W is for Whose Woods These Are
Friday, April 26 is W-Day in the A to Z Challenge. The end is in sight. Three more letters to go.
Whenever I see a woodsy area in Southern New Jersey (or anywhere else for that matter), I think of the first line of Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” a poem I learned in 10th grade English I’m not telling how many years ago a number of years ago.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
Lately, I have thought of this line a number of times, although I have always incorrectly remembered this line as “Whose woods these are I do not know.”
Last year, on June 30, 2012, many patches of wonderful woodsy areas in Southern New Jersey were devastated by a severe wind-storm (derecho) as it hopped-skipped-and-jumped through our area. I wrote about that storm in this blog post: Blame it on the Derecho a few days later in July of 2012, and I posted pictures of the damage in and around my hometown.
This year, on various walks and rides around the area, I have looked to see how well the area has recovered from the storm. In some places, you hardly notice the damage. Old trees have been cut down, and new smaller trees have been replanted on local city streets. But in the out-lying woodsy areas, it is a different story.
I decided to take more pictures of the area to show how long-lasting the damage is.
The tops of these pines were sheared off and left standing like telephone poles. So far, there is no evidence of recovery. The pine cones that weren’t blown away may start new pine growth, but that will take years.
New growth can just barely be seen in the twinges of red buds on the still-standing trees.
Trees were broken off like matchsticks at mid-height.
Huge trees were pulled up by the roots.
Large sections of trees stripped bare stand next to sections of trees hardly touched.
Whose woods these are I do not know, but it saddens me still to see such devastation.
On bright note, though. There are new buds on the bushes and red twinges of buds on the branches. Hope springs eternal.
The Last Meow
We cats love trees. Here’s the proof!
Meow for now. =(^,^)=
Quite a wind storm
…amazing how the trees will push forth new life. They will. It will take a bit od time, but they will send out new life.
I love that poem and Robert Frost! I have a book of his poems, somewhere. I need to find it , dust it off, and read it again. 🙂 I remember having to memorize this poem in high school, but I do not remember my grade. I will tell you it was somewhere between 1973 and 1977. I am a Baby Boomer!
#1202
A to Z April Blogging Challenge
http://mauldinfamily1.wordpress.com/2013/04/27/x-is-for-xerosis/
Um, I think I learned it before you did! This poem is still in some high school textbooks.
Nice post. I often find myself (silently) quoting the lines near the end of that poem. “But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep, …”
Such forest devastation. Wow. I had no idea…
The camera can’t even pick up the worst of it. I have to drive 30 minutes to go to church on Sundays, and I drive through many patches of this devastation. I am worried that some of it may never recover. I’ll probably do another post on this in a few months. Thanks for the visit.
This Frost poem was recently featured at the very end of an episode of “Elementary,” used in a different sort of way from most interpretation. When Watson gave it to Holmes, she said, “This is rather dark, but I think it’s appropriate for you.” Then I was surprised to see what it was, but of course it did fit his situation! I enjoy the rather odd twists and turns of this show.
Hmm. That sounds intriguing. I haven’t watched the show, but I’ll have to try to catch it.
Thanks for letting me camp out in your blog for a little while today. I had a great time and tried to leave my campsite as good as when I arrived. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks!
I love having visitors…especially visitors who bring their lovable cat!
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