Past 90 (9)
On my 92nd birthday I lost a very old friend. These days, hardly a week goes by without the passing of a friend, usually one not as old as I. But this friend was 47 years old when I was born. I won’t miss her quite as much as so many of my dearest departed. But she was magnificent and I loved her.
For more than 20 years, I’ve
been walking the approximately 3 miles around Lake Merritt in Oakland. Many times I paused along the way to admire
the massive and beautiful, 120 foot tall Eucalyptus. Now it lies prostrate,
though impressive as ever, felled by a fierce windstorm in the early hours of
Thursday, November 21st, 2013.
Our first group of Lake
walkers started out as members of the Oakland Y. Now our variable group, about
eight or nine, includes only one who was there when I first tagged along. We
used to do it two times a week, now down to one. The Lake area has been upgraded and
landscaped into as nice a center of community as any city could call its own.
click to enlarge photos
I will miss the beautiful shade given to the lawn in the area. The landscape will appear naked and barren until some replacement is added, and many years will pass before the replacement reaches the stature of this one individual. Probably not in my lifetime.
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