Trees, Steve Loved

Steve's Words:

The driver, the
trees, the sun and the seasons.

Yesterday I named three favorite winter trees at 86th and 5th Ave -
"reaching, curling and spreading".

I've gotten so I love trees. When I first got my glasses in about the fifth grade, I came out of the
optometrist's to realize that I could actually see the individual leaves. I had come to see trees as little kids draw
them - circles of green on trunks of brown.

It was before disease stripped the Midwest of its American elms, which really did make cool arched boulevards of our
modest main streets. Old towns now look like denuded suburbs.

Before that only many decades or the big winds near tornados
could kill off a few of them.

In my backyard there was a huge one which took several kids
to touch hands around.

When we learned to get to its lower limbs with a rope, we
began to build a tree house in a very high crotch. My dad took over and built a
big, solid one, much lower down. For beams he used the varnished hardwood
pieces of a big old pipe organ, which had just been replaced in the next door
church where he was pastor. He did not view little kid helpers as actually
helpful or safe, which I understand, but also regret.

Today, in New York City, I often reverse "you can’t see the forest
for the trees". Here they stand
more isolated, individual.

In winter we can see the fabulous differences of their limb
structure. Since they've been cared for and pruned over their decades of life,
I sometimes wonder if an old arborist could say, "Now that's pruned in the
Mendelssohn manner. And you can see O'Neal's work in that one."

The isolation and care of our trees in Central and Riverside Park and around the Natural History museum may
explain why we enjoy some of the few stands of these magnificent trees which
remain in North America.

We all enjoy the first leaves in the spring. The green that
will later seem uniform at first has great various beauty, just as the fall
dying leaves draw bus tours to Vermont,
but may be less noticed in the midst of our city.

Then of course there are the many stages of a tree's cycle
of renewal that each species present to us as the days grow longer, and then
shorter.

If we look up close, we can see the wonderful little
structures that nature has constructed over ages to give each tree the best
chance to live on.

Horse Chestnuts are my favorites. Lindens are good too.

As well as the changes over the warmer months, each day
trees present many different views to us. At high noon, the shade of their
leaves cools us, but obscures the tree's details.

But as the sun lowers, its light cuts between the leaves and
lets us glimpse the structure that we love so much in winter.

These are things I've learned to see over time as I grew
older. Who says there’s nothing to look
forward to. Just like the little piece
of white paint that looks like a gold ring on the finger of a Rembrandt
portrait.
---------------------------

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

3 Occupy, by Steve Kindred

three little vignettes from occupy:

1. Talking with a homeless guy, I commented that people in that
neighborhood either had too much money or breaks that were too short
or both.  I noted that the discarded cigarettes around Wall Street was
much more substantial than in other neighborhoods. He replied, "Yeah,
there's them that smokes the first half and us that smokes the second
half."

2. Another guy asked me for a buck to buy a beer.  I said, "A beer
sounds good to me. Let's find a bar and have a sit down beer." I think
it might have been a very long time since he'd had a beer that wasn't
in a paper bag. The bar we found turned to be a hang out for
construction workers and Wall Street types (probably at different
times of day).  The bar wasn't crowded but the guy at the door
expressed concern about "trouble".  There wasn't any. I ended up
learning a lot about his big, dispersed Irish family from upstate New
York and the troubles they'd had and how he ended up on the street.
Six bucks well spent for my education and his self image.

3. A woman guitar player was singing 60's standards at the foot of the
park. There was a break. I asked if I could teach them a song. Yes. It
is one of my favorites - a battle hymn from the Russian Revolution -
Whirlwinds of Danger. I stumble over the words and a guy stood up and
said "I know that song and got up to help out." It turned out he'd
learned from the same guy I had.

I explained that after the horrors of World War One millions of people
were pulling for the Russian Revolution as a hope to change the system
that had killed so many and oppressed so many more.  I said that
despite the defeat and degeneration of that revolution, billions of
people were still desperate for change and were watching Occupy.

I'll wing it on the lyrics -

Whirlwinds of danger are raging around us.
Overwhelming forces of darkness assail.
Yet in the fight see advancing before us
Red flag of Liberty that yet shall prevail.

So forward ye workers. Freedom awaits you.
Or all the world on the land and the seas.
(So stand strong) in the fight for humanity.
(Continue the fight) and ye shall be free.

I was crying at the end and so were a lot of people.
I felt really good.

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for your input to the Steve Blog. Learning about him through one another's stories is something we can continue to enjoy, beyond his passing. May his vision, work and passions live on through our paths, and be invigorated by our stories, sharings, and dialogues.
Thanks, from niece Audrey Kindred

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)