Seasonal Essay for April

April showers give us a chance once again to ponder the cycle of water as it moves from sky to earth and back to sky again, but through such a tortuous route! Surplus rain, collected in numerous streams, Kayaderosseras, Bog Meadow, Spring Run, pours into lakes Lonely and Saratoga. From here Fish Creek takes water to the Hudson which wends its way to the sea. Evaporation from the sea returns water to the sky once again, a cycle repeated over and over through many millions of years. Particles, eroded from the land and transported in our rivers have a different fate. Some, reaching the mouth of the Hudson, may be carried out to sea, slowly falling to the bottom as the current slows and over the course of many centuries a thick carpet of sediments piles up on the ocean floor reaching as far as 200 miles from shore. Dissolved solids carried in streams don't settle out directly, each kind having a different fate. Silica, upon reaching the sea, may be taken up by minute photosynthetic cells called diatoms and used to build glassy shells within which they live. When these cells die, their houses rain down upon the ocean floor and over great spans of time some deposits of these may be raised above sea level where we can mine them. The resulting fine abrasive is used in silver polish and even toothpaste. When we watch raindrops falling, we can think of their different fates. Some will soak into the earth and be taken up into the tallest trees where they will participate in the making of leaves. Others will evaporate back into the air to fall somewhere else. Still others will be embarking on that long journey to the sea.