• landscape,  natural areas,  snow,  trees,  window

    Happy Mother’s Day!

    May 10, 2015
    Snow Covered Trail and a favorite Cottonwood tree
    Snow Covered Trail and a favorite Cottonwood tree

    It has been raining for the past several days. Thankfully it has been a gentle and refreshing rain and much needed moisture. We have seen severe weather conditions over the past few days. There have been tornado warnings, hail warnings, flash flood warnings, and winter weather warnings. Temperatures started to drop down to freezing yesterday afternoon. As it dropped the rain changed to snow, heavy wet snow. My understanding is some areas of Colorado had as much as 6 inches of snow.

    Fort Collins is reporting over 2.5 inches of moisture the past 3 days. The 1 to 3 inches of snow they predicted for last night fizzled out. We only received a dusting of snow as you can see in the above image taken this morning of a favorite cottonwood along the Fisher Nature Trail. The image below was taken yesterday afternoon from my bedroom window during some heavier rain.

    Gentle Rain
    Gentle Rain

    And, Happy Mother’s Day to all!

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  • Arapaho Bend Natural Area,  natural areas,  Plants,  trees

    Respect Our Elders

    June 4, 2014
    Cottonwood tre
    Cottonwood tree

    Have you ever just reached out and touched a tree trunk, stopped to touch a leaf or knelt down to just observe a fallen leaf or a broken branch? Have you spent time just looking as intently and as closely as possible? The more time I spend in nature the more I am fascinated with trees whether it is a grove of aspens, poplars along a river bank or a cottonwood standing alone on the horizon. So, my answer to those questions, yes.

    As a young boy visiting relatives in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, my cousins and I would go fishing for catfish down on one the creeks. It always seemed like more fun to explore the creek than sit on the bank and watch a red and white bobber float on the muddy water. I ran through the fields catching grasshoppers. I climbed the trees along the creek banks and when tired laid down in the shade they offered. Fond memories for me.

    Trees are one of the almost endless miracles of nature. There are unsupported statements that the cottonwood tree dates back to the Cretaceous Period, about 145 million years ago and possibly to the Jurassic Period – 200 million years ago. Makes our lifetime miniscule. I was taught to respect our elders and as I move more towards being an elder myself I grow in my respect for nature as one of my elders.

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  • fog,  landscape,  Plants/Nature,  trees

    Two Trees Revisited

    November 20, 2011
    Lifting fog over two trees in a wheat field

    These are the two trees I’ve happily photographed this past sumer. The crops surrounding them have been harvested. The leaves have begun to drop exposing bare branches. The Rocky Mountains are hidden in the background by the morning fog. What a glorious morning it was. I’m grateful for this morning experience and look forward to many more.

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  • Plants/Nature,  trees

    Moving on to Winter

    November 17, 2011
    Cottonwood Grove

    I paid another visit to the grove of cottonwood trees near Mary’s Lake at the Rocky Mountain National Arsenal. My last visit, two weeks ago, showed the vibrant colors of yellow-gold of the leaves. Since then we have had snow and wind, so I expected to see some barren trees. The leaves of the cottonwood are shiny and triangular with rounded teeth on the margin. The nearly heart-shaped leaves are similar to poplar and aspen, also members of the Poplar family. We are moving on to winter and then I will try and get a photo of them in a blanket of white.

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  • lake,  landscape,  Plants/Nature,  quotes,  trees

    Ladora Lake

    November 15, 2011
    Ladora Lake looking South

    “My goal as a person and, consequently, as a photographer, is to witness, participate in, and hopefully share the delicate beauty of wilderness – those moments in time when nature and spirit transcend the make-believe world of politics, economics, religious squabbles, fleeting fashion, mass “entertainment,” and other means of wasting the precious gift of thought and inspiration we are each endowed with.”

    Guy Tal

    I just observed a young boy, maybe 6 years old, walk into this coffee shop with his eyes glued to a smart phone or game boy? He never looked up. Unfortunately, he had been sucked into that small box with its dings, dongs, chimes, bells and whistles, blasting away to kill as many opponents as quickly as his nimble fingers could move. It was obvious he was no longer “witnessing or participating” in the world around him. His mother sat passively beside him with no attempt or chance of a conversation and I’m not sure she even wanted any of that. I wondered what that conversation would be like. Could he even have a conversation with her? Does he have, or will he ever have, the precious gift of thought and inspiration? Just watch our children, and unfortunately many adults, as they walk through life looking down at their handheld devices. Addicted?

    Anyway, I wanted to share the above quote from Guy Tal. His words so resonate with my heart and soul in this misguided world. If you have a chance to visit his website and blog, I highly recommend it. He’s a very good photographer and very much in touch with the world around him. I enjoy his little quips called, “Just saying.”

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  • Plants/Nature,  trees

    The Quaking Leaves

    October 30, 2011
    Cottonwood Tree

    A few days ago Mark Graf had a thought provoking post entitled The Passinate Observer. His post caused me to realize something about myself, and therefore this post. I believe photography has helped me develop into that Passionate Observer he talks about. Even though I am getting older, I am seeing things with newer eyes, that Passionate Observer. I dont just see a tree anymore but I take the time to look at the leaves, the bark, the bent and twisted trunks, the broken limbs, the birds nest or the raptor perched in search of prey. I walk up and touch it. Silly as it may seem I even talk to them. One morning I watched a couple intently walking the trail around Lake Ladora at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR. Their heads were down, focused on their stride and the conversation, yet never looking up at this tree. They ignored the yellow quaking leaves calling out to them.

    So, I agree with Mark and his quote by Diane Arbus, that in order for us to “capture some emotion” of what we felt we must first be observers, even simple observers. Then when we’re passionate about what we see, we have something special. Maybe this couple will be able to see the beauty of this tree, the art in nature, if we present it to them through our photography.

    And today is my moms 80th birthday, So, I’m in Phoenix to celebrate her special day.

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  • Plants/Nature,  trees

    Cottonwoods at Sunrise

    October 28, 2011
    There was something about this grove of trees that always called to me.

    This past weekend I spent a couple of hours at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. It’s been a while since I paid a visit. I arrived 40 minutes after the gates were to open but found the gates locked. Another photographer and I waited for about 30 minutes before they showed up and found they had changed the time to 7:00 AM for the Fall season. I walked the Lake Ladora tail and was so enthralled by the colors of the cottonwood trees. As some of you know my eye does go towards trees, usually isolated ones. I’ve read where photographers need to know their subject so I’m in the process of learning more about these cottonwood trees. I’ve always wondered what the pioneers saw as they crossed the Great Plains on the Santa Fe or the Oregon Trail. Most of the short grass prairie had few native trees so they often went for a long time without seeing any trees. The prairie was frequently seen as a very foreign and hostile environment to people from the forested east. No trees meant no wood for cooking. Dried bison dung was used for cooking fuel instead! No trees also meant no shade, which can be very precious on a hot day in summer.

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