more icy miracles

 

pardon.

STILL working on project deadline.

Intend to be less dull anon.

=) Meanwhile, more magic from Tenaya Lake

before we (hooorayyyy!) finally got precipitation.

So, so beautiful.

Nature is such a stunner.

xobb

waiter, there's a bird in my coffee...

 

Discovered during sleepy-eyed attempts to make coffee, this a.m.

Can anyone identify this species?

Here's a side view of same, in a rare moment of stillness:

It looks like a juvenile, which may make species identification more challenging...

Thanks for any help you can lend. =)

xobb

a frozen lake is magic

 Went here today...

 

 Tenaya Lake, Yosemite NP

 Traversed this...

And despite the terrifying CRACK! (echo echo echo) and POP! (echo echo echo)

that I felt sure meant my imminent descent to FREEZING black watery death,

I made it to the far end of the lake where Bear said the ice was see-through.

That's where I saw this.

pretty sure that's magic.

xobb

nature in art in nature in art...

 

"Mommy, why is that lady staring at the ceiling?"

Because it's really, really pretty.

In the National Gallery of Art,
there's plenty of beauty that is not hanging on a wall,
or perched on a pedestal, protected by plexiglass.

Some of it is photosynthesizing.

I took very few photographs while in the museum;
they were expressly allowed in one particular exhibit.
Most of the images that inspired me to photograph them involved nature, the outdoors.
Mind you, I love portraits. Of people. Love.

However, two artists had captured ocean scenes so perfectly,
I had to photograph them so I could learn more about their work.

This* is "A Quiet Day in Manchester" by Alfred Thompson Bricher (1837-1908)**

I read about Mr. Bricher, and he lived much of his life by the ocean; not surprising.

This next one is "The Stranded Ship" by Asher Brown Durand (1796-1886).

The green in these waves? So true and real. Awesome. I just stare at it.


The pull of the Pacific

When in the NPS, one of my jobs, and its associated walking commute,
allowed me to see the Pacific Ocean four hours a day, five days a week.

The first birds I had to identify as a professional biologist were shorebirds.

The first natural resource monitoring I did was of the rocky intertidal community.

I was born in a beach town.

I still remember walking on the beach with my dad when I was four,
plastic baggy in hand to store all the shells I'd collect.

So, I feel bonded to that big, cold, powerful thing.

Which might explain why, when these painters really captured the ocean,
it stopped me in my tracks.


Love at first sight

Back at the gallery, I turn a corner and BAM,
there is one of my favorite paintings of all time.
I was instantly smitten the moment I saw it (in a book in high school).
And it's never diminished.

I had no idea it was at the NGA.

To direct you to it (since it's still under copyright, via another site),
I had to look up its name (just now, after writing about the Pacific),
which I had not known at all.

"Wind from the sea."

uh...


that's freaky.

You can see it here (and click on it to see it larger).


Art is everywhere

Then, leaving the NGA, stepping out the doorway, I see this:

The beauty doesn't stop when you leave the gallery, and step into nature.

=)

It just keeps going.

Hence my giddy, swoony, continuing love for nature.

It's fairly magical, always inspiring,

and, like so many of the amazing DC museums, it's free.

xo

bb


*I did not straighten this photograph (via post-processing) because that'd reduce the clarity a lot.
**Public domain = 100 years after artist's death (says Wiki),
so these seascapes sail in that marvelous legal sharing space. =)

Peeking at Pele

 

She is moltenly awesome.

Apparently this was a good show, as the Jaggar Museum was CROWDED that night

and our friends (locals) said they'd NEVER seen so many people there at once.
I have never heard my camera's shutter stay open for SO LONG as I did that evening,
all the while fervently praying the people around me would NOT take a photo
with flash.

Photography etiquette 101: if it's a nighttime scene & a flash does not help,
& in fact impedes the intended image,
either LEARN how to turn off your flash,
or STOP TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS and messing up other folks' shots.
Pretty please. Would be much appreciated. =)
This has been a public/photographic service announcement.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park is a trippy place. Highly recommend.
Place to see the planet giving birth to land. Nice.

bb

location, location, location

 

This is basically the backyard of where we stayed while on Oahu, HI (friend's mother's house). The first few days the canal was closed off and patrolled by military gentlemen in a small, black, inflatable boat to protect the canal and bridge, as this canal leads to the neighborhood where President Obama was staying. My friend, who slept out on their large, enclosed porch, said those men look reallllly bored, poor things. Very small area to patrol. However, bored is better than in a violent confrontation with a nutty malcontent, so yay, boring!

=)

Took this shot early in the a.m., so it's kinda dark.
Was originally going for ducks on the canal,
but then saw the mountain.
Oh, that.

xobb

albatross, schmalbatross (silent Saturday evening post)

 

bb



(p.s. it's a Laysan Albatross on Oahu, HI)

silversword silliness

 

Haleakalā silversword (Argyroxiphium sandwicense subsp. macrocephalum) silliness, that is...

Hawai'ian hijinks @ 9,000 feet.

[btw: hijinks = "lively enjoyment" per dictionary.com,

and Merriam-Webster says

"boisterous or rambunctious carryings-on :

carefree antics or horseplay."

Sounds about right. =) ]

Will be home tonight (probably EARLY tomorrow, really).

And tho' will be speedily (hair-on-fire) editing,

in the coming weeks will be able to post more.

I think this is my 3rd time on the interweb in 2.5 weeks--woah!

Mahalo!

bb