Back to Burns, Malheur and the Wild Horses

Malheur Lake Basin Replenished

If I had the time and money, I’d make the trip to Burns at least once a month.  My heart is so attached to the wild horses that I see out there, in addition to the wide variety of birds to be sighted around Burns and at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.  It’s not a huge trip for me, four hours, but long enough to require at least one night’s stay, and better with two, since once you get out there, the driving doesn’t stop.  South Steens Mountain is about 50 miles south of Burns which will take you through Malheur NWR and the small historical town of Frenchglen.  To really see all the area has to offer is to take forays down gravel roads and I have even ventured at times onto deeply rutted dirt roads where I prayed that my car had the clearance to pass over boulders and ridges.  This last May trip, I also did a bit of walking by foot to reach the wild horses as the dirt road became impassable by my passenger car.  One note: I do try and stay at a respectable distance.  The horses will be aware of me from quite a distance, but I don’t want them to be uncomfortable with my presence.

Wildflowers near Steens Mountain Wilderness

This Spring the area looked generally much more lush than last year.  I stopped first to see the Palomino Buttes horses which are west of Burns.  I was looking forward especially to see a favorite, more approachable band, that as of Fall last year, consisted of the Palomino Stallion (some locals call him a Dunalino), his primary mare, Bella, two of her sons, Pallaton and Traveler, from prior years, and a filly from last year.  Also there was a bay mare and her colt, and another bay mare that had joined them sometime during the Summer or Fall.  (Some of the horses are named by the locals.)  I didn’t see any horses initially.  Then I spotted white spots on a very distant hill (both Pallaton and Traveler were white/light colored palominos).  When I walked out, I saw it was my favorite band with some significant changes.  Pallaton was not with the band.  This isn’t such a big surprise, since as a three year old, he would start to have conflicts with his father.  I was surprised this hadn’t started happening last year, since Pallaton had already started chasing fillies in other bands.  Instead, he and his father seemed to work as a team, protecting their band from another stallion on the couple of occasions I observed.  I also observed that when the band was on the move, Pallaton would the lead while the stallion brought up the rear; this year Traveler took the front spot.  Though Pallaton’s absence was expected, it was still a blow, as the bonds between the family, especially he and his mother, and he and Traveler, were affectionate and playful.  Even the bond with his father had been a special one.  I still don’t know whether the bay mare and her colt were with the band. I think so, but the horses coats change so much from season to season and this time I wasn’t in close enough to compare other markings from my earlier picture.  There were also two new foals and at least one other horse I don’t recognize at all.

Young But Keeping Up

The Departure No. 1

Though I hadn’t made it over to Burns until May, I did see some Sandhill Cranes still in the area, one pair with two colts (what the “chicks” are called because of their long legs), along with various other birds.  I didn’t even see the colts until I reviewed the images on my computer.  The birds weren’t as plentiful as they would have been a few weeks earlier but they were much more plentiful than they had been last May.

Yellow-headed Blackbird, No. 3

Tree Swallow with a Twig

While in the vicinity of Malheur I was excited to capture a couple mammals I had not photographed before in the area, including, not one, but two hares.  Last year the ones I saw had proven too quick for my reflexes.  I also saw the first marmot I had seen in Oregon as well – a yellow-bellied marmot.  These critters spend most of their time in their burrows (80%) hibernating or otherwise, so I was lucky to capture this one.  I had seen a flash of one about an hour earlier than this, so apparently the beautiful Spring day was too enticing to pass up.

Hare

Yellow Bellied Marmot At Its Lookout, No.2

I also saw the usual suspects, mule deer and pronghorn antelope.  Mule deer are distinguished from white-tailed deer as their tales are black, their ears are larger, and antlers fork rather than branch on the males.

Two Deer, A Fawn & A Flower

Pronghorn Antelope in a Field

Just past Malheur NWR, is the small historic town, Frenchglen, population 12, and continuing on Hwy. 205 you will find the south entrance to Steen Loop, a gravel road that loops around the mountain.  The road will usually be blocked at some point during Spring due to snow as the mountain rises over 9000 feet, although it does it in a fairly non-dramatic way.  If you’re lucky you will be able to view some of the wild horses in South Steens herd.  I’ve been lucky to see multiple bands together on two occasions and on other occasions, a small band by itself.  This time, I was not exceptionally close to them but it was wonderful to observe them – some playing, the more mature grazing or resting along with the foals.

