Slip, Sliding Away -- The Banishment of Tradition and Nature

Little girl enjoying one of the few mallards at Harlem Meer. Who needs wildlife anyway?

Carriage horse at Central Park. Who needs draft horses anyway? They are "antiquated."

Geese, geese, be gone from the Boat lake! Nature is "messy."

Migratory geese huddled on water of Jackie Onassis Reservoir in Central Park against backdrop of city. Who needs migratory birds anyway?

 

"Slip, sliding away. You know, the closer to your destination, the more you're slip sliding away."   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_H-LY4Jb2M

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A couple of weeks ago, I was speaking with a friend and remarked on the difficulty of finding pretty and meaningful Christmas cards to buy this year.  "Oh," chuckled, Doug. "That is because no one sends out regular cards anymore. Everything is E-cards these days."

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"Really?" I questioned, surprised.  "But, it's so much nicer to have something in your hands! Something personal. -- Something, someone actually took the time to pick out and write."

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As matters turned out, Doug was apparently right. Not only was my personal list of Christmas card recipients much smaller this year than years past, but the number received was fewer than the fingers on one hand.

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Slip, sliding away.

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I was the only one in the building to put a Christmas wreath on my door this year.  And, unlike past years, there were little to no Christmas lights and decorations around my otherwise busy and bustling Upper East Side, Manhattan neighborhood. Were it not for news snips on TV about Black Friday shopping deals or the yearly rerun of "Its a Wonderful Life," one would not even know it was the Christmas season.

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Slip, sliding away.

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But, there were some areas of New York City where Christmas was very much evident and in view -- particularly around the Fifth Avenue department stores and of course, the carriage horses of Central Park. Long lines of mostly tourists waited patiently for the horses around the hack lines of 59th Street. Little children smiling in anticipation and glee at being able to take a ride or, up close and personal, pet a horse and offer a carrot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STHpqPkNzqs&feature=youtu.be

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But even this joyful picture has been marred in recent years by weekly, angry protests and nearly constant video surveillance on drivers by anti-carriage folks. They seek to record on photo or video, any tiny traffic or other infraction no matter how ridiculous or trivial to post on Internet sites in order to demonize and tear down an otherwise long and treasured tradition in New York City.

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"Horses don't belong in traffic!" the posters sneer. And carriage horses are "so last century" and "antiquated." 

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Slip, sliding away.

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And then of course there is the wildlife of Central Park.

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The late migratory Canada geese who normally seek out Central Park as brief refuge during the deepest parts of winter arrived over the past couple of weeks. Most take up a roughly six weeks residence at the Jackie Onassis Reservoir where they are safe from people, dogs and harassment.

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But, a few geese venture to the other watercourses in Central Park -- particularly, Harlem Meer and the Boat Lake.

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In recent weeks, I have wondered why no geese have been present at Harlem Meer -- or for that matter, other migratory water birds such as Northern Shovlers, coots or the occasional wood duck, all of whom used to be in ample abundance this time of year at the northern most point of Central Park. (Mute swans are of course, long gone from CP as there is general and current war against them in the state of NY). Currently, there is just a small band of about 30 mallards who still hold on at Harlem Meer, but that number is far down from what it was only a year ago.

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I have speculated that perhaps we lost far more water birds than was calculated during the particularly brutal winter in the north east of last year.

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But that speculation took a bit of a hit yesterday in news my friend and fellow nature lover, Liliana shared with me.  (http://theinsatiabletraveler.com/2014/12/19/rediscovering-new-york-lillian-bobo-feeds-birds-central-park/)

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"Geese Police was at the Boat lake yesterday -- yes, even Christmas Eve!" Liliana told me in despaired voice.

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A dog owner reported to Liliana seeing the man from Geese Police hurl a large canister filled with rocks and attached to a long rope on the lake to scare off most of the geese and ducks on the water. "It made a horrible, loud crashing sound!" the woman reported -- so bad, it even startled her small, Yorkshire  terrier. 

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One is at loss on what to say about all this. 

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It was only a few years ago, that a spokeswoman for Central Park Conservancy told me that the reason CP harasses resident Canada geese in the fall is "to make room the for migratory geese who seek out CP in winter."  Either the woman was misinformed or boldly lying as virtually all the geese (and ducks) being harassed now are migratory.

Slip, sliding away.

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There are those who will argue that we don't need Christmas cards because they waste paper and trees. There are those who will argue that we don't need carriage (draft) horses because the horses are "antiquated." And there are those who argue we don't need wildlife in our parks because nature is "messy."

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But I just find myself thinking of the Paul Simon song.

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"You know, the nearer to your destination, the more you're slip, sliding away."  -- PCA

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