The Watering Hole, Saturday, March 4th, 2017: Look Back and Laugh…and Sigh

We need to take a break from the horror that America has become under a dark, grim authoritarian regime that’s less than two months old, and look back at what – in now-stark contrast – were the halcyon days of Barack Obama, The Laughing President.

President Obama was always at ease with himself, so he was also (almost) always at ease with foreign leaders, celebrities, his fellow Democrats, former Presidents from both sides of the aisle, even the Pope, for heaven’s sake; and even, FFS, the PRESS, that “Enemy of the American People”:

Notice that German Chancellor Angela Merkel doesn’t mind President Obama touching her.

Jon Stewart and President Obama share a pose and a smile

President Obama heartily laughing with David Letterman

V.P. Joe Biden and President Obama perform synchronized laughing.

Patently genuine laugh between Hillary Clinton and President Obama

Hillary’s losing it, but Obama provides support

President Obama and former President Bill Clinton having a good time

“THERE ARE FOUR PRESIDENTS [laughing]!”

The President and The Pope

President Barack Obama’s mic drop at his final Nerd Prom

But the ease and warmth that he obviously shared with so many others pales in comparison with the almost-visible aura of the unmistakable ease, warmth, humor, respect and love that he shares with his wife Michelle:

Barack and Michelle, side by side, as a loving couple should be…

Date night out?

Now THAT’S “Class!”

I won’t sully this brief remembrance of better times with the name(s) or photo(s) of the current fake occupier of our White House. I hope that, as I did, you couldn’t help but smile in response to President Barack Obama’s infectious grin.

[…sigh…]

This is our Open Thread, a bit late – enjoy!

The Watering Hole; Friday October 21 2016; “It is not now as it hath been of yore”

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
the earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.

Those are the opening five lines of the first stanza of William Wordsworth’s classic work of poetic art entitled “ODE ON INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY From Recollections of Early Childhood”  (comp. 1802-1804). What’s long fascinated me is the fact that even though ‘Intimations’ was written more than 200 years ago, its words still describe — with amazing precision — moments of emotional recognition that most any cognitive mind can find itself pondering even today.

In the summer of 2007, for example, we spent pretty much the entire month of July camped in Arizona’s Apache National Forest, on the edge of a forest meadow (Cienega) which was located some 30 miles from the nearest town, some 5-6 miles north of the edge of Arizona’s grand escarpment, the Mogollon Rim (elevation approx. 9000 ft.) and roughly 10-15 miles west of the New Mexico state line. The forest meadow was named Butterfly Cienega, and it lay in a lush and peaceful corner of a forest teaming with life.

The following series of photographs effectively portrays a tiny portion of the experience, and essentially acts as a bridge to another event that was to occur some four years down the road — May, June and July, 2011. The photos are presented in no particular order, but are interspersed with three additional excerpts from Wordsworth’s ‘Intimations’ Ode which together re-tell the story implied in the Ode’s nine-line first stanza, as quoted up top and in the four lines immediately below. 

The Watering Hole; Thursday October 13 2016; Politics? No Mas!

 

Politics. Enough is Enough! as someone once said. I can buy that. Boy, can I buy that.

I confess. I’m sick to death of politics. I wait with baited breath for this election season TO END! and for Donald Trump and all like him to wind up as floaters in the political sewage lagoon where they belong. Manifest Destiny, in a word (well, two words, actually, but what the hay).

So to hell with politics. To hell with Trump and all he “stands” for (i.e. himself, nothing else; it’s so simple, really). Why not a look around at something else, at things and scenes that are well worth a view, a view that has absolutely ZERO to do with today’s political mess that’s come to define this nation’s existence at this unfortunate point in time?

Great idea, seems to me, so following are some ‘snapshots’ of highlights gathered from days past (within the last forty years, give-or-take). Each and all still stand tall as depictions of what once was – ‘Out There’ – in a world devoid of politics and filled instead with LIFE — as each and every moment can easily become.

So relax, lay back, prepare for a non-political — relaxing (and peaceful, mostly) — soliloquy. Enjoy!

▲Bird of Paradise; Kauai, 1978▲

▲Bald Eagle; Lake Beckwith, Colorado; 2009▲

▲Backlit Sonoran Desert Giant Saguaro; ca 1975▲

▲Coral Reef; St. Lucia, Caribbean; 1983▲

▲Seal, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; ca 1980▲

▲Chipmunk, San Isabel N.F., Colorado; 2009▲

▲EEK! Gopher Snake, Colorado; 2014▲

▲Indian Paintbrush Wildflower, Arizona, ca 2002▲

▲Water Lillies, Kauai; 1978▲

A world without politics; a world without Trump! Imagine it! The Peace! The Beauty!

▼EEEK!! TRUMP??▼

▲Pu’uhonua, Hawaii; 1978▲

Seriously, did King Kamehaha have to deal with his own version of Trump? Really? I see the dude does have small hands; and what about the face? The hair? They had to deal with the sum of all of THAT too? In ancient Polynesia? Way back then? I mean, really, that’s just plain bizarre!

*sigh*

Brings to mind this one. It’s not one of mine, but whomever it was that tripped the shutter captured the best summation of the entire of the Trump “movement” I’ve ever seen!