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Is it hard to see why I’m in love with this place?  If you travel out there, don’t expect luxury. You will get the most basic of accommodations and a very limited assortment of restaurants.  In fact, you will need to be sure that you fill up on gas before you leave Burns to go exploring.  During summer, the temperatures can get quite high, so it would be advisable to carry water for both you and your car.

I’ve hoped you’ve enjoyed this post.  To see more of my work, please visit Belinda Greb Photography for all of my published work.  My next post will be on some of the beautiful Oregon waterfalls I’ve visited in mainly Silver Falls State Park.

 

A Day Spent Along the Columbia River Gorge

My niece and I drove straight to Multnomah Falls in the morning to try to grab a parking spot before the crowds -Success! However, the trail was closed due to icy conditions. We were able to view this most stunning falls from the bottom.  This is the highest falls in Oregon and 2nd highest in the nation, totaling 611 feet in two steps.

Multnomah Falls

Multnomah Falls, painterly

We next headed to Latourell Falls. I loved the basalt rocks that surround the falls (lower). The hike is lovely and fairly easy and will take you to the upper Falls and then loops back to the parking lot, passing some lovely views along the way. The best view of the (lower) Latourell Falls is accessed from a path that leads to the base of the falls. Beware if you are photographing, there is a lot of spray. Keep your lens away from the direction of the spray until you are ready to shoot and bring a wipe. Once the water level has receded, the spray level is probably not as bad.

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After the hike, we had a delicious lunch at Edgefields in Troutdale and then went back to Triple Falls for another short hike. However, after about 1/2 mile up the  Triple Falls Trail, perhaps as a result of the meal, we proved to have less motivation to deal with the steep, snowy and narrow trail and decided to leave that hike for another day.

To see more of my photography, please visit me at http://belindagrebphotography.com/ or one of my other sites!

Bridge Over Sky – Along the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Highway

Looking for Inspiration

 

Inspiration. I haven’t found it in the election cycle, the divisiveness of Americans, the Malheur occupation or subsequent acquittal of seven of the occupiers, the online reality world of likes and emojis, the difficulty in finding a common ground to discuss climate change or race relations. So I look for inspiration in the place I always do – nature.

I’ve felt more tethered to home this year and a major part of this was my own doing: worry about a family member, worry about my old car, worry about expenses resulting in a general lassitude.

I’ve explored less and as a result I have felt somewhat like I’ve been treading water throughout the year, barely keeping my spirits afloat. The mini-trips to see wild horses in Eastern Oregon and Mount Rainier have been islands of bliss in an otherwise fairly dull  year.

When I see the affection and bonds displayed in the wild horse families and bands, I wonder how so many can fail to acknowledge, value or respect that. But to constantly think about things like this is debilitating because I lose hope that human consciousness will ever evolve to a point where a majority of the people can think beyond themselves and do what is best for the world or can have the same compassion for others (including animals) that they have for themselves.

When I’m out in nature, I don’t think about these things. I just think how beautiful things are. I want my photographs to convey that beauty – to make people remember that there are things worth preserving for future generations, that there is a natural world that we can be inspired by and emulate. I can still find inspiration in works of art and literature, but it’s a lot easier to find it in nature. Here’s hoping mankind can remember we’re part of nature and not the overlords of it before we destroy it.

For more of my photography please visit: http://belindagrebphotography.com/

Mount Rainier

I had a wonderful short camping trip to Mount Rainier at the end of July. The wildflowers were in bloom and the weather was amazing. The first day we arrived in the afternoon and started a hike about 3:30pm. We meant to do the 5 mile Lakes Trail hike, but we missed the turnoff for the loop and continued instead on Mazama Ridge and then Skyline Trails. In the end, it was a wonderful mistake as even though it added an additional two or so miles to the hike, the scenery was amazing. The second day’s hike turned out to be almost 11 miles and although we were rewarded by the alpine meadows of Summerland, we all agreed the first day’s hike was our favorite as the hike was long, uphill, and grueling considering that I was carrying camera equipment. The first hike was more interspersed with beautiful views.

