In the city a tree is an oasis

[kaiser soze]

No talk of the freak storm in NYC, and I know many lives, both private and public were affected - but some of the biggest victims of this freak weather were the beautiful trees juxtaposed amongst the brick, cement, and steel of the urban jungle.

Some of the those trees were cared for, loved, and adored by the citizens of the city - their only immediate connection to nature. Others resilient towards the unnatural growth occuring around them. Regardless of how these trees came to be they were just as integral to the well-being of the inhabitants as the economy and opportunities of expression abounding around.

As someone who takes wildlife for granted but also finds my muse every opportunity I venture a couple miles from my house to the wild, I am always reminded that no matter how much we think technology, synthetism, and artificiality helps sustain us - we always are humbled and comforted by the infallible beauty of nature.

And may the sole human victim (Aline Levakis) (http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/09/17/2010-09-17_griefstricken_hubby_how_can_i_go_home_without_h er.html) of these storms and her family be in peace

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/nyregion/18trees.html?hp

One majestic tree, regarded as the neighborhood’s treasure, was an immense scarlet oak in the Pullis Farm Cemetery, an early American farm family burial ground. It was believed to be more than 110 years old. It was a beauty, just about perfectly symmetrical.

“When you touched the tree, you felt like you were touching a part of the 19th century,” Mr. Holden said.

The storm tore it down, ending its long life in a blink.

[ericlee]

Yeah, that is so saddening that that young lady lost her life over it and I feel very sorry for her husband. Her family too.

I was working outside that day and you could just see the sky get darker by the minutes and all kinds of wind whipped up and it started raining ferociously, and then it started hailing.

The rain wasn't coming straight down, it was actually raining horizontally.

[Kid Presentable]

*has paper*

[ms.peachy]

This is the bit that made me tear up:

An elderly man was mourning a maple tree that he had planted outside his house on Dartmouth Street when he was a teenager. It grew as he grew. It was one more that the storm took.

Poor old guy. At an age where he's seeing old friends pass away and a world that he once knew disappear. It's so bitterly symbolic.

[ericlee]

Damn.

Neil Miller
In two days, he was to marry his love and set sail on a honeymoon cruise.
But a hero bus driver who tried to save a woman fatally crushed by a toppled tree in last week's tornado has died from an aneurysm brought on by the rescue attempt -- just before his wedding, and about a month before he was to retire.
As the violent winds blew through Queens last Thursday, Richard Bermudez leapt into action to try to rescue Aline Levakis from her crushed Lexus sedan on the Grand Central Parkway. Levakis had pulled over as the tornado struck, and moments later, a tree fell on her car.
Bermudez, 57, a bus driver from St. Albans, was able to help Levakis' husband, Billy, but could not get to her as she cried out for help. Aline, 30, died at the scene.
At the bus garage the next day, Bermudez was haunted by the accident.
"He was a wreck. He was crying, 'I couldn't save the lady,' " recalled Monica Thompson, a co-worker at the East Harlem garage on East 110th Street where he was depot chairman for the Transport Workers Union.
"He was saying, 'It's still in me. I can still hear this lady screaming and there's nothing I can do to save her,' " said Thompson.
He felt ill and complained of headaches. Later that night, after attending a co-worker's birthday party, Bermudez slumped down in the passenger seat of a friend's car during the ride home.
By 10 p.m., he had been admitted to Queens General Hospital. Bermudez, who had high blood pressure, suffered a burst blood vessel because of his Herculean efforts the previous night to save the couple's lives, doctors said.
He was put on a ventilator and died three days later.
"We pulled the plug because my father always told us he never wanted to live on a machine," Bermudez's son, Richie Jr., told The Post yesterday.
Bermudez was to marry Esperanza Tores Friday, then head off on a cruise.
"He was happy. He was getting married," said Richie, 29, who was mourning yesterday with his brother, Alejandro, 28.
Bermudez's body will be flown back to his native Puerto Rico, where he'll be buried next to his first wife, who died of cancer in 2002.
Bermudez was set to retire on Oct. 22 after 30 years on the job.
"They were having an annual retirees dinner for him then. Instead they'll use that as a memorial to him," said fellow bus operator Ray Rios, 53.

[ms.peachy]

That is just so sad. What a heartbreak.

[Guy Incognito]

that is one of the most tragic things i have read. In mysterious ways indeed.