▲Dump Trump!▲

Eww. Guess we’d better leave it there.

******

OPEN THREAD

---

 

The Watering Hole, Tuesday, August 30th, 2016: “Invest in Beauty”

I was going to tell a dreary tale – about a disturbing conversation I had with a customer who, somewhere in the discussion of her foot problems, managed to bring up Trump and her buzzword-laden approval of him – for today’s post. Instead, thanks to two Zoosters’ comments from yesterday’s thread, here’s some cat stuff.

In yesterday’s comments, pete contributed the following:

“I have often thought that the world would be a better place if evolution had just stopped after cats; large and small. Sure. They are vicious predators with a complete absence of mercy but they are also graceful, intelligent, and have a fantastic sense of humor.”

Not much later, fatherbob posted a link to an article about a lost cat being found next to its “missing cat” poster. The same site had another article about professional photographer Robert Sijka’s photos of “Bearded Cats”, aka Maine Coons; the article includes a brief gallery of glorious creatures, and a link to more. You HAVE to check them out.  As the author of the article says:

“Maine Coons are the largest domesticated felines in the world, able to grow up to four feet in length. The breed is characterised by their gentle nature and their fabulous fur, which can easily be mistaken for a scruffy beard.
Basically, they’re kinda like a lynx, except that they won’t try to kill you.”

Of course, Maine Coons start out all tiny and innocent-looking, like these:
But they eventually turn into the fiercely beautiful, majestic, dignified, imperial creatures that all cats innately are, regardless of size or fur length.
There, that’s better than some scary Trump supporter, right?

Last week I ran across a quote on a greeting card that I’m compelled to share:

“If you ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.”

~ Frank Lloyd Wright ~

This is our daily Open Thread. You know what to do.

The Watering Hole; Friday June 10 2016; A Look Back

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks going through old boxes filled with old photographs, looking for old prints worth digitizing. Found a bunch of 8×10 Cibachromes that I developed myself in my own (tee-tiny) darkroom all those many years ago, and believe it or not, they served to make the moment a lot more enjoyable — not so much for the memories, even though they were, indeed, remindful of that younger world in I (we) once lived. I guess what really caught my attention was that, first, there was no hint of Trump anywhere in either the photos or the memories, mainly because back in the 1970’s I’d never even HEARD of the bastard! Wow, speak of a delightful era!

Anyway, I found about fifteen that were worth digitizing — scenes from various 1970’s destinations including Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, California, and Hawaii — and thought maybe a handful were worth a wider look. So go ahead, close the door on current politics and wander, instead, backward some forty or so years to that other era — not the era of Tricky Dick, the Nam, and Gerry Ford, but those more peaceful spots that were, back then, far more accessible and less traveled than they are today.

Enjoy the soliloquy.

▲Very Young Colt; Faribault, Minnesota; circa 1973▲

 ▲Yuccas in full bloom; Arizona, circa 1975▲

 ▲Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) flower; Arizona, 1972▲

▲Sunset, La Jolla California; circa 1974▲

▲Wildflowers on Mt. Haleakala, Maui; 1978▲

▲Bird of Paradise, Kauai, 1978▲

And finally, this:

▼Rocky Mountain Crocus on Mt. Evans, Colorado, 1971▼

So there you have it, the 1970’s revisited. Hard to believe some of that stuff is ‘already’ more than forty years old, esp. when each one seems like it was captured maybe yesterday — last week at the most — all via those old-fashioned cameras that even required a roll of film in ’em before you could make them work.

In any case, they did their job quite well, and even now at this late date, the flashbacks offered can be fun and very peaceful . . .

. . . unless they should happen to remind one of the crap that’s prominent in today’s world (see below).

How could a Ki’i from Hawaii’s Pu’uhonua o Honaunau — photographed in 1978 — possibly remind anyone of Trump in 2016?

Must be the hair; the hands are way too big.

Sigh. Guess it’s back to the future. Again.

OPEN THREAD

The Watering Hole; Friday May 13 2016; The Meaning of Life

Take all away from me, but leave me Ecstasy,
And I am richer then than all my Fellow Men . . .

In today’s human world,  the sad reality is that all that really counts is money, both the acquisition and the possession thereof — the more the better — all without any concern whatsoever for anything else, the earth and everything on it included. As a consequence, one need not look far to find massive evidences of human-directed destruction and contamination of virtually every aspect of the planetary environment from air to land to water to everything between, including virtually any and all life forms, humans included.

We (humans) are not all like that, thankfully. In fact, large numbers of “us” find infinitely more pleasure and purpose in hanging out with and observing critters who have zero interest in money or wealth; they don’t even know, much less care, what money is. No reason to know, because, after all, when your corner(s) of the world provide everything needed to make life meaningful, what would be the purpose of Money? It has no meaning to the talented, to the self-sufficient, to the gifted; it only has meaning to those who have no talent, no gift, no self-sufficiency, to those who can find no real meaning in life itself.

Below are eight photos — each and all from 2016 — which portray the genuine Meaning Of Life, a meaning which seems to, with every passing year, elude ever more humans, most especially those whose sole interests are Money, and Politics, and the presumed Power that comes along for the ride. But “Meaning” does NOT elude these critters!