For more Mount Rainier images, please visit my national parks gallery . Selected images are also available on RadiancePhotos at Etsy and Belinda Greb Photography at Amazon Handmade .

In the Garden

I’ve never been drawn to gardening; however I acknowledge the beautiful benefits of a garden, not only in the flowers and other beautiful flora that grow under the gentle guidance of dedicated gardener’s care, but also the creatures they attract.

Both my mother and sister are wonderful gardeners, with their own unique styles with gardens that now span decades in the making. Both get weary muscles but immeasurable pleasure in creating a aesthetically tailored microcosm. My mother’s garden is definitely more instinctual. Bordering a wilderness, the garden has paths that wind through a mix of flowers and wild flora; the paths often changing from year to year, even week to week depending on my mother’s mood, like the staircases at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her garden is constantly in a state of flux, a balance of attempted order and rampant growth by the side of a river. My sister’s garden is more designed and spatially organized, with various areas to visit (each with their own atmosphere), fountains, bird feeders, and sculptures amidst an array of color. I haven’t the gardener’s terminology to describe either of them well enough to do them justice.

In my mother’s garden I find: irises, crocosmia, hydrangea, peonies, spider’s webs, butterflies, dragonflies, and hummingbirds beneath towering maples and douglas firs, and in my sister’s garden: tulips, lilies, exotic grasses, gladiolus, and a whole community of birds along with her two horses, three goats, five Indian runner ducks and her chickens. These are some of my pickings from their gardens.

For more of my work, please visit my main website at belindagrebphotography.com. This is through Fine Art America and offers framing, metal, canvas, acrylic prints as well as other products such as pillows, tote bags, and towels. I also offer selected signed prints up to 16×24″ at RadiancePhotos at Etsy and Belinda Greb Photography at Amazon Handmade . I’m also have selected prints and other products at Society 6 and Redbubble. In the UK you can find selected work at Belinda Greb at Photo4Me .

 

Sandhill Cranes

I’ve been away for a long while due to slogging through the winter blues and a more recent family medical emergency. I’m going to be doing some short photo posts from my recent trip back to Harney County. My spirit is rebounding due to Spring’s appearance and the family member is recovering!

It was my first time seeing Sandhill Cranes and I was not disappointed by their beauty and gracefulness.

Craning X 2

Sandhill cranes arrive in early Spring in Harney County from California. Many of the cranes I saw were in pairs, and this is normal as well as family units as the chicks or colts stay with the parents until 1-2 months before the new eggs are laid. During winter, migratory Sandhill Cranes will forage and roost in larger numbers called survivor groups.

Working in Pairs

An interesting fact I read about the cranes is that fossils of Sandhill Cranes have been found that date back to 2.5 million years, and there is one 10 million year old fossil that probably was a predecessor of the Sandhill Cranes.

Looking Both Ways

I will be processing more of my recent photographs of the Sandhill Cranes as well as some beautiful wild horses that I photographed in Harney County.

More of my photography can be found at belindagrebphotography.com and these in particular at my bird gallery.

 

 

 

 

 

The Need for Public Lands

God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and
a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools. – John Muir

Two American White Pelicans at Malheur NWR (©Belinda Greb)

Lately my heart and mind have been in Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a wild gem of Oregon taken over in early January by armed militia. This takeover was in response to the arrest of Hammonds, two ranchers who intentionally set two fires that spread to public lands endangering lives, (in 2001 of the young relative who was instructed to set the fire and  in 2006 of firefighters who were in the area). Bundy and his followers purported to take over the refuge for the purpose of returning the land to the people – a ridiculous proposition since the land already belongs to the people, as in “We, the People”. They didn’t want the government to manage the land and instead unilaterally decided that they would be the ones to do so. Malheur NWR is one of numerous  public lands that have been set aside by our forefathers who wisely saw the need to preserve natural habitat and wildlife for future generations. I suspect most of us consider this a blessing, but sadly there are those that consider it an overreach of the government.

