Henry David Thoreau
I saw the civil sun drying earth’s tears —
Her tears of joy that only faster flowed,
Fain would I stretch me by the highway side,
To thaw and trickle with the melting snow,
That mingled soul and body with the tide,
I too may through the pores of nature flow.
But I alas nor tinkle can nor fume,
One jot to forward the great work of Time,
‘Tis mine to hearken while these ply the loom,
So shall my silence with their music chime.
Trumbull Stickney
It’s cold abroad the country I remember.
The swallows veering skimmed the golden grain
At midday with a wing aslant and limber;
And yellow cattle browsed upon the plain
It’s empty down the country I remember.
I had a sister lovely in my sight:
Her hair was dark, her eyes were very sombre;
We sang together in the woods at night.
It’s lonely in the country I remember.
The babble of our children fills my ears,
And on our hearth I stare the perished ember
To flames that show all starry thro’ my tears.
It’s dark about the country I remember.
There are the mountains where I lived. The path
Is slushed with cattle-tracks and fallen timber,
The stumps are twisted by the tempests’ wrath.
But that I knew these places are my own,
I’d ask how came such wretchedness to cumber
The earth, and I to people it alone.
It rains across the country I remember.
It is a little early yet, but the Sandhill Cranes overwinter near us. They love hunting bugs, frogs and other such small deer in the cotton fields at the Georgia Alabama border near Centre. We’ve even seen, once, the Whooping cranes fly through.
This shows what a 200mm lens does. I’m just waiting to try with a bigger one.
Helen Hay Whitney
Dear, did we meet in some dim yesterday?
I half remember how the birds were mute
Among green leaves and tulip-tinted fruit,
And on the grass, beside a stream, we lay
In early twilight; faintly, far away,
Came lovely sounds adrift from silver lute,
With answered echoes of an airy flute,
While Twilight waited tiptoe, fain to stay.
Her violet eyes were sweet with mystery.
You looked in mine, the music rose and fell
Like little, lisping laughter of the sea;
Our souls were barks, wind-wafted from the shore—
Gold cup, a rose, a ruby, who can tell?
Soft—music ceases—I recall no more.
Slapton Sands
photograph (c) 2015 R. Harrison
I’ve taken almost all the pictures on this blog myself. It’s probably worth sharing a couple of tips for catching bugs and critters.
The first trick is to use the correct lens, assuming you have a camera that can take lenses (The digital SLR’s are now, and have been for several years, more than good enough to be worth it for serious photography.) I use a moderate telephoto (200mm) for insects. It can focus close enough to bring the insect into focus, but lets you stay far enough away to not disturb the critter. I could use a longer lens, but the depth of field is too shallow – which makes it difficult to keep the creature in focus.
The depth of field can be used to artistic effect, but I’ve found much longer lenses problematic.
I use a “skylight” filter to keep the lens clean, but don’t bother with a polarizer for these (I do when taking scenery – with a wide angle lens, but that’s a different post.)
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It looks like you’re at the edge of the world when you’re at the top of Mt. Snowdon. Even when the weather is good.
Anonymous
Backcountry Mists.
Henry Coe State Park,
California
Photograph (c) 2010 R. Harrison
Why was it so important?
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There’s a literary connection as well a the computer science one.
Lola Ridge, 1873
I wonder
how it would be here with you,
where the wind
that has shaken off its dust in low valleys
touches one cleanly,
as with a new-washed hand,
and pain
is as the remote hunger of droning things,
and anger
but a little silence
sinking into the great silence.
Sunset from the Tooth of Time (c) 2009 R. Harrison
Jorge Cham nails it. Except my chair is blue and doesn’t come above my shoulders, this could be me with a student. I even look like the professor, except I don’t wear vests. (But I do wear shorts until it snows.)
"Piled Higher and Deeper" by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com
R. Harrison, Creative Enterprises 