Welcome to 2023!
My New Year’s gift to you is the picture above. Lake Crescent, located near the Hoh Rainforest, and one of the quietest places in the United States according to the Gordon Hempton’s project, One Square Inch of Silence.
To listen to the beauty of the Olympic peninsula and see more pictures visit Gordon Hempton’s website: https://onesquareinch.org/breathing-space/
“SILENCE IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF SOMETHING,
BUT THE PRESENCE OF EVERYTHING.”-Gordon Hempton, Founder
https://onesquareinch.org/
One Square Inch of Silence
May you find peace and Joy in the new year!
Between the holidays and the crazy weather, I doubt many of you were quiet or restful for very long. This month’s photo submission was a bit of a washout. I kind of suspected this might happen. Life, like all forms of energy has its own ebb and flow similar to water. I’m neither sad nor disappointed.
Please join me in thanking Lisa Troute and Tracy Abell for their photo submission!
So cute!
The Gopher Tortoise is a threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in its native territory of the Southeastern United States. It is the only tortoise found naturally east of the Mississippi River. They can live up to 40-60 years in the wild and 90+ in captivity. (https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/reptiles/gopher-tortoise/)
Lisa says that a lot of animals use the tortoise’s burrows including snakes and small animals. I found this 1:45min clip on PBS Nature about how these other animals also rely on the burrows for safety during fires and hurricanes. This makes the Gopher Tortoise a Nature-Led hero in my book! Wolverines and Badgers might also make nice burrows, but they’re rarely inclined to share their home with others.
Unknown bird nest. Barr Lake State Park, Colorado. April 8, 2021 Tracy Abell / Another Day On the Planet
While Tracy captioned her picture as “Unknown bird nest” I had fun playing Forest Detective and we think we know whose nest this is. Our guess is that it belongs to a Bullock’s Oriole. This type of nest is called a “pendant nest”. I did my original search calling it a “hammock nest” and some other people searched for it calling it a “sock nest”. Whatever you want to call it though, it’s an interesting nest and I love it!
Thank you again Lisa and Tracy for giving me interesting pictures and non-rabbit holes to follow!
Finally, let’s just call this bonus content. Do you need more inspiration for getting excited about nature? Well, check out this lovely fellow and his Becorns! This is a true pleasure to watch. I also appreciate that he has a calm, casual voice similar to my own.
Nature-Led New Year’s Goals?
If you’re the kind of person who likes to make goals for the new year, what are some of your goals for 2023?
Can you think of how to make these or other goals, Nature-led goals?
Future Photo Submissions:
January: Moss Due: January 31st (Posted Feb 1st PST)
February: Unexpected Blooms and/or Ferns Due: February 28 (March 1st PST)
Fine Print: Photo Submissions Guidelines
Email to: natureledlife@gmail.com, Subject line: Photo Submission for [month] (Multiple months of photos in one email is fine.) Image: Attached as a .JPEG or .PNG file preferred. Captions each picture: Subject in the photo (if known), State/Providence & Country, Date (optional). Your name as you want it to appear, Your blog link (if you have one.) Feel free to add any interesting notes about a picture. I love interesting stories behind things! Let me know if it’s just for ‘my eyes only’ or if I can share any part of it with your photo. Pictures must be your own or you have permission from the Photographer to share it. All copyrights belong to their owners. This is just a free, fun, community site about nature.
As always, THANK YOU for being here and being part of the Nature-Led community!
But wait there’s more! Here is Dinah’s on the cusp photo submission for “Nature at Rest”!
The Nature-led Life 
Yes, I’m one of the “fails” in the photo submissions, but I was up to my oxters in all sorts of things.Missed the deadline, but here is a pic, taken by my partner, of our local beach,yesterday afternoon https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10160802550111869&set=a.10151736244941869 May this year be kinder to us all and may we do less harm to ourselves and our home.
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Amen to your sentiment re the coming year! I clicked your link but it said content wasn’t available?
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If Dinah emails me the picture, I’m happy to update this blog post to include it.
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It may be a Facebook restriction, but it works from here.
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Alas, the link to the photo on Facebook didn’t work, but you could share it on your blog or email it to me at natureledlife@gmail.com. Even if you don’t no worries! As photo submissions are completely voluntary, there is no “failing” as far as I see it! See you in the new year, Dinah!
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I’ve set it as my new blog header!
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I love it!
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Oh. Lake Crescent, the Gopher Tortoise, and the Becorns are wonderful. And that sock nest is pretty cool, too. 🙂 Thank you for doing this, Melanie. Wishing you and yours a Happy New Year!