The first four are of some local Colorado Front Range Canadian Geese including this year’s crop of goslings. I managed to get them to “pose” for me earlier this week, on May 9, when the little ones were roughly three weeks out of the egg. Already they’re out exploring the world — under the close watch of their moms and dads, of course — and already are more aware of legitimate survival techniques than the great bulk of humans of most any age. And they don’t have/need either a bank account or a gun, even!

Next are four photos of one of this year’s family of Sonoran Desert Great Horned Owls, courtesy of Arizona Naturalist and Photographer Denny Green, longtime friend and resident of Tempe, AZ. These feathered folk typically nest in Giant Saguaro Cacti which are, I’m sure, one of the planet’s safest domiciles.

Speaking of close-knit families! As for money, who needs it!

******

Finally, a bonus shot, this one from Thursday May 12:

Money and wealth, polytics, power — Bah Humbug!

Ill it becometh me to dwell so wealthily
When at my very Door are those possessing more,
In abject poverty –
(Emily Dickinson)

******

OPEN THREAD

The Watering Hole; Friday April 22 2016; Eternity

I’ve dropped my Brain — My Soul is numb —
The Veins that used to run
Stop palsied — ’tis Paralysis
Done perfecter on stone
(Emily Dickinson)

I spent WASTED about five minutes yesterday, briefly watching Matt Lauer’s “interview” (yeah, right) of Donald Trump in a Town Hall, somewhere. My response, having shut the damn thing off as soon as I could find the remote, was to IMMEDIATELY thank Emily Dickinson for those four lines. Why? Because as a result of that momentary indiscretion on my part, I’ve dropped my Brain — My Soul is numb — eight words that have actually become the most able summation of my reaction to this year’s political asininity that I’ve run across to date.

And, as if Drumpf wasn’t bad enough, here are a few additional tidbits that induce even more dropping of the brain, more numbing of the soul:

Oath Keepers Website Warns Clinton Victory Could Lead To ‘Outright Civil War’

Pamela Geller: Obama Is Enforcing Sharia

David Kupelian: The Left Is Driving ‘Good Decent Christian Patriotic Americans’ Insane

And finally this nugget — the approximate equivalent of accidentally stepping in a pile of cow shit whilst enjoying a morning walk in an otherwise pristine forest or meadow:

Pat Boone: Those Behind SNL’s Christian Movie Parody Are Going To Hell

“When you speak against God and his purpose, we don’t have to ask for an apology. We need to stand up for what’s true and right, but then step aside because they’re answering to Him, not to us. That’s outright sacrilege and, as you know, I don’t think people will be offended by this, Jesus said that every sin a man can commit can be forgiven except against blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Well, the Holy Spirit is God and that sin is not to be forgiven in this world or the world to come. So my feelings now are not so much anger as sadness for what I fear is ahead for the people that are doing these things.”

Conclusion: Jesus H. Christ and Goddammit! I’m apparently doomed to the worst hell I can imagine — spending eternity as Pat Boone’s eternal roomie!

OK. I give up. Hell with politics, hell with religionistas, hell with their subterranean level of brainpower, of eternity. As Voltaire put it, Écrasez l’infame. ‘Crush the infamous.’ I couldn’t agree more. Amen.

Here’s my better idea; explore — again and always — THIS eternity! A new and fresh one begins and ends EVERY DAY! Examples:

▲Sunrise, Lake Beckwith Colorado, 2014▲

▲Sunrise, Wailua Bay Kauai, 1978▲

▲Sunrise, Cabo San Lucas, 1983▲

▲Sunrise, Sonoran Desert Arizona, 2001▲

▲Sunset, West Maui, 1978▲

There. Soothing. Gentle. That’s what the world could easily be . . . sans that unbelievably immense pile of subhuman dregs and their ever-boisterous advocates; learn from them, once again, that ancient lesson, and note that — indeed — some things never seem to change:

“Zapata . . . took to preaching God in all simplicity.
He announced to men the common Father, the rewarder,
the punisher, and pardoner. He extricated the truth from the lies,
and separated religion from fanaticism; he taught and practised
virtue. He was gentle, kindly, and modest; and he was
burned at Valladolid in the year of grace 1631.”
(Voltaire)

Take instead that other path — Wander. Observe. Enjoy.

And tell Drumpf, et al., to SHUT UP!

******

OPEN THREAD

The Watering Hole, Saturday, February 27th, 2016: Antidote

I’ve been up all night wallowing in the dregs of American “humanity”, IOW, reading headlines and comments on various internet sites. Right now I don’t even want to think about what a despicable, bigoted, uncaring, brutish devolution of a formerly (somewhat) civilized society we’ve become.

So, since I’ve blown right through sunrise here in the east, missing it completely, I’m putting up someone else’s glorious and unusually-tinted sunrise photo as an antidote to the darkness in my mind and soul. I hope it soothes your souls, too.

This is our daily Open Thread – talk about whatever you want.

The Watering Hole, Monday, February 1st, 2016: Clouds and Cute Stuff

Let’s start this week with no mention of anyone in the (R) Kandidate Klown Kar, or crazy-assed snackless ‘militias’, or wacky Talibangelists (or Talibanjoists.) I’m going with Mother Nature today.