Fern Ridge Wildlife Area (Falling Light on the Marsh ©Belinda Greb)

Public Lands

In 1864, Abraham Lincoln ceded land around Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove Area to California for use as a state park in response to Galen Clark and Senator John Conness who argued that with the increased tourism since since the mid 1850s, unregulated commercial interests were becoming a threat to the area. This would set a precedent for establishing Yellowstone as the nation’s first national park, Meanwhile after 11 years of trying, Ferdinand Hayden, was finally able to put together a geological survey in to the Yellowstone Area. This resulted in an influential report, that included pictures by William Henry Jackson and paintings by Thomas Moran, and in 1872, Ulysses Grant signed the Act of Dedication which made Yellowstone a national park. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park)

Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park (Waiting for Wolves ©Belinda Greb)

There was opposition at that time to the establishment of the park. Local settlers in Montana worried that the economy would suffer from federal prohibitions and so numerous bills were put forth to reduce land-use restrictions. There were those that wanted the land for logging, mining, and hunting. Sound familiar?

The entities in charge of public lands need to balance the needs of interested parties while protecting the land. While hunting is not allowed in National Parks and many Wildlife Refuges, on other public lands, hunting is allowed. There are guidelines for the logging that takes place on public lands, and there will always be controversy about whether these guidelines are too strict or not strict enough. Ranchers were allowed to continue grazing their cattle on public lands and charged a nominal fee. Grazing fees per AUM (animal unit per month) was raised in 2015 to $1.69. Of course fees for grazing on private or state lands is much higher. In Oregon, the state fee is $5.60 in 2016. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grazing_fee) How many of you can feed your pet dog or cat for that $1.69 for even a couple of days?

William L Finley NWR (William Finley Refuge ©Belinda Greb)

In addition, as opposed to owning the land, the ranchers are not responsible for the financial cost of purchasing the land, maintaining or paying taxes on it like other property owners would be. But apparently some of these occupiers, like Cliven Bundy, feel that they should not have to pay any fees at all, and for years he has gotten away from this, refusing to pay the fees or remove his cattle from federal lands. After a court order allowed officials to remove his livestock from federal lands in 2014, armed supporters advanced on collectors resulting in a standoff. The cattle were not removed by BLM due to their concern that employees might be harmed or shot. So now Cliven Bundy owes the people over $1 million dollars and continues to graze his cattle on public lands. If our society continues to give in to this type of behavior, we will have anarchy.

Seen at Fern Ridge Wildlife Area (Flight of the Great Blue Heron ©Belinda Greb)

There’s certainly a right to question how the land is being managed, but trying to bully your opinion across via intimidation and guns is not it. The government entities that regulate these lands are not above reproach, but they are trying to balance the rights of the community along with the special interests of ranchers along with the wildlife advocates and environmentalists. How can this be an easy task? And of course the administrators are also going to be have their own personal opinions and beliefs. But dissenters should take any issue with that management to our legal system or the media.

Malheur NWR (Pete French Long Barn No. 2 ©Belinda Greb)

Malheur NWR

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1908.  The land was initially occupied by the Paiute Indians. Settlers then came in and took over much of it, relegating the natives to a reservation. How ironic is the world view that rages against the government but really isn’t talking about returning the land to the original inhabitants.

One settler amassed with his employer, Dr Hugh Glen, over 140,000 acres.  He also restricted access to water to other fellow settlers and in fact was murdered in 1883 by one settler whose access to water he denied. Not a pretty story.  Some of the land was sold to pay of company debts, and after being resold, nearly 65,000 acres was incorporated into the refuge in 1935. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P_Ranch)

Great White Egret seen at Malheur NWR (Great Egret ©Belinda Greb)

In the late 1880’s bird populations were being decimated by plume hunters who used their feathers for hats or  vanity wear, as I like to say in regards to fur coats. In 1908, photographers, William L Finley and Herman Bohlman noticed both the diversity of birds and the horrible effects of plume hunting. Finley successfully personally lobbied President Theodore Roosevelt for federal protection for the area. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malheur_National_Wildlife_Refuge) The William L Finley National Wildlife Refuge, also in Oregon, was named after him in 1964.

