The Schwing Of Spring! April 20, 2008
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, macro photos.Tags: Green River, moss, the naughty bits
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My recent foray up the North River was a duplicitous ploy to get up into Vermont and come down the Green River, namesake of our local Teeming Megalopolis of Greenfield.
I wanted to do this because, in addition to being a soul-soothingly beautiful little river running through yet another deep, verdant valley, I had also noticed that the dirt (read: mud) road which parallels it is flanked on its uphill side by myriad small blasted road-cuts through the world’s crappiest deteriorating schist (rock climbers notice this kind of thing,) and that these little escarpments are festooned with a variety of mosses.
Now, if you’ve been paying attention for any length of time, you know that I have Moss-Wood. Since beginning my forays into photography, I’ve discovered a whole ‘nother world in the forests of moss and lichen which glide unnoticed beneath our strides, some so fragile that a poorly placed boot can end its existence.
Forever.
So I’ve taken it upon myself to document, insofar as my rudimentary skills allow, the Universe of Tiny Things which I encounter in my travels, and the phases which they go through in their life cycles.
So back to The Green:
Here’s some moss which is just emerging from its winter cloak of snow and ice. In fact, just below the photo there’s a chest-high ice bank, the reminder of a banner snow year.
But what caught my attention (because I was looking for it!) was the appearance of some sort of reproductive parts (hereafter referred to as “sexy bits”) which had escaped my prior notice, despite having spent much of my conscious life looking at nature:
See it? No? Look closer:
Fifty years of tromping through the deep verdancy of New England’s splendid forests, of bedding down for the night on lush carpets of this stuff as a kid, of scraping it off of rocks as a climber, and I never saw this before.
It makes me wonder what else we’re destroying, or at least taking totally for granted, as we pursue our human mission of conquest and development and plunder.
I seriously think we need to slow down before we’ve paved Paradise to put up that parking lot.
i like them!
Sublime! Gorgeous! Mossilicious!
That second picture is incredible. I have macro-envy. Can I come out and take pix with you sometime? I think I could learn a lot from how you see things.
Most certainly, my Camera Carrying Comrade!
And BTW, I don’t have a “macro lense” for this new camera, but I’m learning how to maximize what I do have, thanks to some insightful feedback from my meat-world neighbor, Frau Biergut.
Thank you ladies for the kind words!
As always, nice pics and I tagged you. I hope you have fun with it.
aaaah, damn it, Mathman. I was just about to tag him for the same meme!
CR: The sexy bits are beautiful and all but aren’t you looking for love in all the wrong places?
Seriously, this is a love that shouldn’t be missed. Thanks for showing us.
This is a life-long love which can’t be denied: Nature, that is. If a woman wants to share me with that, and with my passions for photography and climbing, a relationship could be on the table.
Preferably a nice, sturdy table!
Ah yes, spring has sprung and we harvested ramps for you yesterday. Did you find them next to your door? We are making a tart with ours! We also dug and transplanted some under the crab apples trees. Hopefully, the fiddleheads will be up soon.
Tschuss!
Yes I did, Thank You! They’re plumping up in a cup of cold water as we speak, and thanks bunches, they smell wonderful!
[…] natural sites repeatedly over the course of a year, and trying to discern the changes. This and the Green River Moss photos will be the first […]