A Mortar Stone Turtle

My latest post can be found at: Return to the Mortar/Turtle (Part One) as part of Rock Piles, a site that gets more traffic than my little rest stop along the Information Highway...

Signs

Walking up to the Falls, after being away for some Summer Camping (where one night we even all sang that old song called "Signs" from the early 70's that we were surprised the "Grandchildren Generation" knew the lyrics), my wife Roberta and I were happy to see how clean the area is. We've both been going up there for most of our lives, hauling trash out and wondering why people do stuff like litter and break bottles etc.

We noticed there were many New Signs everywhere, like the one above, and also these:

There's even a "You are Here" - that should read "You are NOT Here," because you aren't right there. We need some Boy or Girl Scouts to correct this...

Note that this standard list of Town Park rules mentions "no...nailing or attaching to any tree...any bill...or inscription whatsoever."

And here's one more sign, nailed on one of those Ancient Trees I wrote about as possible Treaty Trees or Peace Trees in an Older Post. (http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2008/04/tree-of-peace-and-treaty-trees.html)

Closer:

That is Poison Ivy.

Maybe it protects this Tree that Native People planted 300-plus years ago.

I lost count of how many signs were nailed to trees up there.

Some people should follow their own rules; there are many reasons not to put a nail in a tree...

Shaky Videos

If my photography isn't that great, is it possible that my video is worse?

Could be me, could be the camera (or it could be both)...

The Thing about Waking Up On Turtle Island

"Friends of Hammonasset" Logo

Joshua Rock

Along the Cedar Island Trail

Maybe a recent Rock Pile - or not

A Turtle?

Glacier or Human Activity?

End of the trail - is that the weir in the distance?

West side of row disturbed by trail...

...and the east side, barely visible under the green of late summer.

Split boulder with a wedge stone?

Turtle face at Southern end of trail perhaps?

The thing about Waking Up On Turtle Island is that I can do it just about everywhere I go, not just where I wake up most mornings at home.

I can visit my mom and see those stones some people always call "walls," and see the "Indian Look" in them - find a pile of stone hand tools sitting on them or visit several preserves nearby and see more rows and boulders that have escaped "harvesting" or complete destruction by the bulldozers by either some sort of miracle or just plain coincidence - or both.

I've looked at rock piles and rows in Rhode Island, where I first read "Manitou" - picked up a nice flint projectile point one time, just waiting for me on the foot path nearby.

And I found it at Hammonasset just recently - find myself waiting to hear from a retired doctor (who seems to also Wake Up on Turtle Island) if I correctly spotted a tidal fish weir made of stone from a distance.

The photos above document a little walk I took on August 30, 2008...