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)

"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)

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

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

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)

 



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



Cloud Curtain Closing

sharp edge of cloudbank

subtle September sunset

daylight extinguished

Photo Location:  Kent County,  Michigan

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

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)


 

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)

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)

Watershed

meandering creek

carries clear mountain water

cold from snow in peaks

Photo Location:  Crested Butte (Crested Butte),  Colorado



(Click on Photo to enlarge)

Brown's Fishery

once it was thriving

then for years just surviving

now oxidizing

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

Rain's Refusal

 

storm clouds lose power

cumulus catch sunset's light

maybe tomorrow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Location: Utah Lake, Provo, (Provo)Utah

"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

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)