Still Gravity

It looks like a little sun with purple rays. This flower followed us in a camping trip through northern Texas.  Pretty flower, pretty foliage with hairy cover - photo taken in Palo Duro Canyon .  "Discovered" in 1898 by the Tahoka Lake in Texas, this plant got a horrible name for science:  Machaeranthera tanacetifolia.  The combination of Greek and Latin means "swordlike anthers" with "fern-like leaves". The "swords" are the filaments and anthers of the flowers.  Tahoka daisy is a better name. It's said that "Tahoka" means "fresh water" or "deep water" in an unidentified American Indian language. The plant also was known as prairie aster since 1832 - that's why I wrote "discovered" in 1898 referring to the use of the Tahoka name.  These daisies love rocks and sand and dryness and the sun. Tough survivors of t

Sunset in Lakepoint State Park, Alabama - License our images  here .         After visiting Eufaula , we had to settle for a night in this state park of Alabama.  The campground is huge and was mostly empty. The only neighbor in our section was a man riding his bike across the country. He started in San Diego, California, and now was close to the end of the trip in Virginia.  We invited him for dinner, but he refused saying that would prefer to retire early to his tent to rest after another grueling day on the road. We understood.  The campground, the marina, and the lake in Lakepoint State Park.  Big gators live in this lake, so we didn't have any interest on swimming in the "beach" by the campground - judge by the photos.

The wild colors of the sunset over Lake Brownwood seen from our campsite - License our images  here . Lake Brownwood State Park in central Texas was a nice place to camp. Those days there were amazing sunsets. Fiery, bloody, wild. The hot colors of the West.  Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.            Rabindranath Tagore

Cruises in the port of Skagway, Alaska -  License our images here .         John Muir wrote in Travels in Alaska : Most people who travel look only at what they are directed to look at. Great is the power of the guidebook maker, however ignorant. I agree. How much do we miss in organized touristic travels designed for the masses?  We're not fan of cruises. Actually, this was the first and only one we've taken. It happened in 2006. But even if taking a cruise doesn't need justification, we have one: Alaska's Inside Passage is faraway, roads are a rarity there, and logistics get complicated. A cruise trip, no matter how hurried these trips are for our taste, made perfect sense - and they were the only way to go for us at the time.   Let's tell the tale of our Alaska cruise "adventure".  Seattle  We arrived at Seattle some days before departure to sightsee the city. The green of the vegetation caugh

The monster alligator - License our images  here . We've encountered many wild alligators hiking in Florida. The biggest one? Probably the animal of the previous photo.  The meeting happened in the area of the  Bear Island campground in Big Cypress National Preserve. The gator swan under a line of trees and came towards us. It showed not fear and got close to the shores. We experienced the uneasy feeling of a prey.  A clap with the hands made it stop. The alligator sank a little and we walked away saying  see you later, alligator . Two more shots of the large beast of the Big Cypress National Preserve.  A hike to the end of the Military Trail in the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve put us in touch with big gators everywhere.  Alligators sun basking on the shores of the Kissimmee River. 

The effect follows a cause. And later, it dresses as a cause for a subsequent effect. What an eternal loop. It resembles the crazy replication of cancerous cells. And then, in the human mind, begins the game of dualist judgements. Good or bad, pretty or ugly, black or white... Labeling and choosing ad infinitum. Combine all this with our thoughts and worries about past, present, and future, and the calm mind is gone. Welcome to the labyrinths of human life - for sure, you know them well.  Our common way to fit such dose of anxiety is to calm the mind with the mind. But thinking doesn't help much. Actually, it makes the problem worse.  This situation has followed the journey of humans since ancient times. The Buddhist doctrine with its central concept around cause and effect - just think about karma and rebirth - has ventured some ideas to escape these negative loops.  The following book shares some propositions. 

