A couple of weeks back a storm hit New York City that tore through Central Park like a vandal, snapping trees like twigs and felling over 200 of them. The number of downed branches was even higher, and a walk through the park after the storm was heart breaking.
Because Tupelo meadow is my favorite place in Central Park, I was worried about the old Tupelo tree at the center of the meadow. It is held together by cables, so that the massive twisted branches do not succumb to age and gravity. But even the Parks Department doesn't feel entirely safe about this solution, so that the circumference of the tree's branch reach is surrounded by a wire fence to keep people from sitting directly under its delicious shade.
I was happy to see that the old Tupelo is still standing. And not a branch snapped off. Yesterday I enjoyed a picnic with two old friends under the tree. And I wanted to share some photos of this grand old chlorophyll based being with you.
You can see how green the meadow is due to our very wet summer. And while you can't see the fence that surrounds the tree, you can see the perimeter of greenery that grows along the fence border under the tree, since while the meadow is kept, under the tree all is wild.
From afar the greenery looks dense and almost impenetrable, but from the other side, and the underside, looking east, you can see the branch architecture of the tree and the sunlight streaming through:
In the 1970s I climbed those branches with a boyfriend. My friend Eric would weed the meadow, which was overgrown and wild with the neglect of the city in financial crisis. And the surrounding Ramble was much denser with underbrush before so many men had trampled it flat, denuding the park while denuding themselves (on a number of levels).
If you find yourself in the Ramble, go visit and stand before this tree under the cathedral sanctuary of its leaves. And say a prayer for the park, for the city and for the planet.
Thank you, Mark, for that report.
I was genuinely worried.
I spent more time under, on, around, and in the general vicinity of that tree, than should be on a resumé.
It's like family.
Posted by: Stan | September 10, 2009 at 02:15 AM