Monday, January 12, 2009

Winter Trees



























In the previous entry, I described the past weekend as a "washout."

Well, in terms of animal placements and too many frustrating phone calls, it was.

But, in other ways, if it was a washout, it was quite a beautiful one.

We had about an inch of snow in New York City this weekend.

It was a great time for picture-taking and having fun in Central Park yesterday with the dogs.

I so love Central Park. Any time of the day or night; any season of the year.

But, sometimes it seems my favorite time of the year is, in fact, winter.

I love the bare, free-wheeling look of the trees -- like naked, abstract paintings traveling in all different directions.

I love watching and throwing some food to the myriad of ducks and other water birds that seem to return in large flocks to the Reservoir during the cooler weather.

And I most love watching Tina and Chance take off in the snow and run like small, curious and care-free, happy children.

Perhaps the nicest and most fun time in Central Park (for dog lovers) is the early morning when hundreds of dog owners congregate (especially around the Great Lawn) to sip some hot coffee, allow their dogs to run free and chew the fat with fellow "dog people."

If one wasn't involved in animal rescue work, one would swear that New York City was one very big, dog loving town!

Well, in some ways, it obviously is.

Those dogs (usually fancy purebreds) fortunate to have loving and committed owners actually have a good life here in the city.

Central Park is their personal "backyard."

I don't usually stand around and chew the fat with other dog owners. Tina likes to wander too much and Chance tends to simply follow wherever we go. I always have music flowing through my Walkman and prefer traveling to different areas of the park (rather than staying in one place) as each is like its own little piece of heaven.

I always have to find and see the ducks. I think ducks are among the most beautiful animals on earth. Watching them flow peacefully across the waters always gives me a feeling that all is right in the world. (I know of course that isn't true, but its nice to feel and pretend if only for a moment out of the days.)

When returning home yesterday, I finally removed all the Christmas decorations from my tree, but did not actually take down the tree.

One of the advantages of having a fake Christmas tree is that one doesn't have watch the tree slowly die and then seek to get rid of it a few days following New Year.

One just needs to change the decorations!

I removed the colored lights and replaced them with white ones. I removed all the religious and "Christmasy" ornaments and replaced them with icicles and tiny animal ornaments. And I finally trimmed the tree in white (snow-like) garland.

My Christmas tree has thus become a "winter tree" and closely resembles the snow covered pine trees I so love in Central Park this time of year.

In some ways its prettier now than just prior to or during Christmas!

"For those times one can't get to the park, then bring the park to you!"

I will probably leave the tree this way until the first day in Spring in late March.

As Mickey Rourke says, "When one is alone, all one has is one's dogs."

And they don't judge if you leave your "winter tree" up until March! ;) --- PCA

**********

No comments: