Don’t forget your rocks…and fossils!

April 24, 2023April 25, 2023 ~ melaniereynolds ~ 10 Comments

Greetings Nature-led friends!

I’m constantly writing posts for you in my head, but when its time to sit down and write them something more pressing always needs to be done. I could really use a WordPress mind reader app. You wouldn’t want people reading your mind all the time, but imagine if you could think the words, *Begin post* and then write with your mind and add images. Think of all the millions of images we see in our lifetime, being able to recall and image and plug it into a post or book manuscript would be amazing! It would save so much time too!

I’m a visual thinker and experiential learner. I can do something once and then teach it to others. I see words in complete sentences and paragraphs with appropriate white space and font size. I visualize music and numbers in colors. Zero is white with a halo back shadow, one is white outlined in black, two is blue, three is red,…12 is purple.

In one of my early jobs, I worked as a long-distance telephone operator. At the end of the night my mind would purge all the credit card numbers as they scrolled before my closed eyelids like movie credits. I accidentally spooked a regular caller once when he dropped his card while reading off the numbers and I cheerfully said, “It’s okay. I know them.” Oops. I’m well aware that complete strangers don’t want to know I have their credit card number accidentally memorized. A missed opportunity for a life of crime I know.

Wait! That’s not what this post is about. I got distracted. Thoughts like butterflies and all that…

Send me your rock and fossil pictures!

The deadline is this Sunday, April 30th.

I’ve only received pictures from two people, Kerfe and Mary Reynolds. Thank you both!

Here’s some inspiration. A couple of pictures of the petrified wood that I inherited from one of my grandfathers back in the 1980s.

Assorted Petrified Wood Samples By Melanie Reynolds

and this one that usually ends up as a door stop in the summers:

It’s as big as my hands and I have big hands for a woman! It’s also appropriately heavy for something that’s been turned to stone.

About Petrified wood: https://geology.com/stories/13/petrified-wood/

If you want more pictures of rocks and fossils, including a cool Cave Bear Skeleton visit/revisit my road trip to Montana last summer.

Road Trip! Montana, United States

Have a lovely week! Don’t forget to play outside.

Updated 4/25/2023 @ 7:58pm (PST) to include the Photo submission Guidelines

The 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 respective owners. This is a free, fun, community site about nature. Non-commercial and ad free.

Photo Submissions: The Sky & the Moon

March 31, 2023April 2, 2023 ~ melaniereynolds ~ 20 Comments

^{A modern dinosaur flies above the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and Vancouver By Dinah https://moreidlethoughts.wordpress.com/}

When I look at the sky or moon, the word transition comes to mind. I think about the many transitions that take place within our world and our individual lives. Death is a shadow to our light. We are of both matter (body) and anti-matter (spirit.)

The sky changes throughout our planetary cycles in a unit of measurement we call days. Yet measures of time, gravity and composition can change vastly on planets different from our own. The movie Interstellar is one of my favorites and a great example of what other worlds could look like. The movie was based on our current understanding of black holes, worm holes and relativity. Dr Kip Thorne Nobel Laurate of Physics in 2017 provided equations and insight as a subject matter expert to bring authenticity to such a brilliant movie.

Real science is not boring. It expands the universes within our minds. In my heart, Pluto will always be a (dwarf) planet and the Apatosaurus will always be a Brontosaurus. The scientific community might change the name of things, but I still know what my favorite dinosaur is.

^{The night before a super moon in New York, USA By Dinah https://moreidlethoughts.wordpress.com/}

As the moon dances with the earth, I feel a kinship to all living things. It reminds me that we are not alone and its phases, while often predictable, remind us that change is constant. The presence of the moon can be felt throughout the world in king tides, migrations and the hours of sun in a day. Without it the earth would spin faster, and the days would be shorter. I fear I really wouldn’t get anything done if the days became any shorter!

^{One hour later – The night before a super moon in New York, USA By Dinah https://moreidlethoughts.wordpress.com/}

The Moon –

^{Moon at Summer Solstice, Overstrand, North Norfolk, England – 21 June 2022. IDV, Inexplicable Device: I get up at four in the morning so you don’t have to!}

^{Moon peering through the trees. Routt National Forest, Colorado, U.S. By Tracy Abell Another Day on the Planet}

^{Moon through the branches Manhattan NY USA By Kerfe https://methodtwomadness.wordpress.com/ & https://kblog.blog/}

^{Moon above a building Manhattan NY USA By Kerfe https://methodtwomadness.wordpress.com/ & https://kblog.blog/}

^{Moon and clouds Manhattan NY USA By Kerfe https://methodtwomadness.wordpress.com/ & https://kblog.blog/}

Sunrise –

^{Obscured sunrise over the North Sea, North Norfolk, England – 28 Oct 2020. IDV, Inexplicable Device: Crack of Dawn.}

^{Sunrise over Brooklyn NY USA By Dinah https://moreidlethoughts.wordpress.com/}

The Day –

^{Mist over the fields} ^{Devon England By Ms Scarlet https://wonky-words.com/blog/}

^{Clouds over a field} ^{Devon England By Ms Scarlet https://wonky-words.com/blog/}

^{Clouds that resemble a snowy avalanche rumbling ever closer Routt National Forest, Colorado, U.S. By Tracy Abell Another Day on the Planet}

^{A ship sails the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and Vancouver By Dinah https://moreidlethoughts.wordpress.com/}

Sunset –

Special Capture –

^{An early morning rocket launch from Cape Canaveral FL USA captured by Lisa Troute in her driveway several miles away.}

Thank you!

My many thanks to everyone who submitted photos and those who strongly thought about submitting photos but weren’t able to for one reason or another.

You expand my horizons!

May Submissions – Rocks and Fossils

This nature site is severely lacking in sediment appreciation. Let’s remedy that! Show me your pictures of cool rocks and/or fossils.

Due: April 30th

To be posted on May 1st.

The Fine Print: Photo Submissions Guidelines

Additional Links:

How does the Moon affect life on Earth – Natural History Museum of London

Types of Clouds – Sciencefacts.net

What is a Moorland? – World Atlas

NASA has a launch for a new instrument to detect air pollution this month, April 2023. For more information: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/new-instrument-to-track-air-pollution-hourly-shed-light-on-disparities

March Photo Submission Request: The Sky and the Moon

March 15, 2023 ~ melaniereynolds ~ 19 Comments

^{Moon Balance By Melanie Reynolds Washington State, USA}

Hello Nature-led friends!

Yes, a late request for photo submissions! I have faith some of our regular people can pull it off and perhaps a few new people are ready to join in the fun too.

Kerfe, our friend in New York, USA had recommended the “sky” as a worthy nature topic for photo submissions and Ms Scarlet from Devon, UK agreed. That’s really all the motivation I needed because taking pictures of the moon during “daylight” hours is one of my favorite things. So, for the month of March please pull out your cameras (or find a previous picture) of the Sky and/or the moon. Any time of day or night. What does the sunrise or sunset look like from your corner of the world? Or maybe you’ve captured some really cool cloud formation or the aurora borealis or stars. When you think about it, there is a lot going on in the sky above us.

^{Morning Rise Moon By Melanie Reynolds Washington State, USA (Taken this morning of Mar 15, 2023)}

It makes me unreasonably happy to see the moon during the day, which is probably weird, right? I consider the moon a friend of the earth and the creatures upon it, like me. We both hang out in the same little slice of the universe and the moon influences life in both subtle and not so subtle ways just like the people, plants, and animals in our lives.

It has inspired song, words, and behaviors way before the existence of human civilizations. In the presence of the moon, I don’t feel alone. Does that make me a lunatic? In these modern societies in which we live we’re all crazy here, but the moon is not to blame. The moon is a companion who asks nothing of me. It doesn’t sell my personal information or tell me to trade my soul to the devil for cheese. Oh, how I do so love cheese though!

The moon hangs out in that big scary place we simply call “sky.” I find it frightening to think about it too much, all the space beyond the sun and moon, beyond the stratosphere and the clouds. I’ve written about it before in this previous post: https://nature-led.org/2021/01/27/too-much-sky/

Here’s a previous poem that Patricia shared and translated from a friend in Colombia about the moon: https://nature-led.org/2021/05/02/es-luna-llena-it-is-full-moon/

Finally, two more pictures of the sky to share with you.

^{Storm Clouds By Melanie Reynolds Washington State, USA}

I took this picture last week, Monday, March 5th, 2023, when we had heavy clouds and strong winds. I think it was a glancing blow from that first atmospheric river that hit California recently.

and this…

A fun picture I took a few summers ago. I texted it to Patricia with the comment: “How pilots double date.” Ha,ha,ha.

^{Planes Flying Side by Side By Melanie Reynolds Washington State, USA}

In the meantime, I’ll figure out the next few months of photo submission requests. Suggestions are always welcome and appreciated!

Submission Guidelines

The Sky and/or the Moon:

Due: March 31st

To be posted on: April 1st (No fooling!)

The Fine Print: Photo Submissions Guidelines