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It was my pleasure, Tracy! Thank you for providing a picture of one of the coolest nests ever! Happy New Year!
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Oh, sorry, I forgot the ‘Nature at Rest’ thingy! However, I’m really excited for this month’s moss theme – I hope to get some new photos, but I have plenty from a year or two back that I can use if not.
Great photos for December’s theme! I love the pendant nest, and I didn’t know that tortoises lived wild in the US. Fascinating.
Right, now I’m off to discover more about the adorable Becorns.
Happy New Year, Melanie!
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It’s no problem! I look forward to your Moss pictures!
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Happy New Year, Melanie!! Apologies – the time shot by – I remembered, and then I forgot about nature at rest. It would have been a tree, probably!
Sxxx
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It’s no problem! Surely, you’ve got some moss around there. Or perhaps a surprise bloom for February?
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Hi Melanie, The pendant nest is pretty cool. I haven’t seen any those out in their natural habitats. I hope you had a good New Year and did okay with all the crazy weather on the West Coast.
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Thank you, Mark! We are surviving well enough. We just replaced the mailbox after it accidentally got plowed, the lights went wonky, but the electrician fixed them without charging a king’s ransom (some outside conducting bits got blown/vibrated loose). I’ve still got to fix the hole in the garage roof that a branch left us, but at least the water stays mostly stays in the bucket! Why does calamity always like to roam through here in threes?!?!? 🙂
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Wow! That is intense. Holes in the roof and loose electrical wires seem kind of serious. I totally appreciate your comment that the water stays mostly in the bucket. I guess that is all we can hope for sometimes!!!
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The electrical problem got worse and we were without power for a few days. I don’t want to jinx it but between a qualified electrician and the power company, I’d like to think its finally resolved. There was never a threat of fire danger, but it did fry our thermostat which had to be replaced by yet another service technician. Ironically, I bought us each a booklight for Christmas. They have been very useful! We hide under a thousand blankets and read. 🙂
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Glad to hear everything seems fixed! And what a way to start the new year.
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Dear Melanie,
Thank you for wishing us peace and joy in the new year with the beauty and quietude of Lake Crescent near the Hoh Rainforest.
May you find 2023 to be very much to your liking and highly conducive to your travelling, writing, reading, thinking and publishing whatever topics that take your intellectual fancy and creative whim!
I have joined the festive spirit and previously published one year ago a special post entitled “🎊 Season’s Greetings: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year 🎄🎅☃️” to celebrate the festive season. The post combines art, graphics, poems, music and animations. May you relish my post to your heart’s content, as I have yours. After all, it is the time of the year to send you some mellifluous text, glorious images and eye-catching animations presented in the following post:
https://soundeagle.wordpress.com/2021/12/25/seasons-greetings-merry-christmas-happy-holidays-and-happy-new-year/
I hope that you will thoroughly enjoy the animations featured at my said post. In addition, please turn on your finest speakers or headphones, as my aforementioned festive post will be playing music to you automatically for about two minutes.
Happy New Year to you!
Yours sincerely,
SoundEagle
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Thankyou, Sound Eagle. I’m sorry for the delay in responding. We were having electrical problems and were without for a few days.
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What’s the difference between a turtle and a tortoise?https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-a-turtle-and-a-tortoise
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Thank you, Lisa! Sorry for the delay in responding. We were without power for a few days. Yes, I’m always surprised that people don’t know what makes a tortoise different, but then I shouldn’t expect everyone to be a Nature geek like me. 🙂
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I am always in awe of the natural beauty that surrounds us and these photos are no exception. The serene image of Lake Crescent takes me away to a peaceful place where the only sound is the gentle chirping of birds. The Gopher Tortoise is a reminder of the important role all creatures play in our ecosystem and the unknown bird nest is a fascinating mystery that I enjoyed trying to solve. I’m excited to see what other natural wonders will be shared in the coming months and am inspired to make nature-led goals for the new year.
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Thank you for your comment, Sebastian! I feel the same way about the pictures. I would love to hear what nature-led goals you come up with! Either post them here, on your blog or send me a quick email. My first goal is to inspire other people, like you! 🙂 My second goal is to show how we can scale it up as individuals and as a society. (What I need to work on this year.)
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Been so busy but happy new year. Oh jeez, I had a Cock(rooster) pic I took but forgot. I’ll participate in the next🙏🏾🌼.
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That’s okay, Jude. Like I said. I know the end of the year is busy for many people.
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