Activities are gatherings that occur on a regular schedule, usually weekly, to enjoy a specific pastime.
DMA Golfers are scheduled for our annual golf date at Sterling Farms on 31 August. We will look to have up to 7 foursomes starting at 10:30; play and a cart will be attractively priced at $52 per person. Sign-up must be completed a week in advance, by email to Peter Carnes.
picarnes@gmail.com
We look forward to a good turnout and a great outing.
The Walkway AcrWalk Across the Hudson is billed as “The Longest Elevated Pedestrian Bridge in the World” as it spans the Hudson River between Poughkeepsie NY and Highland NY. It provides magnificent panoramic views of the Hudson, and at 212 feet above the river, this 1.28 mile linear park boasts scenic views north to The Catskills and south to the Hudson Highlands. The Walkway structure dates from 1889 when it was built as a railroad bridge eventually carrying as many as 3000 train cars a day. A fire on May 8, 1974 halted train traffic forever but after 35 years the bridge was reopened as the Walkway on October 3, 2009 as a part of the Hudson Valley Rail Trail Network. For more information on the Walkway see:
Walkway Across the Hudson | World’s Longest Elevated Pedestrian Bridge
TRIP PLAN
We will gather at the DCA for an 8:30 AM departure for Poughkeepsie by car pool. The drive takes about 1.5 hours to the parking lot at 61 Parker Avenue at the east end of the Walkway. The plan is to walk across the bridge to the Highland, NY side and then to proceed along the west bank of the river to the Mid-Hudson Bridge where we will cross back to the Poughkeepsie side of the river. Same river views plus a look back at the Walkway from down river. We will walk back through some of the Poughkeepsie waterfront and historic areas to where we started and have lunch at Lola’s, a very good sandwich shop right under the Walkway. This walk is about 4 miles. For those who want a shorter walk, an option is to return from Highland back over the Walkway, a total walk of 2.5 miles. There are restrooms at either end of the Walkway. We should be back at the DCA by 3:00 PM.
As always, spouses and guests are invited. There will be a sign up sheet at the DMA meetings on October 5 and 12.
Dave McCollum
Bob Plunkett
David Mace
Joe Spain
On Thursday, September 22nd, the Happy Wanderers’ first excursion of the fall season will be to the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn. We will take the Metro-North train that leaves the Darien station at 8:34 am, and the Noroton Heights station at 8:38 am. Upon arrival at Grand Central Terminal, we shall gather at the Information Booth on the Main Floor Level and proceed by subway downtown to the Wall Street station via the Lexington Avenue Line. From there we’ll walk to the other end of Wall Street to board the ferry for Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Our day will be spent walking through this historic waterside district of the City, including a stop for lunch. This area of Brooklyn was once the hub of the commercial shipping industry that shaped the life of the community for generations. Today it is gentrified with many fine dining opportunities and views of the river and New York Harbor. Upon completion of our tour, we will return by ferry and subway to Grand Central, and home on Metro North.
Please bring your MetroCard for the Subway, and, if you don’t have a card, you can buy one from the same machines that sell train tickets on the platforms at the Darien and Noroton stations.
Any questions? — please call David Mace or Joe Spain
The Leon Levy Preserve, formerly the Bell property, was purchased by the Town of Lewisboro in 2005. It is 383 acres of forest and wetland located in the watersheds of both New York City and Stamford. The preserve has an extensive, well marked, trail system, the ruins of the Black mansion (1899-1979) and other outbuildings. The scenery at this time of year is spectacular and the Preserve encompasses an impressive gorge and numerous large rock outcroppings.
The hike of about 3 miles (2 hours) we will take features mostly wide and well-maintained trails which range from easy to moderate levels of difficulty. This hike should appeal to hikers of all levels of experience. As always, we welcome spouses, friends and dogs on a leash.
Optional lunch afterwards at La Vista in South Salem. Please bring cash for the restaurant.
DIRECTIONS:
The actual address of the Preserve is 2-50 Smith Ridge Road (Route 123) but Google 45 Smith Ridge Road in South Salem, NY which is a private house on the right side of the road. Just beyond that address is a sign for the Preserve on the left side indicating a left turn into the parking lot. The location is well up Rt 123 into NY State past Vista but short of Rt 35. There is ample parking.
Contacts:
Dave McCollum
Bob Plunkett
A massive biography of the Civil War general and president, who “was the single most important figure behind Reconstruction.”
Most Americans know the traditional story of Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885): a modest but brutal general who pummeled Robert E. Lee into submission and then became a bad president. Historians changed their minds a generation ago, and acclaimed historian Chernow (Washington: A Life, 2010, etc.), winner of both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, goes along in this doorstop of a biography, which is admiring, intensely detailed, and rarely dull. A middling West Point graduate, Grant performed well during the Mexican War but resigned his commission, enduring seven years of failure before getting lucky. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was the only West Point graduate in the area, so local leaders gave him a command. Unlike other Union commanders, he was aggressive and unfazed by setbacks. His brilliant campaign at Vicksburg made him a national hero. Taking command of the Army of the Potomac, he forced Lee’s surrender, although it took a year. Easily elected in 1868, he was the only president who truly wanted Reconstruction to work. Despite achievements such as suppressing the Ku Klux Klan, he was fighting a losing battle. Historian Richard N. Current wrote, “by backing Radical Reconstruction as best he could, he made a greater effort to secure the constitutional rights of blacks than did any other President between Lincoln and Lyndon B. Johnson.” Recounting the dreary scandals that soiled his administration, Chernow emphasizes that Grant was disastrously lacking in cynicism. Loyal to friends and susceptible to shady characters, he was an easy mark, and he was fleeced regularly throughout his life. In this sympathetic biography, the author continues the revival of Grant’s reputation.
