flowers nature philosophy photography random

Thank You, Brandon Sanderson!

For giving us such great books to fill our minds (and hearts) with wonder. For the words that provide inspiration every day:

“The most important words a man can say are, “I will do better.” These are not the most important words any man can say. I am a man, and they are what I needed to say.

The ancient code of the Knights Radiant says “journey before destination.” Some may call it a simple platitude, but it is far more. A journey will have pain and failure. It is not only the steps forward that we must accept. It is the stumbles. The trials. The knowledge that we will fail. That we will hurt those around us.

But if we stop, if we accept the person we are when we fall, the journey ends. That failure becomes our destination. To love the journey is to accept no such end. I have found, through painful experience, that the most important step a person can take is always the next one.

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Huntley Meadows

I’ve taken a lot of pictures of birds, animals, insects and water drops at this small suburban sanctuary in Alexandria Virginia. Here is a short video featuring swallows and an egret. Pictures from this visit were posted a few days ago.

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Ashitaka and San

One of my favorite movies is the GREAT animated film, “Princess Mononoke” by the acclaimed filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. Hand drawn animation at its finest, with a story for the ages (the environment, personal responsibility) – it is a masterwork that is not to be missed. The film features a fantastic soundtrack by Joe Hisaishi. The tune “Ashitaka and San” is peerless. And here is the music, acting as the accompaniment to a short vacation video I made almost eight years ago.

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Lotus Flowers

Meadowlark Gardens in Vienna, Virginia is a beautiful sanctuary near Wolf Trap Farm Park (itself a wonderful performance venue). It was closed for several months due to the pandemic, but has since opened to the public. A great place for a walk, with gently rolling trails, three small ponds, flowers in the spring and summer months.

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Magic Mushrooms

No, not “magic” mushrooms but mushrooms of different colors, sizes and even shapes. Below the forest canopy at Huntley Meadows, they thrive. At least at this time of the year.

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Fly (and Perch) like a swallow

Isaias has come and gone. We were fortunate that we received a glancing blow from the storm (a couple of inches of rain). The swallows at Huntley Meadows reveled in the slightly cooler temperatures.

And there was one solitary wood duck. There’s probably more, but this one was enjoying the influx of rainwater.

nature photography random

Late is Late

July was supposed to be the month to see the comet Neowise. Unfortunately, between the evening thunderstorms and the clouds that occluded the stars at dawn, I didn’t get a chance to venture out and look for this occasional visitor until it had gone around the sun and headed back to the world of Pluto and beyond. When I finally got a chance to look for the comet, the light pollution near a major city, in conjunction with the fading luminosity of an object zooming away from our planet made the search for a near eighth magnitude object a rather daunting task. And a futile one at that. Still, I needed to take a picture of something. And so it was that late really was late, but as with everything else, you make do with what you have. Or in this case, what is easily seen.

art flowers nature photography

There Be Pictures Here

As an amateur photographer, I originally started this blog with the intent of sharing pictures that I have taken, and perhaps share an occasional thought or two. It turns out I have quite a few things to say and in the process, I haven’t really posted a lot of pictures lately. So in lieu of the few hundred words I may otherwise write, here are some pictures taken at Meadowlark Gardens in Vienna, Virginia.

philosophy random

The Color Yellow

In the Empire of the Sun, the Emperor Long Xi made it known that the color yellow offended him and decreed that everything in his empire that contained the color yellow was offensive and was to be removed and banished forever. Sire, a cowering servant told him, the light of the sun contains the color yellow. So the emperor proclaimed that everyone must live without the light of the sun and ordered all citizens of the empire to live in caves, for the color yellow is never to be seen again. And so, the people lived underground, never to see the sun again.

In the Republic of the Enlightened, a man shouted that the color yellow made him sad. A great many people heard him shout how yellow made him sad. They all said, yellow makes that man sad, we should let everyone know that yellow makes people sad. And so the word spread that yellow makes everyone sad. And someone said, if yellow makes people sad, we should remove everything that contains yellow. And the word spread that anything that contained yellow should be removed from their midst. And so, the Republic removed everything with the color yellow from their midst.

Some time later, one of their scientist took a piece of glass, pointed it towards the sun and saw the color yellow. The scientist cowered in fear, knowing that he had seen the color yellow, something they all agreed made people sad. He tried to stay silent, but someone saw him hold the piece of glass upon the sky. This man shouted out to the Republic that the scientist had seen the color yellow. The scientist, fearing for his life, told the people that no, he didn’t really see the color yellow coming from his piece of glass. The people did not care. And the scientist was banished from their midst.

Then someone said, what if what the scientist said was true? The light of the sun contains the color yellow! And this thought was shared throughout the republic. And then someone said – “The light of the sun contains the color yellow. It will make us sad.” And the people cried out, the sun makes us all sad. And then someone said, there is no sun in the caves, let us go into the caves. And the word spread and the people of the republic moved into the caves.

In other parts of the world, people wondered. Why do those people live in caves? They didn’t know that the color yellow was deemed unacceptable by the empire and by the republic. And so life went on. They often disagreed amongst themselves. They talked about a great many things and the things that caused harm to some were eventually relegated to the caves. They knew that sometimes, someone brought the things out of the caves. They understood that they cannot control the lives and actions of everyone, but they knew that as a community, they were better off living in a world where they can talk to one other without fear of being struck down. And they knew that as a community, they must always make sure that everyone is respected, and they knew that though they didn’t always agree, a true community cannot survive if they live in fear of each another.

The things that came out of the caves went back to the caves. Sometimes, though, they discovered that the things in the caves were not harmful after all. And so those things from the caves remained in the light, freed from darkness. And the people thrived.