F. Scott Fitzgerald would NOT Approve

Much to my delight and relief, youngest daughter has returned safely from an academic foray in Kenya, back to her campus at Princeton. I am so glad she was not eaten by lions, nor hacked into bits by machete-wielding pirates on the coast.

No, no! That is not youngest daughter (otherwise known as "Smokin' hot smart Brat) - this photo is of friend and extra fourth daughter who went with me, to see Max...the lovely Laura, who is a very talented art student at Pratt.

We were absolutely amazed along the way at wild scenes of flooding,

and we took all sorts of photographs on the detours we were forced to take.

We ran into many blocked roads.

Along the way we discussed the deterioration of the ecosystem.

The violence of huge trees falling felt like a physical assault.

It is quite important to realize that trees aren't keeling over because of wind, or weather - those are simply the mechanisms that are facilitating the underlying cause.

An ominous sky above harbors invisible but toxic greenhouse gases.

Trees aren't falling over because of storms, or wind. Their root systems are rotted, thanks to the effects of atmospheric poisons from burning fossil and biofuels.L

Laura is an art student and so she found some interesting perturbations in the patterns of decay.

As we wended our way along back roads, we came across so many scenes like this rotting trunk.

This tree was still standing but the evidence of BALDing is obvious.

BarkAtrophe Lichen Decline.

In a very short time I predict insurance companies will cease to cover tree falling damage, or else, raise premiums to impossible levels.

We ignored yet another detour sign and came upon this scene. The only reason these trees weren't flat on the ground is they were hung up on power lines on the opposite side of the road. I floored it, and we made it across in a sweat!

Here is a great homeowner's insurance claim!

The closer we got to Princeton the worse the damage was.

There is no way to describe the devastation in words or photographs.

You had to be there to realize how horrible it is to see such huge and venerable trees knocked over.

This is around the church where 206 meets Nassau Street.

The important thing to note is how rotted the tree is.

If anyone tries to tell me this is to be blamed on high winds, I will go ballistic, perhaps, or else show them this picture

which clearly indicates the rot at the core of trees.

The trees are crashing because they are weakened from exposure to toxic greenhouse gas emissions. That's the explanation! Well, I was thrilled as I said to see youngest daughter.

On the tree behind this photograph, the bark is clearly suffering from BALDing loss of bark.

Ouch!

And here is where her famous Eating Club is going to have to reconcile with Mother Nature, who is quite angry.

I am so happy to have a few glorious moments with my much loved Brat. We went shopping, and she tried on this ridiculous and absurdly glorious, useless but adorable dress today.