Sunday, September 30, 2012

Skywater




art prize at the creek
leaves gather on skywater
soon to drift downstream

© 2012 Richard Havenga






Photo Location:  Bear Creek,  (Bear Creek) Townsend Park,  (Townsend)

 Cannonsburg,  (Cannonsburg)  Michigan  (Michigan)



Friday, September 28, 2012

"Horizontality"



"Horizontality"
 

Early autumn pushing
band of yellow.

Late summer lingering
strip of green.

Ancient drift deposits
platter of boulders.

Wall of spruce climbs
background slope.

Bulge of rock ringed
with dark pines.

Ribbon of river weaves
through meadow's floor.

Terrestrial table spread
with horizontality.


 
(Click on photos to enlarge)



Yellow  =  Narrow-leaf Cottonwood  (Populus  angustifolia)

Green  =  Trembling Aspen  (Populus  tremuloides)



Photo Location:  Rocky Mountain National Park, (RMNP) Colorado (Colorado)





Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Showers of Light





light showers
over distant mountains
create curtains
of lavender and gold
evening rainbow
enters canyon
accents
showers of 
light










(Click on photo to enlarge)

Photo Location:  Provo Canyon,  (Provo Canyon)  Wasatch Mountains,  Utah

Monday, September 24, 2012

Seven Sandhill Cranes


seven Sandhill Cranes
forage in field of soybeans
wary of humans













 

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Photo Location:  Grattan Township (Grattan),  Kent County,  Michigan

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Constant Vigilance


 
cows relax in grass
bull elk defends his harem
constant vigilance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photo Location:  Rocky Mountain National Park,  (RMNP) Colorado (Colorado)
 
 
(Click on photo to enlarge)
 


Thursday, September 20, 2012

Tongues of Fire



autumn aspen art
tongues of fire climb steep stone slope
Give God the Glory !


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photo Location:  Crag Crest Trail,  Grand Mesa,  (Grand Mesa) Colorado


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Cloud Curtain Closing



sharp edge of cloudbank
subtle September sunset
daylight extinguished











Photo Location:  Kent County,  Michigan











Monday, September 17, 2012

The River Singing


The River Singing


Looking upstream
to the future
rushing at you
like time
flowing forward.

Or hearing the
liquid music
playing
from the river
asking no questions.

Or listening to the
current carrying
messages mingled
with the turbulence
of traumatic events.

Or common patterns
moving unnoticed
below the surface
appearance and
daily flow of life.

Or restless water
splashing mist
into the light then
fading away in
whispers of memories.

Or swirl and
surround and
plunge over rocks
holding fast
to firm foundation.

Or gather along
shallow shoulder
of smooth water
to soothe the soul
and find contentment.

While listening to
the river singing
with a voice
accepting its course
in this place.

Where it belongs
within the power
of this lyrical landscape
of  faith and confidence
carrying the chorus

into
         the
                 future
                              like
                                        time
                                                  flowing
                                                                 forward.
















Photo Location:  Blackfoot River (Blackfoot),  Montana

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Fishin' Buddies?


(Click on photo to enlarge)

White Pelican
floating high,
boasting buoyancy,
scooping fish while
power paddling upstream.

Cormorant
mostly submerged,
diving with ease,
an underwater arrow,
a fishing spear.

Big bird bothered
by persistent,
pursuing diver.
Cooperation, competition,
or Fishin' Buddies ?
©  2012  Richard Havenga


American White Pelican - (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)

Length: 62" (157 cm)

Wingspan: 108" - 8 - 9.5 ' ( 244 - 290 cm)


Double-crested Cormorant - (Phalacrocorax auritus)

Length: 32 - 33" (81 - 84 cm)

Wingspan: 52" (130 cm)




Photo Location: Snake River, Grand Teton (Teton) National Park, Wyoming (Wyoming)


 

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Inner Earth



steam water gurgles
over terraced minerals
inner earth exhales
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photo Location:  Mammoth Hot Springs - Yellowstone National Park,  Wyoming (Wyoming)
 
 
(Click on Photo to enlarge)

Monday, September 10, 2012

Dawn's Early Light






Handsome horses
gather to graze
on Elk Ranch Flats.
 
Teton's rugged peaks
ghostly and surreal
rise above morning fog.
 
Pierce the sky
to receive
dawn's early light.











Photo Location:  Grand Teton National Park,  Wyoming (Wyoming)




(Click on Photo to enlarge)

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Watershed


meandering creek
carries clear mountain water
cold from snow in peaks












Photo Location:  Crested Butte (Crested Butte),  Colorado



(Click on Photo to enlarge)

Friday, September 7, 2012

Brown's Fishery


once it was thriving
then for years just surviving
now oxidizing
















Photo Location:  Paradise, (Paradise) Michigan (U.P.)

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Rain's Refusal


 
storm clouds lose power
cumulus catch sunset's light
maybe tomorrow
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photo Location: Utah Lake, Provo, (Provo)Utah

Monday, September 3, 2012

"Joe Pye"

Who was Joe Pye?

Supposedly, a legendary Indian herbalist and healer who befriended the New England pioneers by using this plant to cure fevers. Colonists later used it to treat typhus. I think Joe Pye was the second-to-the-last of the Mohegans. He practiced his homeopathic arts near Salem, (Salem) Massachusetts.



Forest Pottawatomie, among other tribes, regarded the flowers as good-luck charms, especially effective for winning at gambling. I wouldn't bet on it.



Joe-Pye weed grows in damp meadows, thickets, shorelines, and rich, low ground. It ranges from Alberta east to Newfoundland, south to North Carolina, west to Kansas, and north to North Dakota. Also found in parts of the West.



The leaves are 2  1/2 - 8" (6.5-20 cm) long, in whorls of 3-5, thick, lanceolate, and coarsely toothed. This species has purple stems, so it must be Spotted Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum). There are three species in North America. Another common species is Eupatorium purpureum.

Each whorl of leaf is slightly rotated from the whorl above or below. This arrangement allows maximum light to reach each leaf; as they require open sunlight.



Joe-Pye grows two to six feet tall (60- 200 cm) and flowers from July to September.



The head of an individual flower is 3/8" (8mm) wide, and each flower cluster is 4 - 6" (10-15 cm) wide. These are bisexual, insect-pollinated flowers, and as you can see, come into bloom a few at a time in clusters at the top of the stem.

They may self-pollinate as well, eventually producing furry heads of feathery achenes (small, dry, hard, one-seeded fruits) which are dispersed by the wind in the fall.



So, Joe, we don't know as much as you did about the healing qualities of this plant. But hey, you are still famous after after all these years; because of what you were able to do.

I'm doing what I can to carry on your legacy. "Father Nature" would have loved to take a walk with you, but he was born 400 years too late.

Oh Joe, one more thing... I don't think "weed" belongs at the end of your name... I'm just sayin'.











Photo Location:  Ada Township (Ada) ,  Kent County (Kent) ,  Michigan












Saturday, September 1, 2012

Blue Moon Evening

 
  
 
        Silhouetted foothills.
 
   Slowly setting sun
        warms distant ridge.
 
                 Layers of lavender stratus
            sandwich the full moon
in a soft blue sky.
                       
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photo Location:  Hatchet,  Wyoming  (Wyoming)