A multi-media account of my travels through life
Summertime is in full swing here in the Northern Hemisphere. There is bounty everywhere. This particular caterpillar was enjoying the leaves on a sugar maple. All the books say it is among the “most common” caterpillars and this fellow was not hard to find, munching away just a few feet from the front door of the house. It will morph into the Polyphemus Moth with a wingspan of up to 6 inches. Amazing. ❧
An Indigo Bunting, adult male. I can’t recall sighting an Indigo Bunting before this season. A friend has told me she saw one in Manatee County but I can’t recall ever seeing one before. So, this is an extra special event. I apologize for the graininess of the image. (SPOILER: Geek talk ahead.) I had boosted the ISO rather high in an attempt to capture images of fireflies. In my excitement I forgot to check all the camera settings. But on some levels I like this shot being grainy. It seems more real.
At any rate, I have now identified an Indgo Bunting at the feeder which brings the “life list” for the feeder to about 20 birds…20 and hoping. ❧
One month ago I was at Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. Made famous by the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the rock is massively beautiful.
Our weather was not the best. It was a white-gray sky that occasionally opened up with torrents of rain. Not exactly the best day for photography but it didn’t matter. Devil’s Tower is such a wonder of nature. The Native Americans call it Bear Rock and legend has it the striations in the rock were caused by gigantic bear that tried to claw his way to the top after the earth spewed forth the rock to save several children (some legends claim it was three girls, another claims it was two boys). The rock literally rose from the ground after the children prayed to be saved from the massive grizzly that was chasing them.
I like thinking of it as Bear Rock. I spent some time looking at websites about the rock and one website said this, “Of course, Devil’s Tower is a white man’s name. We have no devil in our beliefs and got along well all these many centuries without him. You people invented the devil and, as far as I’m concerned, you can keep him.” You can read more here.
Bear Rock or Devil’s Tower, it is something to behold. We enjoyed a nice hike in the region surrounding the rock. Needless to say, it dominates the landscape (it is visible for miles, truly) and it was a constant backdrop for our hike on Joyner Trail.
Today, dear readers, I present another collage because sometimes just one picture isn’t enough. We are also re-visiting the redwoods in northern California. I’ve been sorting pictures from my recent trip and today I found myself lingering on these images from the redwood forests. They are so majestic and they are also great teachers. No matter how mighty or grand, everything on this earth, in the immortal words of George Malley, “is on its way to something else.” Redwoods fall, as these pictures clearly show. In the upper left-hand corner you can see the roots of a redwood, as big as a man’s thigh and ripped from the earth by the sheer mass of the tree. Yes, when this tree fell I believe there was a sound, even if no one was present to hear it. In the lower left picture you can see how the fallen redwood has become a new home for ferns and other plants. It is a new world, a new ecosystem. It is all part of the circle of life. ❧
I’ve been off the grid for a while. The past sixteen days were spent in Trinidad, California (thank you Bunny and Ed!). Remarkably laid-back, Trinidad is a seductive kind of place. The ambiance of Trinidad/Arcata/Eureka just sucks you in and soon the rest of the world slips away. The ocean, the redwoods and sequoia, the wild bursts of wildflowers and ocean fogs all contribute to its mystery. I have a backlog of photos to share. Stay tuned.
I’ve been on the road for about six weeks and turned back eastwards on May 29th. I passed through Lassen Volcanic N.P. in California, across the Nevada desert, back up into the Rockies and across the Snowy Mountain Range highway, which was closed under six feet of snow when I passed by in early May. Now all the snow is melting and the rivers are swollen downstream. In Saratoga, Wyoming the town was sandbagged against the rising North Platte River.
I stopped and spoke with some National Guard troops who had been helping the community fill and pile sandbags. The told me the worst was over and the town was spared. I thanked them for their good work and wished I had added, “It’s good to have you home.”
As we came out of the Snowy Range and down into the town of Laramie I watched thunderheads form, great huge thunderheads that made the great huge hills in front of them seem very small. They were forming in the north and would move on to pummel north Wyoming and the Dakotas but my trip back into Denver was sunny and smooth. All is well with Tango and Alice. ❧
Yesterday I posted a picture collage from the Lady Bird Johnson Redwood Grove near Orick, California. Today’s collage is also from that beautiful spot but the images are more detailed with close-ups of the fantastic bark and burls that characterize these beautiful beings. ❧
The upland Redwoods in Lady Bird Johnson’s Grove, just north of Orick, California. ❧
No, not that kind of grass. I’m talking about the wild grasses that grow in this part of the world. They are quite lovely and there are SO many of them. Here is just a small representation. Enjoy. ❧
There are so many beautiful flowers here. I wanted to present many of them at once, just as they have been presented to my eye. There will be more…
In the upper right corner are two of my BFFs — Tango and Bunny. ❧
Yesterday was a beautiful day in Trinidad, California. All the locals were out enjoying the sun. Bunny, Tango and I were among them. This is a shot of Trinidad State Beach. We also went to Big Lagoon, north of Patrick’s Point where I took the latest installment in the Tango-on-the-log series. ❧
Alice's WanderLand 