Hurrying Home

I’ve just come back from a late evening bike ride. Crossing the Route 129 Bridge (see photo from my recent post The Earth’s Eye) I saw a lone cormorant skimming low over the New Croton Reservoir. He was flying fast toward Bald Mountain, just a few inches over the almost smooth water. He seemed to be hurrying to get where he was going before the day ended, all alone on the wide water.

BC Transit

I’ve just returned from my first visit to Vancouver, British Columbia. This is a city that, for reasons of topography and culture, is trying to build up and not out. Hemmed-in by steep mountains that plunge to a jagged coastline, Vancouver is a high-density, high-energy town. There is an extensive bus network that serves the urban core as well as far-flung suburbs. Many of the bus lines are electric, which reduces noise and fumes. A small, fully-automated light rail system, the Sky Train, is undergoing a major expansion, which will take it to the airport and southern suburbs. A network of local and long-distance ferries serves coastal and island communities to the north and west as do the ever-present seaplanes.[Click on photos to see enlarged versions.]

El Coyote

Out of the corner of my eye I caught a coyote loping across my lawn this morning. There was nothing tentative or hesitant about his movement. It’s always like this when you see coyotes around here – they’re all business. Coyote sightings are becoming more frequent. Within the past ten days I’ve seen two that had been killed on local roads. At night I hear them singing. They drown out the sounds of the distant Taconic Parkway. I think what’s happening is that the animals we see are the scouts – the early arrivals of the race coming back to reclaim their ancient place. They want to beat out their shyer competitors, the black bears, wolves and pumas. All will return; the coyotes are first in line.

Gray Skies

Typical spring weather in these parts. A storm spinning south and east of the New York Bight is sending via the east wind high clouds and cool ocean air. This kind of setup can last for days. Only a few sprinkles now and then – it’s been quite dry here although a fair amount of rain has fallen just a few miles to the east. The photo was taken a couple of hours ago. View is looking up the hill that rises eastward from Hunter Brook Road in Yorktown. If you drive up Baptist Church Road you’ll cross this hill.

So, I’ve finally struggled to the end of Walden. It’s definitely been worth the effort. I’m debating whether to read next Thoreau’s Cape Cod. Other candidates include Dark Age Ahead by Jane Jacobs (who died last month) and The Place You Love is Gone by Melissa Holbrook Pierson. Now, what would Thoreau thought of Google Earth or Google Maps? I imagine he would have made all kinds of connections and discoveries. Here’s a link to a satellite/map hybrid from Google Maps, which shows Concord and Walden Pond. Thoreau’s grave is in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery on Bedford Street (Route 62) to the right of downtown Concord. A final word about Thoreau: When the Christians take over (they’re 90% there), Thoreau will be erased from our American memory. Henry spent too much time sitting around reading the Hindu Vedas. And it was Thoreau who said, “It is necessary not to be a Christian to appreciate the beauty and significance of the life of Christ.”

Crossing Weehawken Ferry

Here is your blogger, looking down on his natal city from the heights of Weehawken. I wish I could dig deeper and tell you how I wandered the streets, like Walt Whitman, of that teeming island. I am the belated lighter of Crossing Brooklyn Ferry. Till then I will tell you little tidbits of trains and trolleys and lakes and estuaries. Today’s book recommendation: Changes in the Land by William Cronon. This will help you strip off all the stuff we’ve dumped on the soil and in the water and imagine God’s green earth here at the seaward end of the Hudson River.

Return of the Trolley

With the end of the trolleys in the 1950s, the Newark City Subway was the only light rail system remaining in the New York metropolitan region. This has changed with the opening of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail . This line, operated by New Jersey Transit, links the Hudson River communities of North Bergen, Union City, Weehawken, Hoboken, Jersey City and Bayonne. I took the photos on this post yesterday at the Port Imperial and 9th and Congress Street stations of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail . Note that the line uses a dedicated right-of-way as does the Newark City Subway. The Newark line is undergoing an expansion, which will include the first use of non-dedicated rights of way in this region since the demise of the trolley lines about 50 years ago – parts of the new extension will share the city streets with cars, trucks and buses. The following link to a PDF file from NJ Transit provides details:
http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/sf_lr_NCS_Newsletter.pdf.