Humbled by the Forces of Nature

I have featured this very pretty and peaceful park, called Marine Park, on my blog in the past. It is located in the Marine Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.  I often walk there, and have always enjoyed the views of the beautiful trees through all the seasons.

 Last weekend, while I was away in Colorado, a terrible Nor'easter storm hit the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, and came with tremendous downpours of rain and winds as high as 60 to 70 miles an hour.

The storm's devastation to the park was especially hard. Half a century and older trees came tumbling down in Marine Park as if they were thin and light as matchsticks.

One by one, they fell.

Some toppled like dominoes one upon the other.

Luckily this happened during the night and no one was in the park to be injured or killed, although many cars that were parked along side the park were destroyed.

The people who live in the home across the street reported on TV that the sound of all the falling trees was deafening.

It was a reminder that no natter who we are, or what we are, life is fleeting, and we should never take a day for granted. 

The park department has been busy cutting the trees into movable pieces and then wood chipping them to recycle them.  As I approached this pile of wood chips I saw steam rising up from it as if the spirits of the trees was dissipating into the air. It was very sad and humbling to see what once was a thing of beauty reduced to a pile of wood chips.

"Give me a land of boughs in leaf,

A land of trees that stand;

Where trees are fallen there is grief;

I love no leafless land."

- A.E. Housman

But, as with all things in nature, there is rebirth!.  Many trees still remain to share their glory and the early morning geese and seagulls still find refuge in the park's grass. They were a moving carpet of life and a sign that life goes on and recovery follows

Signs of Spring were everywhere!

I hope the park's  trees will be replaced and the cycle of life and renewal will go on.

"Trees are the best monuments that a man can erect to his own memory.

They speak his praises without flattery, and they are

blessings to children yet unborn."

 Lord Orrery, 1749

I am adding this post to Outdoor Wednesday at Susan's blog "A Southern Daydreamer" Please visit Susan's blog today to see her post and links to all the blog participating.