CELEBRATE NATURE: Earth Day 2020

IT’S EARTH DAY’S 50^th ANNIVERSARY TODAY

DO SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE!

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”  Rachel Carson

This year, with the pandemic making life scary and crazy, we need Nature more than ever. We need its beauty, variety, and solace. We also need to take time to value its many lessons:  patience, strength, hope, wonder, and spiritual connections.

Now more than ever, as we are asked to stay home and stay safe, it is important to find ways to keep Nature a part of our day to day lives. Play in your yard, walk in a garden or along a trail, feed the birds, play with pets, share flowers, plant vegetables.  You can even watch shows about Nature or work to help improve the protections for the Nature that is all around us, but that is too often overlooked.

One of the ways I am celebrating is by sharing some of my favorite Nature Photographs as I wait until I can take another Nature Trip.  I would love to head back to any of these wonderful places.

“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, ‘This is what it is to be happy.’”   Sylvia Plath

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”  Lao Tzu

Views of Fall Color near Bishop, CA

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.”  John Muir

Views of Yosemite National Park

“Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience.”   Ralph Waldo Emerson

Views near Carrizo Plain National Park, CA

“An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”  Henry David Thoreau

Carmel Valley, CA

Drive through Redwoods, CA

“I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?”  Vincent Van Gogh

Grand Tetons, WY

“My wish is to stay always like this, living quietly in a corner of nature.”  Claude Monet

Views near Red Rock Canyon State Park, CA

“Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”   Hans Christian Anderson

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.  It will never fail you.”  Frank Lloyd Wright

Mono Lake, CA

Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Mt. Whitney, CA

Mt. Shasta, CA

Crater Lake National Park, OR

California State Poppy Preserve

Views of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

“We see God face to face every hour and know the savor of Nature.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

WHITE IN ALL ITS SPLENDID VARIETY (One Word Photo Challenge: White)

WHITE IN ALL ITS SPLENDID VARIETY

White is an intriguing color.  At times, it seems easy to overlook or use as a neutral background against which other colors will stand out.  Symbolically, white is often associated with innocence and purity, hence it’s the favorite color for wedding dresses.

When we consider bright white light—like sunshine—science tells us that white is actually all colors combined.  Sir Isaac Newton demonstrated that fact in 1666 when he charted how white light—when shown through a prism—refracts into the full color spectrum of the rainbow.  White is obviously more complicated and mysterious than first thought.

Still, when I think of the colors of Nature, white is not the first one that comes to mind.  I more readily envision a blue, blue sky or the rich greens of trees.  Flowers typically come in many colorful varieties as well:  purple and yellow and red and all the shades in between. But when I stop to really look, white is out there.  More vibrant and alive, given the contrast with the other colors.  Sometimes it is strong and massive like snow or fragile and delicate like a wildflower in bloom or a feather floating in mid-air.

When I stop to really look for the power and energy of white out in the real world, I see that it is out there, almost everywhere I look.

CLOUDS & TREES AND THE MOON ON THE RISE

SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAINS AND COTTON  IN THE FIELDS

THE POWER OF WATER SURGING OVER THE FALLS AND THE SOFT BLANKET OF SNOW ON A WINTER AFTERNOON 

THE MYSTERY OF FOG AND THE INTENSITY OF WAVES

 

EGRETS, SWANS, PELICANS, SEAGULLS AND A PEACOCK TOO

BUT IT IS THE FLOWERS IN THEIR MANY SHAPES AND SIZES THAT TRULY SHOW THE BEAUTY, COMPLEXITY AND MAJESTY OF WHITE

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A FEW QUOTES

“All of us have moments in our lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with a white carpet is one of them.”   Erma Bombeck

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air as a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth.  Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”  Thich Nhat Hanh

“Who in their infinite wisdom decreed that Little League uniforms be white? Certainly not a mother.”  Erma Bombeck

“ELOQUENCE, n. The art of orally persuading fools that white is the color that it appears to be. It includes the gift of making any color appear white.”  Ambrose Bierce

“Women think of all colors except the absence of color. I have said that black has it all.  White too. Their color is absolute.  It is the perfect harmony.”  Coco Chanel

“The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself.”  Lao Tzu

“Sometimes we need the fog to remind ourselves that all of life is not black and white.”  Jonathan Lockwood Huie

This post is my submission for the One Word Photo Challenge: White.  Don’t forget to view all the other entries!  I also really like green and orange.  What is your favorite color?