Divinipotent About the East River

“In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.”
~ Leonardo da Vinci

New York City's East River is the main boundary and access route between Long Island and Manhattan. Compared to its famous neighbor the Hudson, the East River lacks in length, breadth, majesty and history. It is a river most people drive over (eight bridges, from the Brooklyn to the Throgs Neck, cross it), ferry across or travel under in one of thirteen tunnels; few give it a second thought. (For information about the river and its history, visit EastRiverNYC.org or this Wikipedia page, which is the source of the map at right.)

“How could drops of water know themselves to be a river? Yet the river flows on.”
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

For those of us who live nearby on the Queens side,  the East River is a special place that offers tranquility, beauty and minor brushes with nature (Canada Geese, cormorants and occasional ducks, mostly) against a backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. Below are some cell phone shots taken late in the afternoon last Sunday at Gantry Park in Hunter's Point. Once the site of a ferry landing where goods and people traveled back and forth to Manhattan, Gantry Park is now a cluster of piers and parkland that locals enjoy year-round. Drop by some time.

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
~ Winnie the Pooh