The Weather Channel has a recent piece about this ‘Hand of God’ cloud that appeared over Madeira, Portugal. To me, it looks more like the ‘Fist of god’, and I wonder at whom it’s being shaken. Is there some satanic evildoer on Madeira who is (using Alan Rickman’s Professor Snape voice) “…UP to something”?

(Photo Credit: Rogerio Pacheco, via TheWeatherChannel)

Next, Lenticular Clouds ~

I know that we’ve covered lenticular clouds before, but take a look at some spectacular shots from (apparently) dedicated Russian photographer Vladimir Voychuk.

Now for some cuteness: Also from The Weather Channel, penguin chicks cuddling together against the cold.

While we’re on the subject of penguins, here’s more wonderful shots of them, this time under the sea. The photos were taken by French photographer/diver Andre Voyer.

And finally, cuteness that will make you squee.

“Hey, margay kitten, what big eyes for you…TA HAVE!”

This is our daily Open Thread–go ahead, start talking about something.

The Watering Hole; Friday January 29 2016; The Birds

Today I’ve decided to switch from politics to something interesting. My old College bud, Denny Green, has evolved to become, in his retirement, a dedicated nature/wildlife photographer. He recently visited a place in New Mexico called the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, a refuge considered to be parcel to that “national network of lands and waters set aside to conserve America’s fish, wildlife, and plants.” It is clearly a haven for wild birds, a haven which I would consider comparable in design and purpose to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon — but since this post is politics-free, I won’t even mention that place up there.

Anyway, here are some selected early ‘winter’ photos, taken by Denny Green at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in western New Mexico. They are of the waterfowl most prevalent at the time, i.e. Sandhill Cranes and two varieties of Snow Geese.

–And to bird-lover Ebb, wherever you might be, enjoy!!–

Sandhill Cranes, sunrise, at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico

Bosque del Apache Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Crane

Ross’s Geese, Bosque del Apache

Snow Geese, mating pair

Meanwhile, back in Arizona, some rare ducks popped up late last month at a secluded pond not far from the greater-Phoenix metro area. The first fellow has shown up — alone –each of the last two years. Where he comes from and where he goes, no one knows.

Eurasian Wigeon

American Wigeons, mating pair

Finally, this ‘Red Head Duck’ mating pair, also from a secluded pond in Maricopa County Arizona.

Red Head Ducks, mating pair

So there you have it: waterfowl from a National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, also some relatively rare ducks from an isolated pond in otherwise human-crowded Maricopa County, Arizona.

Some say cattle (and guns) are more important; I disagree.

All photos ©Denny Green, Tempe Arizona.

OPEN THREAD

 

The Watering Hole, Monday, January 11th, 2016: Odds and Ends

Let’s start with some recent local news:

Woo-hoo!  New York State’s medical marijuana program is now open for business.  One of the new dispensaries is in White Plains, NY, about 40 minutes south of us.  I think I’ll email the story link to my doctor, who used to say that, if NYS ever legalizes pot, she’ll start her own business.  I realize that this isn’t the same as legalization, but it’s a good step in the right direction.

It was recently revealed that Donald Trump had wanted to ruin summer fun for thousands of local children.  It seems that, a few years back, The Donald had been interested in turning Playland Park in Rye, NY, into a residential development.  Now, a little explanation is in order:  when we were kids, the end of many a school year was celebrated with a class trip to Rye Playland–it was fairly close, fairly affordable, and in addition to the rides, it had a decent-sized beach on the Long Island Sound.  I feel safe in saying that at least 90% of kids who grew up within a 50-mile radius of Playland has been there more than once.  Not to mention that the park has been around since 1928.

I was horrified to read about Trump’s offer in our local Patch online news – losing Playland, a part of our childhood, would be sad enough, but losing it to Trump would have been so much worse.  Good thing Trump’s meeting with Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino to discuss the possible development came to nothing:

“I could just imagine the gates of Playland with a big ‘T’ on it, you know?” a chuckling Astorino  told The Journal News. “Trumpland.”

Exactly right, Mr. Astorino, and that would be SO wrong!

Next, a few pieces from The Weather Channel:

A traffic camera in Montreal caught a snowy owl in flight.  The gif below is comprised of four photos the camera took, which can be seen here in TWC’s article.

Also from TWC for your viewing pleasure, here’s a series of photos entitled “Liquid Mountains”, by photographer Dave Sanford.  These are amazing shots of storm-tossed waves on Lake Erie–and take note of Sanford’s apt titles (shown above the upper left corner of the photos) for each of the shots.

This is our daily Open Thread – enjoy, discuss, whatever!

 

 

 

The Watering Hole, Monday, December 7th, 2015: Smile For The Camera!

With last week bringing us a tragic escalation in the madness for which America is the new poster-boy, this Monday calls for another diversion. So today’s fare will be: Animals – first in photobombs, then just cuteness. All photobombs courtesy of either dogtime.com, or from two separate photobomb categories from Huffington Post.

‘Hey, look what I found!’

‘What – you’ve never seen a Boston Terrier driving?’

‘Big Orange, Little Orange’

‘Cat Thinker with Derp Brother’

Now just cuteness:

There, that should help a bit.

This is our daily Open Thread–go ahead, talk about stuff.

