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In Nature
In this weeks Q and A, I really enjoyed hearing what inspires creativity for Mona and Lisa. Lisa mentioned the beauty of nature, and how it inspires her to creativity to create beauty.
From an Ask The MLT post a while ago, Lisa wrote:
We are definitely more avid hikers/outdoorers now in comparison to our younger selves (especially our teen version) but there are still many incredible trips and times we spent in nature when we were younger.
As for hikes, one of the most memorable ones would have been the trip we took with Michaela’s parents to Eastern and Southern Tyrol where we spent many days hiking the incredible Alps and Dolomites. We posted some photos of it in the MLT Club a while ago:
Nature is adventure and will forever play a big part in our lives ♥
One of the most inspiring nature experiences for me among many has been the dark mysterious desert at night, and the mysterious starry night sky. I remember the Grand Canyon at night with the amazing canopy of bright stars. The darkness of the canyon floor, just enhanced the beauty of the bright night sky littered with stars that was incredible.
I loved the Sonoran desert area around Palm Springs California, especially at night, with the strong desert winds blowing. I remember driving around under the big giant windmills in the desert feeling the strong desert winds. The starry night from the desert was amazing, it all felt so mysterious. When I first saw MLTs cover of Starman, I felt that amazing feeling in the desert again, and then Janitor Joe piques those emotions even more. In Jump Ship, I feel that amazing mystery lurking under the dark ocean.
Do you have any memorable nature moments you want to share?
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12 Replies
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For me, nothing can compare to the first time I saw the ocean when I was 21. (My parents didn’t like to travel!) Having grown up in a region of rolling hills, I was amazed by the absolutely flat horizon stretching nearly halfway around me, and the inconceivable amount of water separating me from it. And there was the profound realization that I was standing exactly at the boundary between the big blue area and the big green area that you see on views of the Earth from space.
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David, that must have been quite the experience seeing the ocean in front of you for the first time. That no end insight over the horizon of nothing but vast water.
It was around 21 for me when I experienced flight, that I could remember, when I flew from Vancouver to Toronto. I had a window seat, and when the plane started to take off, I remember feeling the seat back pressing firmly against me as the ground suddenly dropped away from me rapidly. It was quite a surreal feeling.
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Jung, I had exactly that same reaction to my first airplane flight (also at age 21)!
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My most beautiful nature experience? Maybe this one:
A small jungle lodge somewhere in the rainforest. The window wide open. Between the world out there and me only a thin strip of fly screen and as night falls the concert of nature begins. The sun slowly sinks behind the horizon and bathes the forest in a warm orange light. The shadows lengthen and small blurry figures flit through the incipient darkness. Gibbons open the performance with their duet singing, welcoming the falling night. At first, only a few cautious calls echo through the tops of the trees, but more and more monkeys join in the concert and the piercing bright sound of their voices fills the air. This seems to be the signal for the cicadas, the strings of the forest. Millions of tiny legs rub together, creating a shrill wave of sound that floods across the jungle. The sun has now completely disappeared and where there were huge jungle trees just a moment ago, only dark shades are visible. With the darkness the soundscape changes. The calls of the monkeys sound only sporadically and the cicadas are completely silent. The birds of the rainforest now prepare for their performance and then enter the virtual stage. Rising and falling soprano voices are supported by the alto of individual bird calls and a variety of chirping and warbling. A diverse chorus from the throats of countless feathered artists. And then the nightly rain begins, to which the forest owes its name. The first thick drops fall from the shimmering dark-violet sky, clap on the leaves of the giant trees and then slowly drip onto the lower-lying vegetation. The drumming sound of the first raindrops quickly turns into bright swooshing and the gates of the sky are now wide open. Heavy rain pours down in torrents on the green canopy of the forest. The beginning of a unique and unforgettable night.
PS: Speaking of jungle concert, the following scene spontaneously comes to mind (maybe not quite appropriate but entertaining):
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Wow Jurgen, you painted a vivid image of the rain forest jungle on the canvas of my imagination. It feels very beautiful, and exotic, and as the night falls, the mystery of the jungle is sure to unfold. Great narrative, you could write a novel! Curious where this place is? It sounds like an amazing exotic nature experience you had.
Another nature experience memory that come to mind is “Outdoor School”. In the North Vancouver School Board I attended they had this grade 6 program where the whole grade 6 class goes to an outdoor camp near Whistler (Ski resort where they had the Olumpics in 2010), like a summer camp, for 1 week that the school subsidizes and the parents who want to send their kids pay a fee as well. As per the title of the program they teach outdoor living and nature. All the kids were lodged in small cabins of 4 kids each, and all day they took us outside on little field trips teaching us about nature, wildlife, insects, plants etc…. The time we went was in the winter and I remember there being lots of beautiful snow everywhere, and we did snow shoe walking that was a lot of fun. I always remember that activity and walking around on the snow with massive webbed shoes. I can imagine what having webbed feet is like for a duck or a goose. In the evenings we all went to the main hall where there was a cafeteria for our meals, and an auditorium with a big fire place where we did all kinds of fun games and skits, drank hot chocolate and ate cookies, and sang by the fire. I remember singing to a lot of songs as the teacher played the guitar, songs like Blowing In The Wind, One Tin Soldier as well as children’s songs. I think for all the kids, including myself, this was the longest we’ve ever been away from our parents. My parents worried about my occasional taking in my sleep and sleep walking, but fortunately nothing happened. Many parents did come up to visit during the week. Fond memories.
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A beautiful childhood memory Jung, it seems. That was definitely a little adventure. Traveling without your parents for the first time at that age must be exciting. I remember our class trips during my school days. We went on a trip with the whole class for the first time in the 7th school year. One week stay in a youth hostel. We were accompanied by two teachers who were very busy, especially in the evenings, until the dear little ones, that is us, finally got some rest in their rooms. There were always four of us in a room and of course we had everything on our minds in the evenings, just not sleeping.
