By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
I invite you to enjoy a bit of the real world, nature.
Tag: Nature
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Resulting from a bit of self-directed happenstance, I found that the digital camera and botanical garden are soon united… nothing like being given the proper latitude to find tropical flora and fauna.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
While traveling on business I thought I would take a short trek up a random forest service road and snap a few photos before sunset.
The air was completely still and serenely quiet. When the temperature is as hot as it was that day, you can truly experience the scent of wood and of the woods, something I find enduringly relaxing.
Continue reading “Weekend Photos: Random Forest Service Road”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Semi-arid lands do not often come to mind when one envisions beautiful countryside. One attribute it affords the beholder is its accentuation of geology and a sense of timelessness. Left undisturbed, change is often not of importance to nature as it seems decades later to not have evolved. Only what humanity leaves behind tends to show aging in what we consider time, mirroring more of us than the environment.
The landscape does justice to tranquility.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Because I could I decided to go for a short drive and spend a couple of days away; as good an excuse as any for a few photographs.
Click upon each to enlarge
Continue reading “Weekend Photos: Concordant or Discordant Coastline? You Decide.”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Having decided to go on a long road trip, I came across the remnants of a wildfire and the subsequent rebirth of rolling fields of grass. The fire burned through this rural neighborhood yet to my amazement I could find no lost homes or outbuildings in or around the path of destruction. I initially attributed this to a supremely adept firefighting operation. Yet in the end, according to a resident there who I spoke with, it was more nature that took care of its own.
Continue reading “Weekend Photos: The Fire And The Resurrection”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Once again I needed to “make essential travel to facilitate commerce related to critical infrastructure.” *** So I loaded up some tools and headed down the highway. For me I find the semi-arid coulees to be relaxing and soul-resting. Unless someone or natural events disturbs the area, it otherwise will remain nearly identical to what it was ten or twenty years earlier. Wildland fire seems to be the main cause of change and even in that example only a few years are needed for restoration. Time moves at a lichen’s pace.
Click on each photo to enlarge.
Continue reading “Weekend Photos: Today’s Column, The Basalt Of The Earth”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
There is nothing quite like getting out, or in this case thumbnailing through a few archives on the old hard drive.
Continue reading “A Few Pictures of Boats”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
It’s the weekend and time to return to the sticks, with of course the requisite camera and hunger for fresh air. Spring yearns to blossom her colors yet winter continues his reign, or should I say “rain”. Nevertheless I still remain patient. All seasons are good as long as you are there to experience them.
Click each photo to enlarge
Continue reading “Sunday Photos: Single Lane Forested Road, Single Lense Reflex, Single Purpose”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
At the end of a rocky canyon, a friend and I found ourselves nearly alone among the new year’s eve lights–a Bavarian themed town and a quiet version of St. Sylvester’s Day. Seemed like a good time for a few photographs.
Continue reading “Sylvester Alone: New Year’s Eve Lights”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
While on another drive through the woods, I could not help but notice the affinity of which moss takes to the trees, much it seems to their lichen. After all, what is there not to like about nature?
Continue reading “When Moss Takes A Lichen To Trees”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We went for a short drive and found a few images worth sharing. People should take more time to experience nature, and less time fighting about the employment status of elected officials.
Click each to enlarge
Continue reading “A Few Pictures of the Coast”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We as a rather insular species often forget that nature tends to get along well when left to its own devices, while a human construct such as bureaucracy tends to languish and fail when permitted equal liberty. I found credible proofs to both when traveling on business recently–a former Forest Service campground, abandoned apparently due to red tape and yet showing quite clearly that nature still moves on. And it does so vibrantly.
Continue reading “Nature’s Reclamation Project: A Closed Campground With Fall Colors”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
A few days ago brought me another business trip comprising six hours of driving to facilitate one hour of actual work. It did nevertheless provide an opportunity to visit another green dot road within country I haven’t seen in nearly thirty-seven years.
For me it brought a few quick memories of places, memories that were occasional and fleeting as I drove past. It made for a convincing argument that we must as individuals return to what we found as hobbies during our teen years as something that can remind us of whom we were then–that was, in fact, the person from whom we evolved.
Continue reading “More Photos Along a Green Dot Road”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
I was out of town on business and decided to go for a quick drive in the countryside. One of the many benefits to be had with an off-road capable vehicle is the ability to find in nature that which others are unwilling to go out of the way to seize.
In our state, many wilderness roads are closed to vehicular travel. Those having a green dot aspect on delineators signify an open road. It is not to say that these roads are easy to navigate but they do add some interesting challenge at times to hone one’s driving ability.
Here are a few photos taken along the way. Click each to enlarge
Continue reading “A Few Photos Along a Green Dot Road”