The Watering Hole; Friday December 4 2015; Shade, and Sun

Had I not seen the Sun
I could have borne the shade . . .
(Emily Dickinson)

First, the shade — and yes, it’s hard to bear sometimes:

I’ll be brief. “Brief” seems a blessing, actually, once you read the following contributions by right wing and evangelical (assuming there’s a difference) nutcases. Best advice is to just hang on, it’ll all be over. And soon!

OK, so here goes nuttin’ — eight nuttin’s, actually:

(caution: recommend Saran wrap over your keyboard  before proceeding)

Ted Nugent: Time To ‘Cleanse This Country’ Of Liberals Who Want Everyone ‘Bending Over And Taking It In The Ass’

Gun Activists Claim Obama Celebrated ‘Holy Grail’ Of Planned Parenthood Shooting

Erik Rush: Obama Wants Billions To Die To Curb The World Population

E.W. Jackson: Black Lives Matter Is ‘Demonic’

Mike Huckabee Ties Syrian Refugee Issue To San Bernardino Shooting

Glenn Beck: Obama Is Either Delusional Or ‘The Dumbest Son-Of-A-Bitch On The Planet’

Leading Dominionist Says Donald Trump Is A Modern-Day Lincoln Anointed By God

Trump’s Anti-Muslim Bigotry Isn’t Hurting Him. It’s Helping.

Ok, so there, in no particular order, were eight full doses of toxic waste. Glad we’re done with that part. And now, prepare yourself for several (eight, actually) breaths of really clean and fresh air! (And yes, it’s now OK to remove the no-longer-needed Saran Wrap from your keyboard).

Here’s an abbreviated glimpse of what can reasonably be called ‘November’, or maybe ‘Autumn in the Rockies.’ Note the absence of humans, also the absence of things named Trump, Cruz, Huckabee, Nugent, Beck, et al. No toxic waste, in other words. No garbage! So go ahead, feel free to just sit back, relax, and enjoy.

November 1: a pair of Canadians ‘On Golden Pond’

November 4: Busy bee working the local ‘Forget-Me-Not’ bonanza

November 7: ‘The Last Rose of’ . . . Autumn

November 25: The lull — and the SKY! — before the storm

November 29: Same mountain, clear skies (finally!) and LOTS of snow

November 30: Little feller checking out his fresh white world

To close it out, here are two more from a similarly memorable November past:

Nov 2, 2009: Front Range lake reflection (inverted)

November 29, 2009: Thanksgiving (morning) backyard Guest

OK, so that’s it. Two worlds, both available, both accessible, amazingly different. One’s peaceful, the other nerve-wracking. Why is that? Why is the human world so indelibly messed up? Has it always been that way?

William Wordsworth once asked pretty much the same questions, then answered them in just a few words when he wrote, in his poem Lines Written In Early Spring:

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

Who, besides political or evangelical hacks, could ever find argument with that? Yeah, I know, there’s not space enough or time enough to list them all. Wouldn’t do any good anyway.

OPEN THREAD

 

The Watering Hole; Friday November 27 2015; Happy “Holidays”

Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray;
Along the cool sequester’d vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
(Thomas Gray, from Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard)

The Holiday Season has officially begun, and here, in all its glory, is the season’s formal (2015) Colorado debut on Thanksgiving Eve — the view (from my front door) of . . .

. . . The Sky Over the Front Range’s 13,000 ft. Greenhorn Peak.

It’s sad that humans don’t have the soul of Mother Nature. If we did, maybe we could all avoid the nonsensical ‘Holiday’ blather, including all that (alleged) ‘War on Christmas’ gibberish, and maybe even the ‘shop till you drop!’ and ‘spend spend spend!’ urgings with which the mass media firebombs us for close to forty days and forty nights — each and every year — right about this time.

Still, it only took the other night’s singular event — when the sky literally exploded in full color on the eve before Thanksgiving — to remind me of days long gone, even to suggest it might be worth maybe a moment’s peek at old photo files . . . ?  In years past, you see, we made it an annual point to spend as many days and nights as possible —  especially during the “Holiday Season” — away from the city and every bit as “Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife” as we could manage. Following are a handful of ‘sky’ photos from some of those years, each and all of which offer that hoped-for PROOF that Nature can NEVER be as boring as is human’s recurrent ‘celebratory’ world.

— Sunrise over Arizona’s Superstition Mountains; Nov. 2001 —

— Sonoran Desert Sunrise; Nov. 2002 —

— Four Peaks and the Mazatzals from Phoenix Mtn. Preserve; Nov. 2003 —

— Sonoran Desert Sunrise; Dec. 2005 —

— Sunset, White Tank Mountains, Arizona; Dec. 2006 —

— Gathering storm, Sierra Mojada, Colorado; New Years Day, 2009 —

So that’s how Nature celebrates the Holidays in each of two dramatically different corners of the American West. Might I assume she does much the same everywhere else as well? I’m guessing . . . ummmm . . . yes? 🙂

There still (sadly) remains, however, that ‘other’ side of the coin, the human side, the ‘Holiday Season’ side that has, over the centuries, evolved to accommodate huge numbers of zealots who (a) give thanks to their (Christian) God for the blessings that result from their (always bountiful?) harvests, and (b) demand celebration of the birth of their (Christian) God’s  (alleged) son. One might think, therefore, that their included ‘Holydays’ would be a time of tolerance, of kindness, of understanding, even a time of love. Instead, what’s come to pass is a month’s worth of commercialism, blended with various levels of accusatory hate- and fear-mongering against ‘outliers’ everywhere. So while some sceptics might find their ‘Holiday Season’ tirades entertaining (see, e.g., ‘Oppression Of America’s Churches’ Reminiscent Of Nazi Germany), I’ve decided to make MY choice be something more like this (once again) view from my front door:

— Greenhorn Peak, December 2008 —

No fear, no hate, no oppression, no Christers, no Nazis, only the Great ‘Out There.’ My OUR world, the one that reminds — always — that

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow’r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,
Awaits alike th’ inevitable hour:
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
(Thomas Gray)

Meanwhile, Happy Holidays!

