News from the preserves, parks and backyards of Princeton, NJ. The website aims to acquaint Princetonians with our shared natural heritage and the benefits of restoring native diversity and beauty to the many preserved lands in and around Princeton.
Come hear the Sustainable Jazz Ensemble perform this Saturday at the opening night party for the Princeton Public Library's annual Environmental Film Festival. We'll start soon after the discussion following the excellent bicycle movie "Veer". We'll be playing music I composed since moving to Princeton six years ago, with titles like The Case of the Kidnapped Kalypso, Fresh Paint (composed while breathing latex fumes in a freshly painted room), Lejos de Aqui (Far from Here), Lunar Eclipse (composed while forgetting to check out the lunar eclipse that was going on outside). Phil Orr's on piano, Jerry D'Anna's on bass, and I'll be playing saxophone.
There will be some light refreshments available later in our performance, but you're welcome to byof, since it's happening around dinnertime.
Info on all the extraordinary movies to be shown over the next two weeks can be found at http://www.princeton.lib.nj.us/peff/schedule.htm.
My daughter gave me a tree drawing today, which fits in well with what I had started writing about an oak tree not far from our house:
Oaks are among the most giving of trees. They play host to more than 500 species of butterflies and moths--more than any other kind of tree hereabouts. When I lived in the Midwest, my backyard looked out upon two massive bur oaks that, as the squirrels traveled their long limbs, seemed like whole cities unto themselves.
You'd think, at this time of year, as trees stand stark against the wintry sky, that the oaks' giving would be done until spring. Most do appear lifeless and abandoned. So it was surprising to be walking in the neighborhood one recent sunny afternoon and look up to find an oak full of birds hard at work, harvesting a largely invisible crop. Four bluejays, three nuthatches, two mourning doves, and a flicker in a bare tree, or so a song might go. Most acrobatic were the bluejays, clinging upside down to wispy twigs to pluck the pin oak's small acorns, then bracing the morsels between their feet while they pecked them open.
On this day of giving, a time to celebrate trees, both giving and given.