The overnight stay that I had previously described was on the island of Borneo in 2007. Who knows whether it happened exactly like that. But that’s the way I recall the night and how it will always stay in my memory. I have always had two dream destinations in my life: Borneo and the Amazon region. I don’t really know why. Maybe because I’ve been an aquarist since I was young and my buddies with fins come from there. I always wanted to know what it’s like in their homeland. Unfortunately, I haven’t made it to the Amazon yet (except when shopping, of course ????) and I will probably never get there either. Small consolation: A few years ago I did a round trip in Costa Rica. The tropical vegetation and the rivers there reminded me of the Amazon region. At least what I’ve seen so far in films and documentaries.
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Any time there is time to get outside away from it all.
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Wow, these are some great posts. My latest brushes with nature have been frightening and amusing. My daily commute takes me through some areas where you’re more than likely to see some deer or turkeys. A couple of days ago I came upon a car that was stopped up ahead for no apparent reason. As I approached I saw to do’s (plural of female deer?) and two fawns standing in front of the car, like right in front of it. The driver had edged up, but they were not moving. I was going to honk, but I did not want to scare the driver. Out of frustration with these stubborn deer, she got out of the car and shewed the deer out of the road. She returned to her car and drove on. It was hilarious! I could tell this was not her first time.
A skunk has taken a liking to my carport. The other night it scared the crap out of me when I looked up to see it at my feet. It was here just a while ago, too. As I opened the door it ambled across the car port floor and out the back. Of course it stopped to make eye contact with me, as if to say I’ll be back. I don’t know whether to be scared or amused. Hey, I know, I could name it Schwartz.
JP ????????????
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Hi Tom, that is a beautiful song, and wonderful performance. Great one to listen to for an early morning walk in nature.
Hi JP, I agree a skunk at your feet would be a little unnerving. As long as you are in front of it, it’s OK, but when it turns and that tail raises, that’s a warning to scram. ????But they are adorable creatures, as discovered in the MLT video at the Racoon zoo (Hoo Zoo).
Here is a video I shot a few weeks ago one morning from my home office as I was starting my day. Heard a loud bang outside and there were these 2 cute Pooh Bears rummaging a neighbours garbage can, almost cute enough to go outside and pet! LOL. Nature and wildlife seems to be pretty close, sometimes too close where I am. I read recently my little area is listed in the top 7 towns in the province of British Columbia where the most Black Bears are encountered. We have to be super diligent in not putting out any scrap food in the garbage outside. We usually keep it frozen in plastic bags and put it out in the garbage can on garbage collection morning.
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Jung, that bear video is intense. We have the same practices around here with our garbage receptacles. We tried sprinkling cayenne pepper around but that doesn’t stop the can from tipping over. Someone told me that bears don’t like hot peppers. Upon further research I learned that it is not the taste or smell that acts as a deterrent, but it’s supposed to irritate an animals feet. I found that out when I was trying to keep chipmunks out of a crawl space behind my house. I don’t think it bothered them enough. Try and picture chipmunks running around the yard like it was a bed of hot coals. Never happened, but wouldn’t that be funny?
I think I posted this before. This was across the street from us. As I stood outside filming this Marlo and Joshua were yelling for me to come back inside, yet a skunk has me running away at top speed the other night.
Music courtesy of Rowan Atkinson and Kate Bush.
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Wow Jung and JP. You really have an active wild life in and around your houses. The Pooh Bears in the video look cute, but when I imagine such an animal patting me on the shoulder from behind while I get into my car, well…
The biggest and most dangerous animals I have ever encountered in my garden are the neighbors’ cats. Pampered animals that always walk nicely on the stone border of my flowerbeds, so that their paws don’t get wet or dirty. Real aristocats. Sometimes they stop and look at me with expectant eyes and then slowly plod on.
But we have many birds in the garden. No, not Canadian gray geese Jung. However, these just start again with their flight towards the south (although we still have very summer temperatures here, but the biological clock of the birds is already ticking). I can now more often see larger formations flying quite low over our plot. Their cackling can be heard from afar. Our lawn is regularly perforated by great spotted woodpeckers. They don’t seem to find enough food in the adjacent forest and have specialized in earthworms. Otherwise, lots of blackbirds, sparrows, robins, titmouses and also some exotic birds like wagtails. Four years ago we had a pair of ducks in the garden. They were attracted by the neighbor’s pond. But the neighbor has closed the pond with a thin net, so that the heron can’t catch his Koi carps. So the ducks could not get to the pond. One morning there was a big white egg in the middle of the lawn. Without a nest, unfortunately, no chance. Really a pity.
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JP, that black bear in your video looks like it was having a ball rolling around in the bushes! One evening I heard some noise in our backyard and a bear apparently grabbed the neighbours garbage and decided to rummage through it in the privacy of our backyard. He was there a good 15 minutes, but made quite the big mess, someone else’s garbage, we had to clean up. I guess that’s the small price to pay living near wilderness.
Jurgen, the migration of birds every season always amazes me, the hundred and thousands of miles they travel in the fall, and then return to the same place in the spring. They sure have a great natural navigation sense. Lots of Snow Geese migrate from Canada down to Mexico, and Canadians who live in Canada but spend their winters down south in Florida or Mexico are nicknamed “snowbirds”. They’ve also tracked Canada Geese in the UK migrate as far as Greenland and north eastern tip of Canada. They sure get around. We have lots of woodpeckers, and like the sound they make knocking on a tree in the distance, such a distinct sound that only a woodpecker can make.
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