The Sun
It radiates light and heat, which makes it possible for life to exist on Earth. Plants need sunlight to grow. Animals, including humans, need plants for food and the oxygen they produce. Without heat from the sun, Earth would freeze. A true metaphor to life. 🙂
The Sun
The Magnificent Great Blue Heron, The great blue heron grows to 4 feet tall with a 6 to 7 foot wingspan. Despite its large size, its hollow bones allow it to weigh only 5 to 6 pounds.
You wouldn’t think this small bird would have wings this beautiful. They always take my breath away, especially when you hear them fly by.
Have a wonderful weekend.
The Magnificent Great Blue
You Find it in the Sand, Legend of the Sand Dollar
Sand dollars are actually burrowing sea urchins. When they wash up on the beach and are bleached by the sun, they look like a large silver coin, hence the moniker.
A legend about these creatures says they represent the story of Christ:
On the top of the shell is a symbol that looks like a star, a reminder of the Star of Bethlehem that led wise men to the Christ Child. Around the star is an outline of an Easter lily, a reminder of the Lord’s resurrection.
There are five holes in a sand dollar – four around the ends of the star and one in the center. According to the religious legend, the four holes represent the four wounds of Christ when his hands and feet were nailed to the cross. The center hole represents the wound made from a soldier’s spear.
When you turn over the sand dollar, you see the outline of a poinsettia, the Christmas flower. And if you break open a sand dollar, five dove-shaped pieces emerge. Doves are often used in art and literature as a symbol of peace and goodwill.
Now you know the legend of the sand dollar, a story of hope and peace. See if you can find one on your next visit to Alabama beaches.
You Find it in the Sand
Look At the Colors, I have a bird feeder outside the RV window at most parks when I can and yesterday I looked out the window as the sun was shinning right on this bird. The colors are amazing, without the sunlight this bird looks like a regular black bird.
It is called the common grackle. They have an iridescent bluish head and bronzy body in good light.
The Blue Jay has its turn at the feeder along with the grackles.
Have a Great Weekend.
Look At the Colors
Hidden in the Forest of trees is where you will find the secret life of the spiders. Not to be seen in the bright of the day, but in the early morning light with a touch of dew all around. Their cobwebs are shinning like a beautiful tapestry of art work that catches anything that tries to pass by.
Hidden in the Forest
The Day We Left Nature Behind, I came across an interesting discussion the other day that speaks of the indoor generation. How times have changed.
The indoor generation; a generations that spends 90% of its life indoors. It started the day nature was left behind.
We filled our homes with all the stuff we wanted, they become places we don’t want to leave.
Artificial light replaced daylight. Homes are built so tight nothing can escape.
We closed ourselves in to the point nothing can get out.
The air turned bad and we use chemicals to try and stop the bad stuff.
We do all this to make the darkness bearable.
Let there be Light
The Day We Left Nature Behind
Pet Portraits, I have been busy making pet portraits for the folks that are camping near us and thought I would share a couple of them.
These are photos that folks have taken with their phones and text them to me. I then edit the photos and use several techniques to turn them into paintings. Now there was a few photos people sent to me that I just could not fix. Those photos that are way out of focus don’t work to well. But for the most part I can work with a lot of them.
This cat below is our cat. What a difference it makes in a photo depending on if the cats eyes are dilated or not.
Check out the link below if you would like me to make a portrait of your pet. It is simple as sending me a photo from your phone and I will do my best to make a painting for you. 🙂
Pet Portraits
Kootenai Campground Montana, we were in Montana last June. This is basically the end of our trip from last winter. My brother and his wife live here and we stayed at this campground while we were visiting.
I actually did not take a lot of photos while visiting because we spent a lot of time just hanging out together and catching up on old times. We did go sight seeing, but sometimes spending time with family is more important then taking photos for me.
Yesterday a reader commented on the eagle photo. Mentioning that the bird in this photo below looks like an osprey instead of an eagle. So I thought I would share today a photo of each bird to show the differences between these magnificent birds.
I cropped the photo so we could have a closer look. From a distance the two birds can look similar and hard to identify for sure. But, the 3 things I look for are the color of the feet, the size of the beak and then the body size.
The osprey beak is much smaller and thinner, plus the osprey has a definite color difference with the one stipe that leads away from the eyes.
With body size, even a young eagle is quite a bit larger than an adult osprey.
Both birds are beautiful and majestic in their own ways. A sight to see in nature for sure.
I did find a few small flowers blooming here and there. I tell you, I am ready to see more flowers now. Spring time is always so uplifting as the grass starts to grow and the colorful flowers replace all the brown of the long winter months.
Kootenai Campground Montana
Amongst the Silence, there is light. The waves are silent as the clouds slowly drift by. In the early morning light is when I can see clearly, what my heart already knows.
Amongst the Silence
