Me On Morro

        Just before sunset, I stood alone atop Morro Rock in Sequoia National Park. Everybody else had left, because you don't want to get caught up there in the dark. Trying to negotiate the endless number of practically vertical, concrete steps that lead you several hundred vertical feet to the bottom, in waning light, is not most people's idea of fun.
        But it was mine.
        So I stayed up there as long as I could, and took this picture a little while before I began my descent. I actually took video on the way down, complete with witty and inane commentary. I’ll post it on my Video Blog section soon. Until then, take my word for it. It rocks up there.

Cherry Blossom Snow

We've got this beautiful Cherry Blossom tree on the front of our property. It blooms a little later than most other Cherry Blossoms around here, and I'm not sure why. And like all of it's species, it's plumage doesn't last long. Between the time it blooms and the time all the petals are off the tree, it's a matter of two weeks.

But when the blossoms fall, it creates a unique ground cover that looks like pink snow. I already knew that, but this year, it felt as though I was seeing it for the first time. Maybe because my heart is so much more open now. I'm paying so much closer attention to my life, what's in it, and what's around it. I'm letting more in. It really is as though I'm seeing my life through new eyes. Or more accurately, like I've taken off a dirty pair of sunglasses that were disrupting my view.  

The Big Picture, Baby

Whilst on a twelve mile hike through Sequoia National Park, I came upon this clearing that looked out towards Mount....something. I had lugged my camera, tripod, food, and water through the forest and snapped hundreds of photographs of the Giant Sequoias. Getting a mountain landscape shot like this was the creamy, succulent frosting on an already rich, mouthwatering cake.

I had been surrounded by the world's most amazing trees for hours, completely mesmerized. But I couldn't see what surrounded the forest. I didn't have a sense of the big picture. I couldn't visualize the lay of the land that contained the very forest I was in. But when I came upon this clearing, it gave me a more macro perspective. I could thus place the forest in the context of an entire landscape. That's another reason I love this shot. Besides being scenically spectacular, it gave me a different sense of where I really was. 

If you ever go to Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park, spend a few days there. Hike deep through the Sequoia dominated forest. Instead of just soaking it in around the edges, throw yourself in the middle of it. Don't just look at the trees. Immerse yourself in the forest. Then go another step and get a sense of what the land looks like that contains the forest. It's easy to never get that perspective, but it's worth the effort. It gives you a more complete experience. One of a true inhabitant, instead of just a transient observer.

SnowMobile

I used to have this convertible. Actually, I've had several convertibles throughout my driving career. This one eventually got regulated to strictly summer use, due to it's age and mounting mechanical problems. One of those problems was that the passenger side window motor was broken. Instead of having it fixed, I just let it be, because I only drove it in the summer when it was nice out anyway. I never put the windows up. 

In the winter, I would cover the car and store it in my driveway. But during one particularly nasty storm, the cover blew off and snow got inside the car. During my mandatory outdoor snow storm photo session, I saw what had happened and thought it looked cool.

It reminds me of the time I owned a 1972 Pontiac Grande Ville convertible and decided to take it for a spin. During a snow storm. With the top down. I put on my snow gear, like I was going skiing, and headed out. Man I had fun. Laughed the whole time. And got more strange looks than I could count.

Notice the bottle of sunscreen near the shifter. Frozen solid.

God Lives In The Mojave

Yes, I'm sure that some of you will say "God lives everywhere". But a title doesn't have to encompass all of reality. Just the reality relevant to whatever it's a title for.

In August of 2006, I traveled to The Mojave National Preserve when I spent the summer in California. I hiked up the highest sand dune in the park, approximately six-hundred feet above the desert floor. Once I got there, I spent a few hours atop this perch. The Mojave in August is usually pretty deserted of tourists, as temperatures routinely get above 110 degrees. From atop this dune, I couldn't see anything but desert. No people. No buildings. No streets. No cars (not even mine). It was spectacular.

For this shot, I set up my tripod, hit the self timer, somersalted down a peice of dune, and got up. God did the rest.