum.org/artvu/collie/language.html
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
you have all been so kind-- i feel my words, as much as they move you, do little to speak of the great beauty of the bay.. here are a few images.. the first is very similar to what i see from the train, the second is an arial view, the next an image for the deep part of the bay, looking east, and finally an image of the western shore. http://www.littleneck.net/udallscove/Ospreys.htmthe site has some winter photos, of the east side of the bay, looking north. these photos were taken close to RR line, southern end of bay, were it is a grassy marsh, and focus on the telephone pole mount that serves as an Osprey nest.(looking North) http://www.hydroqual.com/projects/usa/alleyCrk_imagePg1.htmlin this arial image, the RR line is the faint, darker line, south, were the bay has been reduced to just a creek. the lighter, easy to see grey line is Northern Blvd, the main street in the area. (the bright green blob is a driving range, between the two..., the bottom edge of the photo is I-495.. the Long Island Expressway (top is north, bottom of image, south) http://www.hydroqual.com/projects/usa/alleyCrk_imagePg2.htmlthe east shore of the further out--this is were the boats dock in the summer, but this winter image is bare.-- (looking east.) the dock can just barely be seen, as a white spot, on the eastern shore (which is Douglaston town, Little Neck town is the further eastern side of the Neck, that looks as if it were tilting east..)in image 1. The far north, eastern shore is Great Neck. http://www.skatecity.com/nyc/nyc_pix.cgi?p=littleneck1a bike skate path on the western edge of the bay. the highway in this image seen can be seen clearly in the arial image. (looking North)
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
"We are not stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate themselves"
Great quote, BY.
But we do (as do whirlpools or tornados) consist of "stuff" as well, specifically "world-stuff" that, but for the pattern, couldn't be separated from what is around us.
I quite liked Alan Watts' line:
"We don't come in to this world - we come out of it"
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460
addict
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addict
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460 |
"They speak a language that burgles and rains from their mouths like water through a pipe."
Barbara Kingsolver: The poisonwood bible (a book oft-mentioned on this board and currently on my bedside table)
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