I find myself getting so upset and angry by the Malheur occupation. First I’m angry at the nerve of other people coming from out-of-state with their guns, taking over the buildings, government vehicles, blocking roads, and causing so much damage, not least of which is the emotional damage done to the community around Burns. This is an invasion. There were threats to people and their families who worked for BLM or USFWS, and there has been a huge financial cost to the county.  I am also angered at this threat to a beautiful refuge and the wildlife that is there.

Private vs Public

If these protections were not in place, we would not have our system of: 58 national parks; 560 National Wildlife Refuges and 38 wetland management districts; 155 national forests and 20 grassland areas; and other state managed wildlife areas. These are open to people to enjoy, but more importantly to conserve natural resources and habitat for wildlife. How would these lands have fared had they not been under federal protection? Look around – how well have mining, privately owned logging companies, corporate farms served the land or the interests of the general population? In addition, there’s a wealth of information and recent discussion about how cattle grazing impacts environment and climate. Google it.

Cattle on Public Lands in Harney County (©Belinda Greb)

“Why should we protect this lands? How will it benefits humans, or really me?” some may ask.

• Deforestation results in global warming. Trees absorb greenhouse gases and return moisture to the air. Once they are cut, the land will dries out quickly.  Clear cutting results in loss of habitat for many species – 70% of animals and plants live in forests. (http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-overview/0).
• Loss of habitat results in loss of species. Just think what would happen if there were no birds and how that would affect the insect population. How would that affect crops or the spread of insect transmittable diseases…and so on? What about the disappearance of a predator that helped keep the rat population in control? It’s all about balance. The loss of one species can result in the overpopulation of another. There is a fine balance between prey and predator. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver is a novel that clearly explains this issue.
• If there were no regulations, there would be no limitations on the type of chemicals that are used or other safety regulations that exist for a reason. Even with regulations, there are not enough controls and we’ve seen the impact of the chemicals on bees which are so important pollination and agriculture.

Red Shouldered Hawk seen at Fern Ridge Wildlife Area (Surveil ©Belinda Greb)

If resources are not managed, there is no sustainability. This affects us directly in regards to food and shelter. Would you really trust Ammon Bundy who represents his own interests or the interest of like-minded individuals over a government department that while cumbersome is still subject to the interests of many, including: legislators, citizens, and businesses?

Those are the self-interested reasons for preservation and conservation.

William L. Finley NWR (Acorn Woodpecker ©Belinda Greb)

Being a photographer, and spending a lot of time observing animals, I am on the side of the wildlife. We do not occupy this land alone. We share it with animals and flora. We have already created an environmental imbalance that threatens not only our future, but the future of all living beings. We have used our lands and water as a huge trash can that we think we can keep pouring our waste into without consequences. Those consequences are catching up, and it is the poor and the animals who will suffer first.

These public lands are also important in that for many that is the only place that many will see life in a near natural state. The beauty and understanding that come from being in nature to those that are open to it can give one a profound respect for life, its vulnerability and its resilience. Nature can make us better human beings by connecting us to the the larger natural world that contains a multitude of life outside the “me.” It can teaches us that life is not ego-centric but all-encompassing.

Love your public lands and protect them.

Wild Horse seen in Harney County (Resilience ©Belinda Greb)

Photographs taken at: Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and Harney County, William Finley National Wildlife Refuge, Yellowstone National Park,  and Fern Ridge Wildlife Area (run by Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife). belindagrebphotography.com

 

 

 

 

 

What the World Needs Now is Spiritual Evolution

My last post was at the end of October, despite my best intentions to write more. In the meantime I visited and photographed Smith Rock and Painted Hills in Oregon. Both places started being formed millions of years ago – Smith Rock 30,000,000 years ago.

River and Rock

Homo Sapiens have been around for only the last 250,000 years, and Modern Man only the last 35,000 years.

As I was thinking what to write about, my mind moved to the events of the last few months, and then other social issues of this year. So never mind my little world, this post will be about the wider world. You may not agree with me, but I ask you to consider what I write.

On November 13, there were the nightmarish attacks in Paris, France with 130 deaths. A day before, there were over 37 deaths in Beirut, also from an ISIL attack. Then less than a month later, on December 2, there was the shooting of 14 individuals by a husband and wife who had just had a child six months ago. Before that in my home state, Oregon, there was a 10-person death toll by a mentally unstable gunman.

