If you believe in space, go visit the Bad Astronomy Blog for some truly stunning recent pictures of Saturn and Mars. I’ve been going over there just to look at Saturn all day and Mars for the past week. There’s nothing more important than stopping occasionally to gape and wonder at the profound beauty of the universe.
It’ll do you good.
Last week, I sat in a focus group for a company that wants to install systems that will use renewable energy in homes. The idea goes beyond solar panels to include wind and geothermal where possible. When the moderator asked us to rank the reasons we might be willing to consider renewable energy everyone chose cost savings first. Only two of us chose environmental protection first.
I like saving money, but I couldn’t help but wonder why more people don’t consider preserving a healthy and liveable world for future generations to be more of a moral issue, and quite frankly, the most important one there is. This is something I’d like to hear one of the so-called ‘values voters’ explain to me. I often read about the issues that drive these people to the polls and it’s rarely conservation.
There are some in the evangelical community (which seems to think it owns values and morals, but never mind) who would like to add environmental protection to the mix of values issues, but the leaders of the movement see it as a wedge issue to divide their base. Do they care about anything other than short term power?
Don’t answer that.
In 100 years, it seems unlikely that anyone other than scholars will care how we structured our families, whether or not we let gay people marry, what schools taught kids about evolution, or even whether or not abortion was legal. I suspect, though, that they will curse us for every methane spewing landfill, toxic waste dump, dead reef, poisoned aquifer, dead forest, overfished sea, desertified landscape, silt-blocked river, lost glacier, styrofoam cup and plastic water bottle that we leave for them to enjoy.
A few days after the focus group, I read Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and was struck by how often he refers to environmental protection as a moral imperative. I couldn’t agree more, but I wonder how long it will be before we look at politicians and demand to see their environmental ideas before we make the decision about their values. What kind of people ask about candidates’ positions on gay marriage before asking about ocean policy ideas?
Can you have values if you don’t value the well-being of future generations?
There’s nothing like going for a run under perfect blue skies when the air is cool and dry. Fall in Texas feels the way spring does in New England: sheer relief.
Shorter days and cooler air: this is the time to be outside.
Finally.
I rode about 25 miles today, mostly on the trails around our neighborhood. Before leaving, I thought about bringing my camera in case I saw any interesting wildlife.
If I had, here’s what you’d see pictures of:
I had spotted the three young turkey vultures last week. They were sitting underneath a bridge on the trail looking quite startled as I raced by. They still had down feathers under their wings. Today there were no down feathers and one of them flapped uncertainly into a nearby oak. I don’t know if they’ve been abandoned or if this is normal for turkey vultures, but they seem to be doing well.
Maybe next time, I’ll bring the digital camera.
This is for I and the Bird…
Birds have always been a source of endless fascination for me. I had parakeets when I was in high school and spent hours photographing them and watching them fly in circles around my bedroom.
For awhile my dad was breeding canaries and finches and so no matter where I went in the house, there were birds. I suppose my love of watching birds was inherited from him.
Every place I’ve lived I set up a bird feeder and have spent hours happily watching the birds come to the feeder and doing what they do. We had a purple martin house at our old home, and I used to love sitting on the porch watching the flying lessons every spring. I always felt a little sad each July when they left.
So what’s so interesting about birds? I think it’s the wildness. There’s something about seeing wild animals that makes me just stop and stare, that reminds me that as far away from nature as I sometimes feel, it’s still there. Birds – beautiful, funny, graceful – are the wild animals that most of us see most frequently and so watching birds is something of a way to reconnect with nature without leaving our cities or even, for that matter, our homes.
Whenever I see birds while I have my camera on me as I did on our recent trip to Lake Tahoe, I always try to photograph them simply because they’re so hard to shoot. A good bird picture is an accomplishment. I don’t know how good these are, but I’m happy to have shared a space with these birds for a few moments as our separate journeys brought us all together for a few fleeting moments.
A seagull flying over Lake Tahoe (taken in Tahoe City, CA):
Canadian Geese at the Tahoe City Commons:
A Stellar’s Jay at Sugar Pine Point State Park on Lake Tahoe in California:
Birds are transitory creatures. They’re here for a while and then they move on. Whenever I see a bird, I wonder where it’s been, what it’s seen.
I get jealous.
Friday was our last day in the Tahoe area. I spent the early morning drinking coffee and staring out at the mountains around Squaw Valley, trying to drink in as much of it as possible before returning to Texas:
We had to check into the airport in Reno at 12:30 so we had time to drive down to Tahoe City one more time to look at that beautiful lake:
On our way to the airport we stopped to get a shot of the Truckee River, which is the only river that flows out of Lake Tahoe:
And finally we arrived in Reno to find that our flight was cancelled. We became accidental tourists, and American Airlines put us up at the Reno Hilton:
Spending an extra night wasn’t bad even if it was in Reno. We ate good food at the Hilton, which is a really a gigantic Vegas-style casino complex. We’re not gamblers, but we did go bowling. I hadn’t bowled in probably fifteen years, but my first shot was a strike. I forsee more bowling in our future.
The trip was fantastic, and I’m sure we’ll find a way to go back sometime. Hopefully soon.
On Thursday, we hiked at Sugar Pine Point State Park on the west shore of Lake Tahoe:
We only did one hike while we were there and so we took this one because it would get us close to the water:
The trail was pretty easy, but we were in it more for scenery than exercise. We hiked along a beach that we had to ourselves:
After walking along the beach the trail veered back into the woods and led to what one guidebook described as the highest altitude lighthouse in the world. The park’s literature described it as the highest navigational aid. It was a gigantic yield sign with a light on top set in place to warn boaters of some rocks near shore. I don’t know why I was expecting a more traditional lighthouse, but we had a few good laughs about it and continued our hike:
As we were heading back to the trailhead, something black moved quickly across the trail about forty yards ahead. Our first thought was ‘bear’ but then we decided it must’ve been a bird. When we got around the bend we saw to other hikers who had had a clear view of our bear/bird. Turns out it was a bear, and they were trying to decide if they really did in fact want to go hiking, but seeing that we were alive, they soldiered on.
I’ve always been fascinated by bears and was hoping to see one (preferable from the car) but I feel lucky to have gotten even the most fleeting glipmpse of a bear. Especially one that didn’t have an apetite for Texan.
After hiking, we went back to Tahoe City for lunch and then paid a visit to Truckee. From there we drove up to Donner Summit to stand around in some snow since we don’t ever see any around here.
This picture was taken at the trailhead for the Pacific Crest Trail that runs from Mexico all the way up to Canada:
This is looking up at the mountains from Squaw Valley on a perfect morning:
We drove across the Sierras to Nevada City, CA to visit my uncle and aunt who have a house in the woods near there. Before lunch they took us to see the South Yuba River about a mile from their home.
This is looking up the river:
This is looking down the river:
When we got back to Squaw I tried my hand at glowing aspens, inspired by Ansel Adams:
This is our first glimpse of Lake Tahoe, taken from Tahoe City, CA last Monday:
This is the view from our room in The Resort at Squaw Creek in the mountains halfway between Truckee and Tahoe City:
I took this on Tuesday morning when the sun was trying to come out, but only really made it to the upper slopes. The rest of the day was overcast and drizzly, but still beautiful.
This is from a waterfall leading into Emerald Bay on the southwestern shore of the lake:
The island – Fannette Island – is the only island in Lake Tahoe.
We didn’t stay long at Emerald Bay because rain was coming in and thunder was booming down from the mountains, so we spent most of the rest of Tuesday relaxing, playing cards and watching the clouds crash into the mountains and then billow down the slopes of the valley.
