happened upon
this friendly-looking tree
deep in the woods
so content and jolly
i think it would love to share its jokes.
—
“i never saw a discontented tree.
they grip the ground as though they liked it,
and though fast rooted, they travel about as far as we do.”
– john muir
—
bird hiils park, ann arbor, michigan, usa – summer 2020
National Park Service Notice –
READ: Please don’t run from bears or push your slower friends down in attempts of saving yourself.
As a follow-up to a previous post, if you come upon a stationary bear, move away slowly and sideways; this allows you to keep an eye on the bear and avoid tripping. Moving sideways is also non-threatening to bears. Do NOT run, but if the bear follows, stop and hold your ground. Like dogs, they will chase fleeing animals. Do NOT climb a tree. Both grizzlies and black bears can climb trees. Do NOT push down a slower friend (even if you think the friendship has run its course).
Stay calm and remember that most bears do not want to attack you; they usually just want to be left alone. Don’t we all? Identify yourself by making noise so the bear knows you are a human and not a prey animal. Help the bear recognize you as a human. We recommend using your voice. (Waving and showing off your opposable thumb means nothing to the bear) The bear may come closer or stand on its hind legs to get a better look or smell. A standing bear is usually curious, not threatening.
P.S. We apologize to any “friends” who were brought on a hike as the “bait” or were sacrificed to save the group. You will be missed.
#FindYourPark #RecreateResponsibly
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bears/index.htm
—
“i’d rather write about polar bears than people”
-mary oliver
—
image credit: Bear resting on a log thinking bear things at Katmai National Park & Preserve, NPS/ J. Ehrlenbach
hard to tell from this shot
but these benches
were sitting
back to back
slanted at a downward angle
on the side of a hill.
is this a geometry puzzle?
is this a statement?
is this art?
is this science?
is this_______?
—
“if the track is tough and the hill is rough, THINKING you can just ain’t enough!”
-shel silverstein
standing in my yard
a child
small among the birch trees
i would slowly peel away the bark
creating the most delicate pieces of beautiful paper
a gift from the tree
uncurled and waiting to be my papyrus.
—
“out of sight above the house, the mirror moon reflected the sun of a day not yet dawned,
shining the pale light of tomorrow on the yard and on the paper birches.”
-dean koontz
—
image credit: white birch fragrance oil
summer bursts open in the field
—
“earth is a flower and it’s pollinating.”
-neil young
walking in sugarbush woods
i ran across this tree man
just waiting for someone to find him.
“what art offers is space – a certain breathing room for the spirit.”
-john updike
Opera house performs first post-lockdown concert for an all-plant audience
Next week, Barcelona’s Liceu opera house will emerge from its lockdown-induced siesta by throwing a concert to a rather unusual audience. The attendees will not need masks or gloves, nor will they be required to follow physical distancing rules.
However, they might like to take along a nice comfy pot and some water to prevent their roots from drying out as a string quartet serenades them, fittingly, with Puccini’s Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums).
A total of 2,292 plants will occupy the venue’s seats and listen to the opera house’s first post-lockdown concert when it reopens next Monday. Non-vegetal music fans will also be able to enjoy the performance as it will be live-streamed.
According to the Liceu’s artistic director Víctor García de Gomar, the Concert for the Biocene, played the by Uceli quartet, is intended to help us ponder the current state of the human condition and how, in lockdown, we have become “an audience deprived of the possibility of being an audience”.
For Eugenio Ampudia, the conceptual artist behind the concert, the project will serve to reflect what has happened across Spain and around the world as the COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to retreat from shared public areas.
“At a time when an important part of humankind has shut itself up in enclosed spaces and been obliged to relinquish movement, nature has crept forward to occupy the spaces we have ceded,” said Ampudia.
After the concert, the plants will find themselves in a new home, with each one of them being donated to 2,292 health workers as thank you for their efforts over recent months.
—
“the first rule of opera is the first rule in life:
see to everything yourself.”
-nellie melba
—
photo and story credits: the optimist daily
on the cusp of summer
walking by the river
three hours
before the season’s return.
—
‘just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”
-hans christian andersen
—
hunron river, ann arbor, michigan, usa – summer 2020
in the tree tunnel
—
‘it is difficult to realize how great a part of all that is cheerful and delightful
in the recollections of our own life is associated with trees.”
~wilson flag
—
traverse city, michigan, usa, pathfinder school
—
—
furstenberg park, ann arbor, michigan, usa – june 2020
