Posts Tagged ‘rocks’
Lichens on rocks
At Palmetto State Park on January 29th I took pictures of colorful lichens on rocks.
And here’s a thought for today:
The sincerity of someone’s delusion doesn’t make it any less a delusion. — S.S.
© 2021 Steven Schwartzman
Return to the cliff: textures
Beyond orange and green things, I mostly focused on geological textures during
my January 16th return to the cliff along the Capital of Texas Highway south of FM 2222.
In the next picture, those among you of the pareidolic persuasion may see
a right-facing profile in the shadow, perhaps even that of George Washington.
And let me close by pulling back to a more expansive view showing an especially photogenic portion of the seeping cliff. At its top you see Ashe junipers (Juniperus ashei), seemingly ubiquitous in many parts of Austin.
© 2021 Steven Schwartzman
Return to the cliff: orange and green
On January 16th, two weeks after my first foray this year to the cliff on the west side of Capital of Texas Highway south of FM 2222, I returned. I did so because when driving past there the previous day I’d noticed that the recent snow/sleet had invigorated the water’s seeping on the face of the cliff. Some of my new photographs highlighted orange areas among the rocks. In the first picture, notice in the upper left how the dead roots or stems of plants were slowly become mineralized. And a little right of center near the bottom it was good of a pillbug to appear as a token representative of the animal kingdom.
In the middle photograph, some of the drying southern maidenhair fern leaves (Adiantum capillus-veneris) at the upper right were taking on a paler version of the orange in or on the rocks. What the green stuff in the final picture was, I don’t know.
© 2021 Steven Schwartzman
A seeping cliff, a shrine, a medallion
The cliff on the west side of the Capital of Texas Highway just south of FM 2222 seeps water, especially in the days after rain. The picture above shows how a section of the cliff looked on January 2nd after we’d had rain a few days earlier; I’d say you’re looking at a height of about 20 ft. (6m) here. In one place on the face of the cliff some southern maidenhair ferns (Adiantum capillus-veneris) adorned a small natural shrine whose not deep but deep-shadowed interior a flash provided visual admission to. Notice how a few drops of water, inviters and sustainers of ferns, hung from the little grotto’s upper lip
Elsewhere the same kind of ferns made up part of a large medallion. The many darkened ferns testify to the previous period of several months when we’d had almost no rain.
© 2021 Steven Schwartzman
Anniversary of our Coron island-hopping tour
A year ago today we went on our Coron* island-hopping tour
in the Philippine province of Palawan, which neither of us had ever been to.
Can you tell that the first two photographs offer different views of the same nature-sculpted promontory?
The final picture includes the kind of outrigger from which I photographed all these scenes.
* Who knew that just a month later we’d begin hearing and worrying about something else
whose first five letters happened to be Coron?
© 2020 Steven Schwartzman
Joshua Tree National Park
Where else to find Joshua trees than Joshua Tree National Park in southeastern California?
The park and the Mojave Desert welcomed us four years ago today, though actually we’d seen our first Joshua trees two weeks earlier in Nevada, and then in Barstow.
These “trees” aren’t truly trees at all, but members of the yucca family, Yucca brevifolia. Yuccas are members of Agavoideae, which isn’t so surprising, but that group is a part of the asparagus family, a fact that does surprise most people. Not all is as it seems, is it?
And how about finding a nest in one of the Joshua trees? Thanks to the staff at Joshua Tree National Park for telling me that the maker of the nest is most likely a ladder-backed woodpecker, Picoides scalaris.
© 2020 Steven Schwartzman
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
Four years ago today we visited the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area on the west side of Las Vegas, Nevada. We arrived in the morning, when clouds still hung over the mountains.
Note the yuccas in the second picture. I believe they’re young Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia).
And notice the cholla cactus that looks like a running stick figure in the third picture.
The first three views don’t seem to support the name Red Rock, so here’s a picture that does.
Instead of a quotation today, let’s have an English vocabulary question. A mailman delivers mail. A fisherman catches fish. A fireman puts out fires. A salesman sells things. What does a henchman do?
© 2020 Steven Schwartzman
Nevada’s Valley of Fire
Four years ago today we spent hours at Nevada’s scenic Valley of Fire State Park. The day was overcast and at times we had rain, but at least the subdued light reduced the desert’s normally harsh shadows
In the second and third pictures, note the tafoni in the rocks.
As dusk approached, the sun sank for a short while beneath the level of the clouds.
The setting sun’s warm light made the reddish earth and rocks seem even redder, as in the last two pictures.
And here’s a thought for today: “On n’a guère de défauts qui ne soient plus pardonnables que les moyens dont on se sert pour les cacher.” “Almost all our faults are more forgivable than the means we use to hide them.” — François de la Rochefoucauld.
© 2020 Steven Schwartzman
Zion revisited
On October 22, 2016, we spent much of the day in Zion National Park.
Because it’s such a scenic place, the park swarmed with visitors well past the summer tourist season; I sometimes had to aim and frame judiciously to keep people from showing up in my pictures.
These four pictures suggest how diverse Zion’s rock formations are.
And here’s a relevant quotation for today:
“Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame.”
― The Land of Heart’s Desire
© 2020 Steven Schwartzman
Slide Rock State Park
Oak Creek Canyon
On this date in 2016 we spent a few hours in Slide Rock State Park near Sedona, Arizona.
A strangely deformed alligator juniper (Juniperus deppeana)
Overwhelmed by so many other scenic places on that trip, I never showed any of the Slide Rock pictures.
How about those shadows?
After four years, finally you get to see a few of those views.
Oak Creek’s rocks and water came in for a lot of attention.
And here’s a question rather than a quotation: how often do you renew your poetic license?
© 2020 Steven Schwartzman
