When the Leaves Become Light

On the Colours of Fall and the Grace of Change “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”  — Albert Camus November has come, and with it the final flourish of fall. The trees of Short Hills now stand at the summit of their splendour—each one aflame with hues that no artist couldContinue reading “When the Leaves Become Light”

The Oak-A tree of Time, Myth, and Memory- VI

In Memory and Intimacy: A Personal Companion  “The tree is the slowest, most patient of all living things. To sit beneath one is to be reminded of what endures when everything else passes.”— John Fowles If myth made the oak divine, and art made it eternal, then memory makes it beloved. There are trees weContinue reading “The Oak-A tree of Time, Myth, and Memory- VI”

The Oak-A Tree of Time, Myth, and Memory – Part V

Oaks in Thought, Word, and Image: Literature, Art, and Human Creativity “Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,Sermons in stones, and good in everything.” -Shakespeare (As You Like It, Act II, Scene I) John Constable, The Cornfield (1826), National Gallery, London. If in myth the oak stood as a sacred emblem, and in ecologyContinue reading “The Oak-A Tree of Time, Myth, and Memory – Part V”

The Oak—A Tree of Time, Myth, and Memory – IV

Of Gods and Druids: The Sacred Oak in Myth and Ritual ““The oak is called the king of trees, the pride of the forest, the glory of the landscape.”  — William Gilpin Temple of Zeus at Dodona with oracle Oak If the oak is the heartbeat of the forest, it is also the pulse ofContinue reading “The Oak—A Tree of Time, Myth, and Memory – IV”

Oak and Spirit: The Silent Alchemy

(The oak–liquor relationship finds expression in the cadence and emotional charge of this poem. Its imagery, symbolism, and metaphorical resonance seeks a distillation that is  both timeless and transcendental) Long before lips knew the taste,oak and liquor found each other.It was not a meeting of moment,but of destiny—two strangers who spoke the same ancient tongue.The oakContinue reading “Oak and Spirit: The Silent Alchemy”

The Oak: A Tree of Time, Myth, and Memory: Part II

Antiquity and Evolution –From Fossil Records to Timekeeper of Forests “Oaks are not merely trees. They are hieroglyphs of time, their rings a silent language spoken in centuries.” A Tree Older Than Memory The oak is not only ancient—it is ancestral. Its story begins not in the pages of human myth or literature, but deep inContinue reading “The Oak: A Tree of Time, Myth, and Memory: Part II”

Charleston-The Jewel of the South-Part III

Azaleas, Camellias, and Magnolias Charleston’s legacy remains incomplete without acknowledging its historic plantations. Nestled within the verdant expanses of South Carolina, these estates provide a hauntingly beautiful window into America’s pre-Civil War era. Swathed in azaleas, camellias, and magnolias, these plantations stand as monuments to both the grandeur and the strife of a bygone age.Continue reading “Charleston-The Jewel of the South-Part III”