Nature Pics

[truehobbit]

It's the unconscious part that is the problem, Prim!

I'm not angry at elsha, I know she didn't mean harm! But I'm very sad that these connections are made, consciously or subconsciously.

No one used the word "springtime", btw. And just your use of "spring" as a trigger for the line? That would indeed be a very sad influence of the musical, if each time someone thinks of spring it launches such a song in their minds.

[Primula Baggins]

I don't know what to say, Hobby. A new movie based on the Broadway musical came out just last month, so many people here have had their memories refreshed very recently. But I am still certain that you being German did not trigger that song in Elsha's mind, any more than it would in mine. It was "spring" (okay, not "springtime") that did it, but as I said, the movie was very recent and in fact is still in theaters.

And most Americans, as you know, don't have the full weight of emotional associations that would keep us from being able to enjoy that musical, which is honestly a brilliant satire not of Hitler, but of the Broadway musical business and the audiences who make the hits.

[truehobbit]

I think it's a bit hard to explain why exactly it hurt, Prim - maybe I'll try to explain by PM, we shouldn't osgiliate the thread any longer.
But I agree the connection apparently looked worse than it was.

(elsha also apologised to me, btw, which I have greatly appreciated! Thanks once again, elsha! )

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Well, there is some more that I could say about this (isn't there always ), but we probably have had enough naval-gazing. So, getting back on track, and in Hobby's honor:

[vison]

Here is a picture of Mt. Baker. But it is not, sadly, the view I have from my place. This picture was taken from the "back" side, the eastern side. I see the west side. It's also possible that this photo has been printed backwards. From here, the little side peak is on the right of the main peak. Our view here is much nicer, but I can't find any from our vantage point. I have some that I will scan at some point and include. But in the meantime:



Mt. Baker was named for a member of Captain Vancouver's crew as I recall. The natives hereabouts call it "Kulsheen" or something like that. I think it should be something like, "Queen of the Snows" or "Most beautiful mountain". It's a dormant volcano, but not too dormant. There is a steam vent visible to us on the upper northeast slope. When you fly over this part of the world, you can only be staggered by the absolute mountain-ness of the land below. Between the ocean and the prairies there is a universe of mountains.

[truehobbit]

I take it that's in Germany, then? Bavaria, I guess. It's really lovely!

(Feel free to PM me, Voronwë! Although I must say I'm not overly keen on spending hours justifying my feelings, but if there's a problem I'm willing to try to solve it. )

I surfed the web a bit for "where I live", and found a nice winterly pic someone took of a park five minutes walk from my place. Not spectacular, but pretty in the snow (a view we'd get for about two or three days in a year, though )

[MaidenOfTheShieldarm]

To keep with the theme, our "local" mountains, so to speak.



Prim, what a great photo! I love the reflection on the beach.

Hobby, the forest in that picture looks almost magical.

You're in the Monet,
You're in the Monet.......

I was in that show last year!

[Primula Baggins]

I'm having a grand old time looking for photos of Oregon landmarks.

Here is Mount Hood, Portland's local volcano:

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[anthriel]

And now, as a treat for you all:

The Four Peaks, just northeast of Phoenix, Arizona.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That is a treat.

[Primula Baggins]

So lovely, Anth.

I never appreciated Sonoran desert until Mr. Prim took me out into it, near L.A. and down in Baja. I thought of desert as barren, until he pointed out that Sonoran desert (the kind with saguaro cactus) has more plants per acre than most forests. Then he took me for walks and pointed at everything in his mad biologist way.

This is Newberry Crater in eastern Oregon. Everything you see is inside the caldera. The gray-looking flow is all obsidian, 2.8 square kilometers of it—the biggest obsidian flow on the planet and amazing to walk through (in good solid shoes). Up close it's jumbled lumps of obsidian taller than a person, stretching as far as you can see.

[truehobbit]

Great mountains, very impressive!

I love the spring snowflake!

So, that's a volcano, Prim? And isn't obsidian some kind of semi-precious stone?

[vison]

Wow, Primula, I had heard about that but I don't recall seeing a picture before.

Here is a well-known skiing site in Canada, but obviously no one skis on the bits in the picture:

The Bugaboos:

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Then he took me for walks and pointed at everything in his mad biologist way.

Beth does that kind of thing, too, Prim (she does watershed restoration). I remember one time several years ago, we were taking a hike with a friend at Fall Creek State Park (a very rustic and beautiful park near us) after a series of large storms, when suddenly she exclaimed very loudly "Oh my God!!!!!!!111" Our friend and I are looking around for the dead body that she must of seen, meanwhile she is pointing at the unusual pattern of erosion that the stroms have caused.

Here is a picture of the area we were in (though it doesn't show the erosion:

[Primula Baggins]

Tom turns over rocks and exclaims over the crawly things. And at the beach, he pokes around in tidepools. Anything dead fascinates him until he figures out what it was when it was alive. Anything stranded by the tide must be rescued. He's really a biologist to the bone.

Hobby, obsidian is black volcanic glass. It's rare to see a whole lava flow made up of it, because the lava has to be composed just so and cool in just the right way to result in glass rather than rock.

[anthriel]

Prim, I would LOVE to go on a desert walk with you and Mr. Prim. And VMan, I would be right there slack-jawed with your Beth. I really dig that stuff.





I truly love the Sonoran desert. What a treasure trove of life!

I am certainly no expert on deserts, but I tend to "notice" many things and, usually having done some research on what I am seeing, I assume the role of (detailed) tour guide rather easily.

I often get caught up in the moment, though, and forget that some people (sometimes) aren't as interested as I am in searching for things like packrat middens, or tunnel spiders. Nor do they care about the tragic story of "nurse plants" to saguaro cactuses.

Weirdos. Who wouldn't enjoy such knowledge?

One of the many things that I profoundly enjoyed about having Faramond, Eru and Griff here is that they enjoyed "noticing" everything, too. I felt free to release my inner geek.

My inner geek doesn't see the light of day, much.

It was a very happy geek, those few days.

[Primula Baggins]

Anth, I sincerely hope that your inner geek and Mr. Prim's inner geek get a chance to meet. I wanna be there, too. I wanna see a tunnel spider, too.

Mr. Prim used to have pet tarantulas. He would catch them, keep them for a few weeks, and then let them go again.

[truehobbit]

For Anthy (and all who like it )




Our most common garden spider, not dangerous, but very pretty, I think, (for a spider ) with the baroque-shaped cross on her back.


For everybody




They should be there even before the spring snowflakes Voronwë posted!

[elfshadow]

Beautiful snowdrops!

But for the spider! That's a common garden spider? As in you see them relatively often? *shudders* It is very pretty, though, as long as it stays out of my house.