THE MOUNT SEEN FROM SHAUPENEAK RIDGE

RUSTY JOHNSON'S HARRIS HAWK, "BRISA DEL CIELO"

Rusty Johnson (to whose website I have a link below) lives on a house here at The Mount. Rusty is a well known animal handler and falconer. He is an Esopus boy, raised right here in Ulster Park with a great love for animals and wildlife. (Rusty has appeared on the David Letterman Show, done film work with Ron Howard as an animal handler and gives regular lectures on wildlife and hawks at the Mohonk Mountain House near New Paltz, NY). At present Rusty is training "Brisa del Cielo" (Heavenly Breeze in English) on our property with the idea of giving Hawk Walks here. Here is a video with the "Life History" of "Brisas del Cielo" with original music composed by Rusty.
http://www.ecologychannel.com/tv/brisa.html

CLOSE LOOK AT RED TAILED HAWK ON HOOK MOUNTAIN.

This gives you a "hint" of how truly wonderful the view and the "experience" is at Hook Mountain right above Marydell Faith and Life Center. This is a link to a very neat video of a Red Tailed Hawk stopping on his/ or her way South during Fall migration.
http://www.battaly.com/hook/video/UpClose/

HOOK MOUNTAIN IN WEST NYACK, NY

THE 'FUN BARN' AT MARYDELL FAITH AND LIFE CENTER

West Nyack State Park on the Hudson River

Mgr. John Kane Hermitage in West Nyack-Marydell

RETREAT AT MARYDELL

Last week I made a retreat under Hook Mountain in West Nyack, NY. The place is called "Marydell Faith and Life Center". It is still a summer camp location and "used to be" an overnight camp run by the Sisters of Christian Doctrine. It is made up of lovely little cabins and cottages just under the palisade cliffs that tower above the Hudson River just above Tarrytown and just south of Ossining on the East bank of the river. The little hermitage where I stayed was the summer home of Mgr. John Kane, a diocesan priest who taught in High School for many years and was the Camp Chaplain in the summer. They tell me that he was an exceptionally simple, peaceful and good man. There are always, at all times of the year, many Turkey Vultures soaring or gliding over Hook Mountain which is an interesting vantage point during Spring and Fall migration of hawks and songbirds. The preceding posts today show you some of the great scenery of Marydell: 1. Hook Mountain 2. West Nyack State Park along the river 3. One of the cottages and 4. The Mgr. John Kane Hermitage.

MY 'CHRIST AND THE PLANET" WORSHOP YESTERDAY

whI have been in a very elated mood since yesterday. One of the biggest reasons was that I finally was able to get a nice group of 6 persons together to give the workshop on the environment on which I have worked hard for the last half year. Joan, Kevin, Francisco, Ann, Nick and Dan (my very own brother!!) spent the day from 10am till 4pm contemplating the truly wonderful immensity of this universe and our planet. We used videos, my PowerPoints which represent "lots" of work, music on ecology and the planet and some good shared reflections on how to REFLECT....CONNECT....RESPECT and.....PROTECT our gift of "Mother Earth. I plan to offer the workshop again. And....I also plan to have a complete weekend workshop during which you can stay with us three nights on our Hudson River 400 acre land of THE MOUNT, get to know, touch, identify the trees, plants, animals and habitats we have besides praying together and reflecting on those tasks I just mentioned above. I am most grateful to my brother Dan and to his friend from Puerto Rico, Tato, (Francisco) who helped me "put up the planets" and the other "visuals that i had created. Below I share a very simple YouTube video on the environment.
'>file://

RELIGION AND ECOLOGY

One of the sources I have read for my workshop on Ecology and the Environment:

CHRIST AND FALL MIGRATION

Saturday, Oct 4th

Time: 10am---3pm

Where:Mt. St Alphonsus Pastoral Center, Esopus, NY

Phone: 845-384-8052

is Mary Evelyn Tucker and her John Grim from Yale. They show how the different religious groups, for instance myself and other Roman Catholics are "coming alive in our love and desire to connect with the whole living environment"