The Gregory Mansion and view of the Apalachicola River - License our images  here . This is a small state park on the banks of the Apalachicola River, Florida. The name Torreya comes from a tree discovered here in 1835. The people of the area knew the species as "Stinking Cedar" or "Savine". There is an old house/museum in the park. The Gregory Mansion was built in 1849 on the other side of the river and later moved to the actual spot. Confederate troops visited this house during the Civil War.   Trails go down to the river. The campground was mostly empty. Lush forests at Torreya. 

Looking for breakfast in the lake - License our images  here .        What kind of ducks are those?  The Muscovy ducks. And no, they don't come from Russia. They are immigrants from Central and South America.  The red and fleshy stuff on the face is called caruncles - means "flesh" in Latin. The caruncles appear when they become adults. It helps with the cleaning of the face and the feathers thanks to oil glands.   We took these photos while camping in Geiger Lake , Mississippi.  The caruncles of the Muscovy Ducks.  Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan's egg.                       Hans Christian Andersen

We met it in a trail of  Palo Duro Canyon , Texas. The colorful "dinosaur" crossed the path and stopped on the border. It looked at us without showing fear. We got close and began a photo session. The lizard stayed put and displayed its best angles. What a professional model! Our common collared lizard in Palo Duro Canyon - License our images  here . They are also called eastern collared lizard to differentiate from its western cousin, the Great Basin collared lizard or desert collared lizard. Their major difference is in the colors. The eastern one has more vivid tones. But temperature and season influence their skin color. You can confuse them.   When running on their hind legs, these lizards look like tiny dinosaurs - check the first image of the collage. This one is a male. Males have well-defined orange bands across the body. The colorful fellas are Oklahoma's

Our campsite in Meaher State Park -  License our images here . Tiny state park on an island close to the city of Mobile, Alabama.  There are only two short trails in this park. One ends at Ducker Bay on a boardwalk. We found rabbits on this grassy trail. The other one goes to the Blakeley River. There were folks fishing there - there is also a fishing pier at Bay John.  Views from the short trails.  USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park is close to Meaher State Park. We visited this park-museum seven years ago. Interesting place if you like history and military stuff.  Our campsite had a view of the I-10 bridge over Mobile Bay. A line of tiny dots of lights after sunset.      

Swamp in Sam Houston Jones State Park, Louisiana - License our images  here . This park is close to the city of Lake Charles, Louisiana. It's a swampy place that borders the Calcasieu River. But no mosquitoes, we got cold days in this season. There were not many visitors. We only crossed three hikers on the Riverwalk Trail. Wildlife was scarce. There are some nice homes across the river.  The Calcasieu River and a lone wanderer near the trail.  The park was named originally after the Virginian born Sam Houston of Texas. Later the name was changed for the Sam Houston Jones of Louisiana - a state governor that lived nearby. Dark at night, returning from the bathhouse, we met a bobcat having a feast in a garbage can that someone left open. The tactical light froze the ani

Entrance to Capulin Volcano National Monument - License our images  here .         This is an out of the way place and, disappointment, the road to the rim of the volcano was closed because of rain runoffs. We had to "enjoy" the volcano from ground level - boring, because it's just another small mountain.  The volcano and the notice of closed road.  Capulin is an extinct  cinder cone volcano  part of the  Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field . The last eruption was 60,000 years ago - not so long ago.  The surrounding area has many volcanos.  Remote, arid, windy, and volcanic region in the northeast of New Mexico. Not much traffic around here. 

The sand dunes of Colorado -  License our images here . Mountains of sand pushed by the wind against the rocky cliffs of the Sangre de Cristo Range. These are the tallest dunes in North America, resting at a corner of the San Luis Valley. We got a site in Piñon Flats campground inside the national park. No electricity, but there was water across the street.  Our campsite in Great Sand Dunes National Park.  A trail went from our site to Medano Creek, right at the start of the dunes. The creek was dry. It's the season. Winter is almost here. Pretty rocks all around there. Colors and patterns to choose from.  Rocks by Medano Creek.   The greenish looks a  banded hornfel . Igneous rocks created through the heating and baking of other rocks by volcanic