Immediately after each of these horrific incidents, there is the – what has become sadly usual – outcry about the need for gun law control reforms pitted against those who defend the right to bear arms. The standoff is usually quite ugly, and some of the rants in the wake of these tragedies parallel in tone the viciousness of the original acts themselves.

The divisiveness and bitter dispute is also seen in the news stories about the all too many and disturbing video tapes of deaths of mostly black men at the hands of some law enforcement officers. The case I found especially haunting was the death of Tamir Rice, a twelve year old playing with a toy gun in a public park. There were even people defending the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. How would you like your son to be followed by a stranger in a car with a gun when they are walking home and talking on the phone? What ever was suspicious about his behavior?

Some see the fact that these deaths are being questioned as an attack against all law enforcement. While all of us know that our law protection officers put their lives at risk by the nature of their job and must respond in high-pressure situations, there still must be a standard of conduct that is upheld. Any one who has held a job, know that any employee’s performance will be reviewed.

What is a fact is that there will be fanatics and mentally unstable people so long as there are humans. So trying to find a way to insure that guns do not get into the hands of these people seems a sensible thing, especially when it is an assault rifle like the one used in Sandyhook with 30 rounds capacity.

Is the right of Andrew Lanza’s mother, Nancy, to purchase a Bushmaster AR-15, stronger than the right of six-year old Jesse Lewis’ mother, Scarlett to watch her child grow up? Do our current background checks look at the household members who might gain access to that weapon? How do we insure that every gun owner will responsibly manage/sell his or her gun and make sure it does not get into the hands of someone else is emotionally unstable or bent on using it to kill? Some make the argument that “guns don’t kill, people do” but guns are made for the purpose of killing. I doubt you will find any advertisement in a gun magazine that talks about the sporting benefits of a Bushmaster Assault Rifle in shooting cans.

What I find really offensive is the now circulating propaganda email and Facebook postings that Sandy Hook was a hoax. How low can you go? Yes there will be some who will be able to get their hand on a weapon, no matter what, but we should not make it easy. There are apparently some guns, including the AR-15, with legal add-ons that let a person fire 900 rounds per minute. Why is this legal?

But getting back to the original point of my post. Why has it become a rarity that we can’t have a discourse on any of these subjects and our differing opinions without that discourse succumbing to name-calling. Words such as “LIBERAL” or “They’re ANIMALS” or “RACISTS” don’t really do anything to further our understanding or breech the gap. These types of insults just result in “unfriending” be it online or in real life, or racing once again to find the nearest missile, be it insult or bullet.

Okay, so we might think the other person is ignorant or racist or whatever, but as supposedly evolved beings, should our response be one of anger and hate? Can’t we step back and try to see the person as more complicated and more multi-layered than that one aspect of their self, character or spirit?

I found the immediate calls from politicians and some Facebook posters to bomb those terrorists very sad. First, I doubt the terrorists are sitting in a nice little spot isolated from all others waiting for us to do that and the rationale for this type of action flies in face of reason when so many of the recent “terrorists” have been home grown.

Why must our initial reaction always be for revenge? How does a superpower country bombing some third world country solve anything? Wars and bombing will certainly result in more loss of innocent lives, more orphans, more scars, more hatred, more economic devastation, and more bitterness to carry to the next generation and the one after that? How can you win hearts and minds with bombs?

I am not suggesting that we not defend ourselves in an intelligent way from immediate dangers, as France did when it worked its intelligence and carried out numerous raids in Paris and Belgium, some which did result in the deaths of terrorists. But I do feel we need to stop seeing a terrorist simply and only as an enemy. They may be our enemy, but in not looking beyond that we put ourselves in jeopardy of becoming a zealot as well.

The questions we should also be asking are why does a fanatic become a fanatic? When and why did Osama Bin Laden decide it was okay to kill thousands? Or Abdelhamid Abaaoud? Or his cousin, who wasn’t even religious a month before she died? When and how did each of their thinking become so distorted that they used religion to justify murder? Refer to http://www.vocativ.com/news/251306/psychology-terrorist/ as the start of what we should be studying.