At nearly 1,000 pages, Chernow delivers a deeply researched, everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know biography, but few readers will regret the experience. For those seeking a shorter treatment, turn to Josiah Bunting’s Ulysses S. Grant (2004).
An excellent summary by Tom Igoe: DMA Book Club — Grant by Ron Chernow
John Wolcott will lead the discussion that was originally planned for Part 2 of our CA last spring. His presentation remains unchanged.
Last February, Vince Arguimbau led a discussion entitled, “Agreed carbon emissions cause global warming, but is it an existential threat?” continuing to say, “If scarce resources were maximally devoted to reducing emissions then would the result be worth the cost? If not then how do we efficiently allocate resources to ameliorate and adapt to the changing environment?”
The first IPCC report on the existential threat of global warming was issued in 1990. Since then the debate has degenerated into two polar opposite factions battling from ever more distant ends of the spectrum to the point where each is talking past the other at increasing volume and vehemence.
Accordingly, let’s not debate whether GW is settled science or merely religion, but instead begin a conversation as to how the Global Warming/Climate Change/ Existential threat might be more fully addressed
Articles of Interest
Babcock Ranch Survives Ian 30 miles from Ft. Meyers
Libertarian vs Authoritarian
Post: Europe’s version of the burning of the Amazon rainforests
Mark Mills, physicist and Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute
https://dariendma.org/wp-content/uploads/All-Elec-Cars-by-2035-2.mp4
ESG Does Neither Much Good nor Very Well
The Coming Global Crisis of Climate Policy
Climate Gains are ‘inconvenient truth”-It’s not all bad news for the environment.
The real-world consequences of green extremism.
The net-zero transition: What it would cost, what it could bring
YouTube presentations
Keeping Your Cool on the Climate Debate with Bjorn Lomborg
Why renewables can’t save the planet Michael Shellenberger
Youtube Presentation
Blogpost
Germany’s Climate Chancellor Angela Merkel grossly mis-allocated resources and failed the climate
Wall Street’s Green Push Exposes New Conflicts of Interest
On Thursday May 26, the Happy Wanderers will travel on Metro-North to the upper west side of Manhattan. We will visit Grant’s Tomb where Mamundi Subhas (who spoke to the DMA two months ago) will be our guide. We will also visit the site of the 1776 Revolutionary War battle of Harlem Heights. Nearby is The Riverside Church built by the Rockefellers and also the Columbia University campus. Time permitting, we will walk down to The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. We will then take the bus across 125th Street and return to Darien on Metro-North. During our wandering we will eat lunch at the appropriate time. Since this outing will likely be popular among DMA members, we will ask anyone interested to reserve a space with Joe Spain or David Mace. If we have openings closer to our time of departure, we will open participation to spouses and friends.
Happy Wanderers are planning a trek to Flushing, Queens on Thursday, May 5; the group will depart by carpool from the DCA parking lot at 9 am. Among its other distinctions, Flushing is one of the most ethnically diverse areas of New York City, with large Chinese, Korean and Indian populations. The early Quakers settled here and built the second oldest public high school in the country. Wanderers will have lunch at a local dim sum restaurant before returning to Darien. If you have questions, contact Joe Spain, David Mace or Sunil Saksena.
HIKING GREENWICH AUDUBON CENTER
GREENWICH, CT
10 AM MONDAY MAY 23, 2022
Greenwich Audubon Center is a 285 acre sanctuary which opened its doors in 1943 as Audubon’s first nature education center in the country. Located on land donated by Eleanor Clovis Reese and H Hall Clovis the center includes over 7 miles of trails through a rich diversity of hardwood forest, meadows, lakes, streams and vernal ponds. Also on the property are an expansive Nature Education Center, an old apple orchard and original New England homestead buildings. We plan to meet in the main parking lot at 10 AM and hike for about two hours over varied terrain including one steep climb and several sections of rocky trail. We rate this as a hike of moderate plus difficulty. We hope to see migrating birds but our wildlife scorecard has not been
good! As always, guests and spouses welcome but NO DOGS. Probably no lunch but more later on that. The Center is located at 613 Riversville Road in Greenwich on the north side of the Merritt Parkway. Exit at Round Hill Road and use GPS to get you to the center.
CONTACTS: Dave McCollum or Bob Plunkett
On a windy, but mild, morning 9 DMAers and 3 spouses hiked about 3 miles over varied terrain in just over 2 hours. The hike took a little longer than anticipated due to two navigation errors by the hike leaders. The first was due to a sign issue which seemed to direct us one way but meant the other. The second was a total lack of any signage at a fork in the trail. We, of course, took the fork but it turned out to loop us around onto a trail already hiked! Once we got that figured out, the rest of the hike went smoothly. One would think that the pre-hike we made two weeks ago would have ironed out any confusion but it did not! The conversation among hikers tends to distract navigation despite efforts to stay focused.
On the plus side, the wildlife sightings were way above average. Birds, butterflies, frogs and deer tracks were seen but the best was near the end where a mother duck and her 8 tiny ducklings were swimming in a pond.
This hike concludes the 2021-22 hiking season. Since September of 2021 we have gone on a hike every month for a total of 9. Thank you to all who participated. We will resume hiking in September.
Dave McCollum and Bob Plunkett
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