OPEN THREAD

The Watering Hole, Monday, November 23rd, 2015: NatGeo, Take Me Away!

I can’t deal with “Ugly Americans” [of course, “Ugly Americans” = “Republican Presidential Candidates and their Fans/Supporters”] anymore; we keep thinking, “How can these guys sink so low?”, then, the next hour or day or week, one or two or several of them come out with such outrageous shit that we really need a new word to define what circle of hell lies beyond “outrageous” or “horrific” or “despicable” or “abhorrent” or “inhuman” – sorry, I need more words!

And I’ve had it up to HERE with the holidays being turned into meaningless “shop-’til-you-drop” commercialism [how about if “Black Friday” could be turned into “Black Lives Matter Friday” – hell, make every day of the entire Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday shopping season a day of protests]. So I’m going with some beautiful photos from National Geographic to start the week.

Here’s some pretty birds, from “A Flight of Birds”, a section of NatGeo’s Photo Ark, including a photo capturing the iridescent plumage of the Purple Glossy Starling, such as seen below,

and a more close-up shot of the Javan Rhinoceros Hornbill, like the one seen below:

And if you prefer a larger gallery for leisurely viewing, here’s more from NatGeo’s 2015 Photo Contest. The “Week 10” group includes a brooding sunset photo of Godafoss Waterfall in Iceland – here’s a chilly winter shot of the falls, just to start the calming process:

This is our daily Open Thread – enjoy the views or rant away – or you can do both!

Sunday Roast: Mesmerize me, Fibonacci

I found this on facebook, which found it on The San Francisco Globe.  Never heard of it before, but I haven’t heard of everything yet.  Heh.

I watched this video until my eyeballs went googley, and then I watched it some more the next day.  Here’s the info:

John Edmark is an inventor, designer and artist who teaches design at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA. One of his latest creations is a series of 3D-printed sculptures designed with proportions corresponding to the Fibonacci Sequence. When Edmark’s sculptures are spun at just the right frequency under a strobe light, a rather magical effect occurs: the sculptures seem to be animated or alive! The rotation speed is set to match the strobe flashes such that every time the sculpture rotates 137.5º, there is one corresponding flash from the strobe light.

These masterful illusions are the result of a marriage between art and mathematics. Fibonacci’s Sequence is defined as a recurrent relationship that can be expressed as  F_n = F_{n-1} + F_{n-2}…  where the first two digits of the sequence can be defined as F_1=1, and F_2=1. What this means is that the sequence starts with two 1’s, and each following digit is determined by adding together the previous two. Therefore, Fibonacci’s Sequence begins: {1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89…} etc.

What does all that mean?  No seriously, I’m asking — what does all that mean?  I dunno, but it creates some pretty cool designs and amazingly mesmerizing video.  Or a dude in Palo Alto has way too much time on his hands — could be that.

This is our daily open thread — Watch the video over and over…

The Watering Hole, Saturday, August 29th, 2015: Let’s Get Away From It All

This ought to take your minds off of the insanity of the Republican “presidential hopefuls”, if only for a little while.

The Weather Channel has posted the finalists for its 2015 “It’s Amazing Out There” photo contest. So enjoy some cool photos and forget about Teh Stupid.

Here’s one of last year’s photo finalists, a cool shot taken by Dwayne Kear:

So go ahead, refresh your sense of wonder at something other than jaw-dropping idiocy.

This is our daily Open Thread – enjoy!

The Watering Hole; Thursday February 26 2015; Weird Week Weather-Wise

It’s been a weird week, weather-wise, both in Colorado and across much of the country. Here at the foot of the Rockies, we literally went from temps in the 70s and 80s — and a completely thawed lake — to heavy snow and temps near zero, then back into bright sunshine and warming days, then back to more cold and more heavy snow.

Following are six photographs that pretty much summarize the weird weather’s week. It begins on Thursday the 19th — a bright sunny and warm day at the local lake with a scene that definitely doesn’t look like mid-winter. It’s a lake view on an incredibly still afternoon. The water was glassy smooth and after looking at the photo, I thought the reflections of the bare and leafless trees looked better when the scene was inverted — a touch of Monet, maybe? Oh, and that white stuff at the waterline is the remnant of the snow that fell a couple of weeks earlier.

The next day, Friday the 20th, not too much changed. It was cooler, and by afternoon the wind had picked up. Something was definitely in the air, though, and the weather forecast was looking pretty grim — this time they got it right. The following five shots show the progression of the storm; in order to avoid freezing my delicate shutter finger, each and all were taken through my front window.

