A Walk In The Rain. June 20, 2009
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, Love and Death.Tags: CCC, clouds, clover, daisies, mullien, railroad, Raycroft Overlook
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Got rained out of work on Thursday, so I took a walk along the railroad tracks near the Hoosac Tunnel. It was a strange mix of natural beauty and post-industrial destruction, with the cleansing rain putting the best face on the scene as softly furred mullein and optimistic daisies reclaimed an abandoned rail:
Sometimes the two plants seemed to be conspiring in their effort to affirm the power of beauty to confound our headlong rush toward its dissolution:
Then I took a drive up into the clouds to see what was happening up above.
The air was heavy with blowing fog, and every surface was bathed in fine beads of glistening dew. I parked at the end of a woods road and made the short hike out to the Raycroft Overlook, a CCC Work Camp project which is itself being reclaimed be the inexorable processes of nature.
The walk along the narrow ridge was magical, with the northern slope dropping steeply off into the clouds:
…to the old stonework vantage point from which the Deerfield river can usually be seen a thousand feet below:
On this day the “river view” dissolved into the clouds, leaving only the insistent red clover under foot to demand its mountainside back from us arrogant interlopers:
Wrapped in a raincoat and photographing under an umbrella, I was lost in the surreality of the feeling of helming this great stone ship through the swirling clouds. The experience was cleansing, and convinced me to venture out into the rain more regularly.
I hope you enjoyed these.
There’s something about a walk in the rain that can yank us back away from an edge that we think we’re too close to, and helps remind us how simple things can be so refreshing.
Your photos are fantastic!
Barb:-)
As tired of rain as i got this past winter, i have to admit i love walking in the rain. There is a peace, a quiet, that’s not like anything else. Your photos are absolutely breathtaking as always — i long ago ran out of words. The second and third one are so exquisite i found i had tears in my eyes. Thanks as always for the beauty, CR.
Have a great weekend!
Oh, my, my, my. What a lovely post. The best of your soul, my friend.
Enjoyed them, indeed I did. I was also startled in that I took a shot of white daisies last night at Bill’s house and then see your first photo here. Keep snapping and sharing.
wow, i love them.
Thank you, All!
Sylvia, sorry to make you cry 😉 but you made me look again at those two – it’s hard to view my own things objectively, so sometimes people’s feedback catches me by surprise.
Again, folks, all of your kind words are appreciated.