Platte Clove May 30, 2020

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recognition

for Lydia

Being in a class of people known to you all these years 

Friends brought together by chance geography 

Forming an intentional community of peers and teachers 

Building towards a celebration as seniors ready for graduation

Now is the moment to parade together in cap and gown

Marching to the strains of pomp and circumstance 

One last time before dispersing blown away in the wind

Not this anti-climax of a canceled ceremony. 

Next up should be the adventure of college campus life

Finding your way learning and meeting new friends 

Not some separate and isolated remote screen existence 

Stealing the happiness of youth having fun being together. 

The younger you are the more one year counts

Leaving you disappointed to be missing out

But I know you will be undeterred by adversity in life 

Determined to overcome all challenges. 

The difficulties we have can be a gift in disguise

One door closes and another door opens

I have confidence in you as a smart and capable person 

Being someone who cares deeply for our planet. 

May you find your way to help make the world better

Where all people are respected and nourished 

Where all of nature is cherished and protected 

Where peace and justice can prevail on earth.

Catskill Mountain House May 28, 2020

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Augusta Savage Road May 27, 2020

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Shaupeneak Ridge May 27, 2020

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Ulster Landing Turkey Point May 26, 2020

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forest perspective

In the early morning stillness of the forest

Following a moss-covered woodland road

We step softly moving slowly as we listen

To hear the birds calling hidden in the foliage. 

Red efts in the leaf litter invite a closer look 

Wriggling away from my camera lens

A remarkable life cycle for these juveniles 

Destined to return to the water as adults. 

The ground features a mosaic of moss and lichens 

Sprinkled with twigs and needles and acorns 

Covering the ancient bluestone rocks quarried here

Centuries ago when horsepower pulled wagons. 

Four tiny pastel blue petals around a yellow core

Clusters of bluets sprouting up along the margins 

Decorate the scene as we make our way past

Far from the concerns of the present day crisis.

We are walking on the ocean floor sediment 

Deposited millions of years before people evolved 

Crushed under inexorable metamorphic pressure 

Lifted up and then eroded away over the eons. 

This is the perspective seen when stepping back 

Though what goes on in our world matters very much

Demanding our efforts to make right all that is wrong 

We take our measure as well in this larger context.