First, Saturday morning, the gathering storm as it wrapped its arms around Mt. St, Charles, a 12.000 ft peak in the Front Range, the Wet Mountains.

The snow started falling Saturday afternoon and was still coming down on Sunday morning, with close to a foot on the ground by 8AM. In the photo below, note the two almost buried cars, parked on what was once a passable road.

Monday morning, the sun was out, the sky was blue, and the snow was covering everything in sight, trees included. The Front Range was still shrouded in an ice fog, however, and remained that way the entire day.

Tuesday morning, the fog had dissipated and the sky over the mountains was crystal clear, and COLD!

The sun was still shining on Wednesday until around noon when the next weather front started coming over the front range. Dark clouds hailed the front’s arrival over Mt. St. Charles.

Within the hour the Front Range was completely immersed in low clouds and fog, and by mid-afternoon the snow started to fall here. By seven PM Wednesday night, several inches had already fallen and the wind was blowing it all over the place; visibility was down to a few feet at best.

The bad part of the story is that, according to the National Weather Service, it’s likely to be Monday-next before things calm down again. So here’s some advice to everyone living east of the Rockies: don’t put your snow shovels away just yet!

I guess Emily Dickinson sort of summed it all up some 160 years ago when she wrote this little gem:

The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean.
A Travelling Flake of Snow
Across a Barn or through a Rut
Debates if it will go —

A Narrow Wind complains all Day
How some one treated him
Nature, like Us is sometimes caught
Without her Diadem.

Sure am glad all that climate change bunkum is nothing but a giant hoax. I mean hey, if it was for real, then various corners of the country might be getting some really goofy weather now and again!

OPEN THREAD

The Frozen Hole, Saturday, February 21st, 2015: M-m-m-more S-s-s-snow?!

It seems like more than half the country is getting hit by more snow, ice, and other nasty cold stuff through this weekend.

We humans are just not designed for this. So, everyone stay warm inside and have a look at lots of animals who were much better designed for snow than we are. As usual, thanks to The Weather Channel for gathering the pics in this slideshow. While they do include some of my favorite ‘snow’ animals, such as the snow leopard:
I think they were a bit remiss in not including others of my favorite snow-loving animals, like the Arctic Fox:
And not a single one of Arctic Hares, either:

Arctic Hares High-Fiving

But I have to say that my favorite ‘wildlife-in-snow’ themed photo that ISN’T in the slideshow is this one:

“Hey, maybe one of you two cubs is small enough to reach in there…”

This is our daily Open Thread – if you’re reading this from somewhere with no snow, please think warm thoughts towards the rest of us!

The Watering Hole, Saturday, January 17th, 2015: Gud F*cking Gramer

Although, ages ago, in his “Ask The Grammar Guy” piece, Wayne had expertly covered these common grammar mistakes that make us cringe when we see them, here’s a pithy and profane way to remember the rules:

Fucking Grammar

I realize that all of us here are well familiar with these rules, and are exceptional and eloquent writers who never make those mistakes (and we’re humble, too), so here’s a (very large:  300+ photos) photo gallery of “The Stunning Creatures of the White Sea.” The gallery was put together by Camille Mann and Edicio Martinez, and (as usual), is brought to you courtesy of the Weather Channel. Here’s just one of the unusual creatures:

Coryphella verrucosa

Enjoy!

This is our daily Open Thread, so talk about, you know, whatever…

The Watering Hole, Monday, December 29th, 2014: Butts and Moons

2014 in medicine(?):

What did we get stuck in our butts last year? Deadspin has the answer. (Hint: Among other things, a shot glass.)

2014 in science:

The Weather Channel provides their ‘Top 50 Science and Environment Photos‘ for 2014, which included four blood moons.

Lunar Eclipse April 2014 – photo by Astrophotographer Joel O’Bryan

This is our daily open thread–go ahead, have at it!

The Watering Hole, Monday, December 15th, 2014: Surreal

While the vast majority of the current political, cultural, and social events have become increasingly surreal, here’s just a few examples of the WTF? society in which we are floundering.

In the wake of the release of the Senate Torture Report (“Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee’s Study on the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program”), the defensive reactions of some are wandering in the realm of surrealism. There was that, pardon the expression, bimbo on Fox screaming that “America is AWESOME!”, there’s Dick Cheney calmly and coldly dragging Dubya under the same bus that HOPEFULLY runs down Cheney.

There’s surreal hypocrisy, as in Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (spit!) stating that there’s nothing in the Constitution that prohibits torture. From HuffPost:

“Scalia…said that while there are U.S. laws against torture, nothing in the Constitution appears to prohibit harsh treatment of suspected terrorists. “I don’t know what article of the Constitution that would contravene…”

[How did this scumbag get to be a Supreme?]

“In 2008, he used the example of the hidden bomb [ala the fictional Jack Bauer in 24]. “It seems to me you have to say, as unlikely as that is, it would be absurd to say you couldn’t, I don’t know, stick something under the fingernail, smack him in the face. It would be absurd to say you couldn’t do that,” he said.”