There may be a difference in seeing all Muslims and refugees as potential terrorists (reference to the numerous calls to register Muslims and stop accepting Syrian refugees) and a ISIS terrorist from seeing all Christians, or Westerners as infidels, but I would suggest it’s slighter than at first imagined. Consider one of responses from Trump, a presidential candidate, whose plan is to bomb the “**** out of them” (Source CNN), and then take the oil (from Syria, Iraq) – as if stealing has now become a good thing.

For those that believe in God, does it make sense that an omniscient, all powerful entity who created each of us would only love certain nations and not others, or certain races and not others, or for that matter, certain species and not others? And to all, I say, there is no better use and challenge to our intellect than to find a way to live peaceably with each other despite the differences in our belief.

35,000 years, and we rarely look beyond the last 2000, or even the last 200 years. Looking at 35,000 or 2,000 years from the span of just one lifetime, it’s a long time. A piece of furniture over 100 years is an antique. Physically we’ve changed. Intellectually we’ve progressed. But have we evolved spiritually? Have we come all this way only to find the same old excuses to continue to hate and fear each other, or just to create more efficient tools designed to kill each other and more quickly at that?

In many cases, anger’s source is based on some past hurt. In the 1980’s or early 90’s either after work or after SNL, I sometimes would catch a tv talk show host, Dr. David Viscott, a psychiatrist, and this is where I first heard and then thought about the source of anger. Think about your own anger, when it comes up. Think about not only the incident but also your reaction. Now, think about the people who violently strike out against society and others. What is their source of anger? These heinous acts are never justifiable, but I think knowing the source of the anger that becomes hardened into a mindset that allows a person to commit such an act would be an important thing for us to know as a society. Perhaps it might even provide us with the understanding we need to address issues and take a  first step towards making things better. I am not putting forth a simplistic solution; I am suggesting we step beyond the usual knee jerk reaction and consider the source, analyze the problem and fix it, instead of repeating that same old patterns that have been repeated for centuries.

Yes the “Conservatives” can blame the “Liberals” and vice versa. “Whites can blame the “Blacks” and “Blacks” can blame the “Whites” and “Terrorists” can curse the “Infidels” and the “Patriots” can bomb the “Animals” and it can go on for as long as the world will last.  In the end we are still humans, ALL of US, who have to share one planet, which we’ve managed very poorly. It turns out being human is a questionable accomplishment at best, at least so far. Can we change that?

Grand Canyon Series, Part 2

These are two more images from my short visit to Grand Canyon.  You’ll see the same ridge in both, but from a different perspective. The first is a close-up which I love as you get a closer view of the rock detail. I often like a cloudy sky (as long as there is some contrast to be had) as it adds drama and interest to the scene.

Grand Canyon No. 3

The panorama is 2 to 1 ratio – so on the smaller size, and only two exposures with some overlap.

Grand Canyon No. 4 pano 2

More to come. Thank you!

Grand Canyon Series, Part 1

This year’s been wonderful for me as I’ve gotten the opportunity to visit and revisit a few of our nation’s treasures – our national parks.  In October, I got to meet up with my dear friends and spend a bit of time in Arizona and Utah.  While the weather wasn’t optimum I am still grateful not only to see my friends, but also to get a chance to see Grand Canyon since I haven’t seen this since I was a young girl. I will now have to go back to see it in better weather and different light.

For this series, I will just be posting more frequently with just a couple of images and fewer words.

Grand Canyon No. 1

It may be October and the kids are back in school, but there are still crowds, at least by the Visitor Center viewpoints.  Walk around the rim, and you will find peace and quiet! Such a beautiful place, I was sadly disturbed to find cans thrown over the edge. Too steep to retrieve, but perhaps the park services has a long extension pole. Why come to see beauty and then leave such an ugly mark that is also dangerous to any wildlife? These parks, more than money or commercial items are our real treasures, a million years in the making.

The same image, in black and white.  Black and white photography, to me, always seems to add a timeless quality to the image, highlighting texture, light and shadows.

Grand Canyon No. 1 in black and white

More to come.