What can be found in the deserts of the Negev, in Antarctica, the Isle of Skye, Germany, India...and Galiano Island?
Tafoni!
Here on Galiano Island our coast is predominantly sandstone, and features amazing tafoni from north to south. In all its spectacular shapes, hollows, lacework and lattice, it provides endless fascination as the light plays on it, highlighting its contours and patterns. The photo here (above) was taken on our own flagpole point, and I've included a gallery below with several other photos I've posted over the past while.
Galleries of Tafoni
the classic tiny pits … like a moonscape
tafoni
marvelous tafoni
evening sun on tafoni
evening sun on tafoni 2
the square chunk tafoni: weird
this tafoni looks like someone used a breadknife to cut slits in the stone!
Goodness knows we all need some refreshment. We need some rain. So.. mindful of our need, and the thirsty soil around us, I thought this photo of a sweet pea in my garden after a much needed rain some time ago was a fitting reminder that the rain and its refreshment will come. Sometime. If not today...
This afternoon I've added a new gallery to the already existing ones on my blog. I've included 21 photos from my meanderings around Galiano, to offer glimpses of this and that...birds, berries, flowers, sunrises and more. And maybe a touch of refreshment too.
You can find the Photo Galleries by clicking on the Photo Galleries text on the left sidebar, and you can find the newest gallery either on that page or by clicking here.
Driftwood shapes - (click on image for a larger view)
Since my early days spending my summers exploring the beach, clambering on logs, playing day-long games and building forts with my friends, the tangle of silvered roots has evoked imagination and stories, conjured images of creatures both friendly and fierce.
I don't clamber quite so quickly now, and I am exploring different beaches, but my love of the driftwood shapes remains as active as ever— it is simply part of me. (Rooted in me?) Yesterday's walk along the sandstone shore, this marvellous root caught my imagination again, and I've played with the image just for fun, and wanted to share it here.
I wonder what creatures you see? and what stories it suggests?
forgotten? — maybe
or maybe it was left for me to notice
for the simplest delight
like the sweet-pea gift that fell from my hand to be enjoyed by another giver —
so we share what we are given
even when the gift simply drops from our grip
spontaneous as grace
It wasn't what I was looking for. I was after a photo of a Northern Flicker. But— as I carefully crept along beneath the trees to get close enough for a photo, a flash of a different orange caught my eye.
Nestled in the hollow core of a very old fir stump was a beautiful fan of orange and yellow mushroom. Turns out it is known as a ‘Conifer Chicken of the Woods’ (Laetiporus conifericola). I’ve seen it before growing on trunks of decaying fir trees, sometimes quite spectacularly, but the appeal of this sighting was accented by its cozy home low down, inside the empty round of the stump.
If I’d not been pursuing the Flicker, I may well have missed this beauty! I didn’t get the Flicker. He was long gone by the time I’d finished photographing the ‘Chicken of the Woods’.
(Note: The inside of the stump was in shadow in the morning, so I returned later in the day when the sun was higher to get the photo above.)
— the swoop of sandstone, its colours and shapes... Lion Islet is an ever changing, always captivating wonder... It was a treat to be on the water to enjoy the depth of the colours which, in the summer sun, are vibrant. Actually the colours are vibrant in the winter too. Just so different!
The Lion himself is looking to the east (right)... (can you see him? I'll post another soon showing his other side...)
By the way, Curious Spectacles now has a Facebook Page! You can find (and, I hope, 'Like') the page at www.facebook.com/curiousspectacles
Even while the heaviness of the rain bends the stalk, and bows the head, water — a gift from the heavens— is seeping into the deep places. Nourishment is soaking the roots. What is needed is being given in the way it can be received, hidden from our sight.
At first when I noticed one of my roses nodding its head, I was disappointed to miss seeing the glory of it's opening blossom, but after a closer look, it occurred to me that perhaps it was a good gift that the rose was offering: the display of the detail and texture of its oft ignored side.
The gentle curve, the delicate shading of the petals, the texture of the sepals with their furred edge... I wouldn't have noticed had I been distracted by a more ordinary perspective. This other side of the rose was intriguing, and stunning in its simple beauty.
Have you been similarly surprised by the beauty of looking at something from a different angle?
This morning as the sun came up, the rose glow backlit the wet grasses and small oregon grape leaves. The colours were gorgeous— but what really surprised me was the spider web that I hadn't seen at all until I opened the photo file on my computer. Bonus. Completely unexpected!
During my school days, our Headmistress would often urge us to notice what's around us saying, 'Even the thorn bush by the wayside is ablaze with the glory of God.' I've come to appreciate over the years that she was absolutely right.
Today I was reminded of this as I saw, not a 'thorn bush' but an ordinary drainage ditch, 'blazing' with beauty: colour, texture and pattern.
•••
I have intentionally adjusted the photo above with texture and colour as I contemplated the beauty on display. The red colours in the weeds to the right were actually there, and brighter. I've muted them so as not to 'take over' the image as a whole. It's the raindrop circles that particularly entranced me— the way they refracted and reflected the light.
glimpses of the extraordinary amidst an ordinary day
