Nuts? I don't think so.

Who Needs Nuts When You Can Eat Mushrooms?

And now, when comes the calm mild day, as still such days will come, 

To call the squirrel and the bee from out their winter home; 

When the sound of dropping nuts is heard, though all the trees are still, 

And twinkle in the smoky light the waters of the rill, 

The south wind searches for the flowers whose fragrance late he bore, 

And sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more.

-- William Cullen Bryant 

A squirrel hangs securely from his back feet as he nibbles on a morsel of food.

 As I was fetching more wood from our wood pile I came across several rather large stashes of dried mushrooms, carefully gathered from the forest and hidden there by one of our resident squirrels. I hated to disturb his winter food stores so I tried to carefully put them back where I found them, all the while being loudly scolded by said squirrel as he watched me from a nearby tree. I know we will continue to disturb his precious mushrooms as we deplete the wood pile over the winter but I hope he will be able to find them again when the snow gets deep and food is scarce.

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The Butterfly Effect

 "Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect."

~ Chief Seattle, 1854

This Weidemeyer's Admiral butterfly perches on
some foliage at Pine Valley Ranch in Pine, Colorado

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Earth Day and The Butterfly Effect

"The Butterfly Effect is a metaphor that encapsulates the concept of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory; namely that small differences in the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system."

In other words, small changes within a complex system lead to unpredictable results.

I use this metaphor for the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day because of the very unpredictable nature of the not-so-small changes we are creating on the planet and its inhabitants and how far reaching and serious the consequences of our actions are.
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Like Mother Like Daughter

 What I wanted most for my daughter was that she be able
to soar confidently in her own sky, whatever that may be.
-- Helen Claes

Nicole on a photo assignment in Denver.

My daughter, Nicole, is in an Intermediate Photography class at her high school (and is also a T.A. for another photo class). She really seems to enjoy it and is very talented; she's much more creative than I am. She may even be interested in pursuing a career in the medium. We aren't alike in many ways but in this area we share a common interest.

The weekend before last I took her to downtown Denver so she could complete a photo assignment. I was shooting her as she was shooting photos for her class. I took this shot in the late afternoon light--and she made it better with some soft focus vignetting. I told you she was more creative than I am. The shirt she's wearing is mine, by the way.

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This post sponsored by:

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Beautiful Colorado landscape and nature images offered as high quality recycled paper greeting cards, framed and unframed prints and eco-friendly prints.

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Winter Fox 3

"Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries
of the earth are never alone or weary of life."
~ Rachel Carson
 

A forest sound captures the attention of this Red Fox.

This fox often hangs around our yard, as he
was doing last month when I took this photo.
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Greeting cards and prints of this photo may be purchased at:

EcoPrints Landscape and Nature Photography

Beautiful Colorado landscape and nature images offered as high quality recycled paper greeting cards, framed and unframed prints and eco-friendly prints.

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