Please enjoy this YouTube video which is "right down the alley" that I will walk with you this Saturday here at THE MOUNT.

file://

FACING "INCONVENIENT TRUTHS..OUR EARTH

I have been putting the "finishing touches" on my workshop on CHRIST AND FALL MIGRATION for this coming:

Saturday

Oct 24th

9am--4pm

Mt. St. Alphonsus Retreat

845-384-8000

I will be a good workshop that challenges me and you to have, as Thomas Berry always said: "a mutually enhancing with all people and life systems of our earth"

I have been selecting YouTube videos that reflect what I will share with you who come next Saturday. I like this one because it actually shows a tearful Jesus Christ looking upon what have been the "short term" and what will be the "long range effects" of global warming upon the earth: the suffering it has caused and WILL cause if not combatted bringing pain and sadness to God' s earth. (The sequences are from Al Gore's film, "An Inconvenient Truth".)

file://

'MERCY FOR ME"---Song of the Earth

As beautiful as you may find the pictures I put on here of Vermont in the autumn I continue to invite you to come to my CHRIST AND FALL MIGRATION one day workshop:

Saturday, Oct. 24th

from 9am till 4 pm

Mt. St. Alphonsus Retreat Center

Esopus, NY

845-384-8000

And enjoy this song about protecting the Earth, our home You can also find the written lyrics on Marvin Gaye's Lyric Page at:

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Mercy-Mercy-Me-The-Ecology-lyrics-Marvin-Gaye/93D3799177E4A89748256BD40012C55C

file://

A Nice Autumn Trip to Arlington VT--Mt. Equinox

Last week my friend Norman and I went to Mt. Equinox, VT which is near Bennington Vermont. We spent some time "above the mist", but later enjoyed Shaftsbury State Park and another beautiful lake which is a reservoir along Route 7a which is the scenic route. Out on the island there were a number of large comorants drying off their wings after fishing. And, although our Canada Geese were "masters and mistresses" of the reservoir, we also saw a few Great Blue Herons. (And I "think" I saw an immature American Bald Eagle glide over me just after I took the picture of me with the light that "fortuitously came through the trees behind me". Autumn, with its splash of greens, yellows, reds and browns is a great way to say "Goodbye" to summer and a reluctant "Hello!" to winter.

Moss Covered Rock in Shaftsbury State Park, VT

Lake at Shaftsbury State Park--Bennington, VT

Hudson River Birder at in Vermont Autumn Woods

Wooden Bridge at Shaftsbury State Park, VT

Reservoir near Bennington VT

...."PEOPLE PROTECT WHAT THEY LOVE" (Jaques Costeau)

file:/ This Hudson River Birder reminds you all of my Environmental Workshop which will be here at Mt. St. Alphonsus Pastoral Center starting at 9am on Saturday, Oct. 24th, 2009. I have worked hard preparing PowerPoints on the Universe, the formation of the Universe as well as focusing on our need to respect, connect and protect Earth which is our home. Below are two videos from YouTube that articulate some of the ideas of my workshop on the environment. Please come! There will be a fine lunch. The cost is only $35. I also present this :30 sec video from Jaques Costeau who invites us to PROTECT WHAT WE LOVE. Jaques himself believed and lived what he said. Let's do it too!
file://

OUR ENVIRONMENT NEEDS "OUR HELP"

The last post I put had a YouTube video on Thomas Berry's ideas on how we need to have a "mutally enhancing relationship with all of Creation". This means, of course, our fellow human beings. But it includes all living things that God has placed here in our "mutual home" On Oct 24the which is a Saturday from 9am until 4 pm I invite those of you who can to come to my "Christ and Fall Migration" workshop. It costs only $35 and includes a fine lunch. In this workshop I will help us to understand our relationship to the universe and our planet earth so that we can understand what we can and need to do to connect with, reflect upon, respect and protect our home...EARTH. I invite you to see this other quite powerful video from YouTube which shows lots of both the benefits of protecting our Earth as well as the sad consequences of not doing this. Watch and reflect.
file://