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Arboretum Archive

E-pistles

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Calvert Vaux Park

December 24, 2023

 

CHRISTMAS 2023

 

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Brooklyn Christmas Bird of the Year: Purple Sandpiper

 

Purple Sandpipers are reliably present at Christmastime each year on the wave-washed rocky waterfront of my Brooklyn neighborhood along the Verrazzano Narrows. They breed in the far north, and Brooklyn is their idea of south for the winter; they arrive around Thanksgiving and stay into the spring. It’s their tradition.

 

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December 21, 2022

Best Wishes for the Winter Solstice and all of its Attendant Holidays

 


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December 23, 2021

 

CHRISTMAS 2021

 

 

On the Color Wheel

Red and Green

Are opposites

But the technical term is Complimentary Colors

They call across the Spectrum

And vibrate in one another’s presence

 

In a time of too much opposition

Remember how Red and Green

Resolve their conflict

Conjoining as the

Colors of Christmas


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​August 15, 2021

Today is the 100th anniversary of my Mother's birth.


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December 24, 2020

 


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December 23, 2019

 

 

CHRISTMAS 2019

 

Through Time, and Time Again

Christmas Recycles

One Year’s Tree

Is another’s Yule Log;

Yesteryear Fuels the Future

 


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December 24, 2018

 

CHRISTMAS 2018

Sing We Noel Once More
 
I arose one morning in the early light
When the earth with frost was all shining white
 
Sing we Noel, Noel, Noel
Sing we Noel once more
 
Then I went to find Guillaume my neighbor near
Tell me what’s that song you so gladly hear?
 
Sing we Noel, Noel, Noel
Sing we Noel once more
 
I am glad to hear the nightingale’s sweet song
I have heard its notes ringing all night long
 
Sing we Noel, Noel, Noel
Sing we Noel once more
 
Tis no song of nightingale or any bird
‘Twas an angel’s voice from high heaven you heard
 
Sing we Noel, Noel, Noel
Sing we Noel once more
 
In a stable stall he told us born this night
Is the Son of God, come from heaven’s light
 
Sing we Noel, Noel, Noel
Sing we Noel once more
 
Then I took my oboe and my flageolet
Guillaume took his lute and away we set
 
Sing we Noel, Noel, Noel
Sing we Noel once more
 
Shepherds come with us, this little lamb to see
We will give him music, sweet melody
 
Sing we Noel, Noel, Noel
Sing we Noel once more
 

 The David Randolf Singers perform Sing We Noel Once More

Song of the Nightingale; may be confused with an angel’s


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