On the other hand, regarding a real imminent potential crisis situation:

“In January, Scalia seemed less concerned about the safety of residents of Los Angeles when the court heard arguments about whether anonymous tips could justify a traffic stop. Urging the lawyer for two suspects appealing their conviction to stand firm, Scalia suggested that not even information that a carload of terrorists heading to Los Angeles with an atomic bomb would be enough to justify police stopping the car, if the tip came from an anonymous source. “I want you to say, ‘Let the car go. Bye-bye, LA,'” Scalia said.

Then there’s surreal racism/white privilege in ‘law enforcement’. As this Daily Kos diary points out, why aren’t vicious white criminals called “thugs”? One particular white Texas criminal who brutally murdered a white prosecutor, the prosecutor’s wife, and the assistant prosecutor, was:

“…a felon who had a prior record of burglary and theft. Yet somehow he had amassed a veritable arsenal of weapons as prosecutors during the penalty phase of his trial revealed:

“On Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors assembled the arsenal of weapons found in Williams’ storage unit in the courtroom. The guns were displayed on three wooden racks in the middle of the courtroom, 42 handguns in the middle and 22 long guns flanking each side. In front of the racks were boxes of ammunition — thousands of rounds were recovered — and a crossbow. Bullets were loose in bags, as well as still packaged in boxes.”

Now let’s switch to more palatable surrealism: I ran across this assemblage of ’30 surreal photos’ while I was clearing out/sorting my emails at work–Wayne had sent me the link in a 2012 email, noting that he liked this photo:

“Seemingly Surreal Swallows in a Snowstorm” – photo by Keith Williams

While I found many of the “surreal” photos to be too contrived – I like the ones where a simple alteration of one’s perspective reveals a glimpse of other-worldliness (see “Towering”, among others) – I agree with Wayne, I love the swallows photo. For more of photographer Keith Williams’ bird photos, I highly recommend checking out his gallery – makes a nice palate-cleanser.

This is our daily open thread – go ahead, speak up!

The Watering Hole; Friday December 12 2014; Action Request

The following is a recent communication courtesy of the Center For Biological Diversity, a request mirrored by (among others) Defenders of Wildlife and the Wilderness Society. It’s a simple request for action, an effort to STOP in its tracks the latest irrational attempt to eradicate wolf populations in Idaho’s back country. Note that the BLM has already acted appropriately, and that now the wolf-kill enterprise has shifted its focus “to national forest lands (along with private and state) instead of BLM” with intent still the same: the irrational eradication of all timber wolf populations therein and thereupon.

In November, following an onslaught of letters and a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, the Bureau of Land Management cancelled its permit to a hunting group trying to hold a wildlife-killing contest on Idaho’s public lands.

The hunt was neither in the public interest nor consistent with the agency’s mission. But now the misnamed “Idaho for Wildlife” is trying to peddle its wolf-hating elsewhere — switching its family-friendly carnagefest to national forest lands (along with private and state) instead of BLM.

According to the group, up to 500 participants — including kids as young as 10 years old — will compete to kill as many wolves, coyotes and other animals as they can.

The competition will take place in January — unless we demand a stop to it now.

The Forest Service has effectively escaped any public review of the competition by not requiring a permit for this event. But the public must have a say in how our lands are used and managed, and an event of this magnitude must be preceded by an environmental review.

Act now to demand that the Forest Service bring a stop to this barbaric hunt on our public lands or, at the very least, conduct a review in the clear light of day.

— Click here to take action and get more information. —

****

Some years ago, Alaska resident and outdoor enthusiast Jill Missal wrote the following (my underline):

“The precise origins of man’s unusual fear of the wolf are obscure. The wolf is human’s most feared animal, even though there has never been a verified account of a healthy wild wolf attacking and killing a human in North America. There have been many maulings caused by bears, and many a diver has experienced a shark attack, but never a wild wolf attack. So why are wolves so feared and hated?“

Why indeed. Actually, Canadian environmentalist and author Farley Mowat answered her question in his 1963 masterpiece Never Cry Wolf where he wrote a most able summary of today’s wolf-hating idiots:

“We have doomed the wolf not for what it is but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be: the mythologized epitome of a savage, ruthless killer — which is, in reality, no more than the reflected image of ourself.”

There is no reason — other than the irrational attitudes of the unenlightened and poorly educated masses — for ANY state or federal governmental agency to allow the wanton slaughter of recently reintroduced (endangered) species which are of NO RISK to any human anywhere. Irrational hatred and fear have become a defining hallmark of a substantial portion of Americans these days, but is that fair reason to allow wanton slaughter?

No.

I hope all who read this will access the petition linked above and sign it. With luck, someone with authority to act will listen. And then ACT. Appropriately.

(Photos by Frugal)

OPEN THREAD

Sunday Roast: Brown Pelicans

Photos by Zooey

My oldest boy wanted to see Brown Pelicans, so we went to the Devil’s Punch Bowl and saw some damn pelicans.  Bam.

What did you do with your first Saturday in November?

This is our daily open thread — You know what to do.

The Watering Hole, Monday, October 20th, 2014: Goodbye, Indian Summer

river through The Great Swamp

On Friday, I wore shorts to work and went in with my hair still wet. The day was sunny and hit the low 70s. Today, I’m going into work wearing long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and a lightweight fleece jacket, as the weather is finally remembering that it’s fall.

(sigh)

Goodbye, Indian Summer – you’re welcome to visit any time…

This is our daily open thread – feel free to discuss whatever you want.