 |
| Near the Bronx River in the NYBG |
The drizzle and low clouds should have kept people home, but
it was Boxing Day, December 26th and the New York Botanical Garden
was packed. Hundreds of people were there to see the Holiday Train Show. I was
headed in the opposite direction, to the Thain Family Forrest. The damp day
meant that I would have the paths and the woods to myself.
Everyone loves to walk in the park when it is warm and
sunny, but I enjoy cold and wet days. The fine mist in the air absorbs sounds
and the land becomes quiet. Walking along abandoned paths, no outside sounds
getting to your ears, you can almost imagine what the forests of the Bronx were
like 300 years ago.
When I walk I look for anything that might catch my eye. In
parks, especially in the fall and winter, that is usually a tree. I become lost
in the intertangled lines of the branches, especially when they extend up into
the sky. The curves of the tendrils form shapes that are both familiar and
unique. I can spend hours walking in cold or rainy weather, wandering from tree
to tree. Walking around them looking a different angles for just the right
picture.
The Thain Family Forest is the 400 acre heart of the
Botanical Gardens. It is the largest urban old growth forest in the country,
set aside in 1895, by the founders the Gardens. This area is minimally
maintained. The paths are kept clear, but nature is allowed to take its course
everywhere else. Winter is a great time to observe this process because most of
the undergrowth has gone into hibernation, allowing you to see all of the
fallen trees and their process of decomposition. Here shapes seem to change
from natural to supernatural. On one side of the path are the legs of a giant,
her body missing. On the other are the bones of a dragon’s head. Tree nymphs
and elves’ faces pop out of the ends of fallen logs.
Leaving the Thain Family Forest on its eastern side I cross
the Bronx River. The longest and largest natural water source in the Bronx, it
is navigable from its mouth up to the waterfalls near where I exit the forest.
On my visit the recent rains have given its flow a spring like force, but today
it has been partly shrouded from my view, and, alone, I can contemplate its
history. Nearby sits the Old Stone Mill. Originally a snuff mill powered by the
Bronx River, it is a showcase for the Botanical Garden, used for catered
affairs. The Bronx once had many forms of wild life living here, and now the
Bronx River is again home to a family of beavers, many deer and even the
occasional coyote.
Coming back to the
urban reality, my walk takes me through other collections in the Garden. The
crab apple trees line the path, and while the blooms are beautiful in the
spring, today their empty braches look like veins and arteries spreading out
into the lungs of a body. Other trees stand tall if bare, like the arms of
buried giants, straining to be free.
Yes, everyone loves to walk when the weather is beautiful.
Me, I enjoy the empty spaces that allow my imagination to roam free.
No comments:
Post a Comment