Photos! Let’s lighten the mood! Part 1

As I said in my last entry, on the day of the earthquake and tsunami, a friend and I went to a beach on Port Royal Sound, which is not far from my house.  Because it’s not directly on the ocean, it’s a bit more sheltered and the water more “quiet”.  The waves are more gentle, though the tides still affect the water.  On this beach there’s lots of “pluff mud” in addition to sand and beds of oyster shells and numerous weathered and unique pieces of driftwood.  To me, this beach is more interesting because of the numerous things to inspect and photograph. 

My friend has dubbed this beach “Boneyard Beach” because of the artifacts she has found there on her many beach combing trips, and I’ve taken to calling this beach this name, too.  She’s come home with teeth and bones from various animals and aquatic wildlife who had once lived there.  I don’t have an eye for finding these, but she seems to spot them in among the shell beds and sand like they are a shiny needle in a haystack!   

On this day, I can’t remember if we found any artifacts.  I arrived at the beach reeling from the news of the earthquake – and lack of sleep from having watched too much of the news about it in the middle of the night just after it happened.  I almost didn’t want to go, but am glad I did.  I said this before, but it’s worth saying again:  I saw the water … and it was sobering to realize that this same calm water could cause such death and destruction – if given the right conditions. 

So – my friend and I went about our usual walking the beach with our cameras – enjoying the gorgeous, clear weather, the calm water, the beach, the driftwood, and shells – and, at least for me – appreciating it more than usual.

  

1.  View of the beach showing pluff mud, beach grass, shells and sand – and on the edge of a little stream of water that flows from inland to the beach. 

2.  pluff mud at the shore line – the tide was high but receding

  

1.  Great egret along the shorline and beach grass

2.  I believe this is a loon in winter plumage.  Loons breed on fresh water northern lakes, but they migrate to the coast – sometimes further south – to sheltered salt water bodies during the winter, and this loon is still in his winter home.  I’m not sure they go until April or even early May.  However, I also believe that it’s injured.  I was astounded at how close he allowed me to get to him.  As I got closer to him, he did move – but kind of limped toward the water.  I do know, however, that loons are very awkward on land.  Except to nest, they spend almost no time on land, so this may be it, too.  He did manage to waddle back to the water after being startled by my friend’s and my presence. 

  

1.  An interesting close up of a piece of driftwood in the sand.  I see a head on this – and an eye, nose and even a mouth, too!

2.  More driftwood – along a stream that runs from inland to the beach whether the tide is in or out. 

  

1.  Looking back to the stream of water that goes into the Sound.  If you look carefully, you can see a Great Blue Heron standing on those rocks.  The picture was taken into the sun, so there was a lack of contrast between the bird and the water.  Click on the picture to see it larger in my flickr account.

2.  The entrance / exit to the beach.  I took this as we were leaving.

From there we went over to Jarvis Park … next entry….!

Photos! Let’s lighten the mood! Part 2

From Boneyard Beach, my friend and I went to Jarvis Park, which is really quite close to where I live – just across Rt. 278!.  I’ve only been there once for a picnic in May of last year.  That day was so hot that I wasn’t able to enjoy it, and have not had much interest in going back, thinking there was not much there.  Clearly I had not investigated the park further, because my friend said that it was a great place to see aquatic wildlife by the lake.  After our visit the other day, I’ll be going back again soon!  There’s a black top path that goes around the lake, giving one great views – and photo ops!

First cracker out of the box we SAW wildlife:

 

1.  An Anhinga drying his wings…!

2.  An alligator is lying in among the brush along the edge of the lake.  This is the second one we saw – and this is the youngest of the two we saw.  Clearly there is no swimming in this lake, but there is kayaking.  Not sure I’m so keen on kayaking, as I don’t want to be in the same body of water as an alligator in a boat that is as tippy as a kayak!

  

1.  Two wood storks that were a part of a grouping of them

2.  A turtle chilling on a mud flat thing on the lake.  They are very skittish, so you have to sneak up on them so they don’t get spooked and hop into the water!

     

1.  A cormorant (I’m pretty sure) hanging out on a dock post.  I had wondered about this because I’m used to identifying cormorants by seeing them drying their wings.

2.  The lake’s edge – with either great egrets or ibis in the distance

3.  cherry blossoms!  They were in full bloom!

Thoughts on the Earthquake and Tsunami

Once again a portion of the world is covered in rubble from an 8.9 earthquake — and the ravages from a "wall of water" from the tsunami.  Since then, I have been watching the news.  But – more than that – I’ve been thinking about the ramifications of these natural disasters that come our way in the form of earthquakes, tsunamis, and even hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, floods, droughts and the like. 

First of all – the videos that have come from Japan are heartbreaking – watching cars and houses crumble and move about like they were toys shows the amazing power of amassed water. The fear of what is going on with the nuclear power plant is also frightening. I’m not sure they are reporting the total truth about that. The human element in all of this is the worst – the mass death and destruction, is hard to imagine. Realizing all of this — it is hard for me to "sit" with this in the comfort of my home. Prayers are all well and good, but the victims need the basics of life now. What is the world’s role? What is *my* role? Yet – too many helpers only confuse things. In many respects – we are all "one" on this planet earth – or we should think of it in that fashion, but how do we take action?

I initially got immersed in the news right about when it happened. I was not able to sleep for some reason – and had also changed the channel from my usual HGTV to CNN. As I watched in the dark and silence of the night, the reports were almost surreal, and there was no going back to sleep for me. Basically I had only 2 hours of sleep that night – max.

Japan was as ready as any country for this kind of tragedy. They know their land is prone to this, and even the word "tsunami", I think, is a Japanese word. Their government is as well structured to handle it as is any country. (as compared to Haiti, for example). But – no one can be truly ready for what happened. 8.9 is "the big one", and I can’t imagine how much worse it would have been if the buildings / roads / bridges had not been built to earthquake codes. And, it’s my opinion that no one can ever be ready for a tsunami like the one they saw. Who could prepare, short of banning all habitation "that" far from the ocean’s shore?  To me – this shows, beyond the shadow of a doubt that WE humans are never not in charge. 

We humans think we are so smart, and have become cocky enough to think that our brains, amassed knowledge and technology can (or has the potential to) master anything, control everything, and be strong enough for any contingency.  The reality is – the universe rules.  No matter what we are able to do, or seemingly control, the universe is always capable of being in charge of the outcome.  Control is truly only an illusion.

This leads me to the role of God in all of this, and, to be honest … I don’t know.  I don’t want to get too heavy into this because, for me, my faith is weak and the unknown is too great.  I ask too many questions for which I have no answers.  Is God behind the universe and all these natural disasters?  If so, how much so?  Did He create them and cause them?  We give Him credit for nature’s beauty.  Should we not also give Him credit for the “bad”?  Is it possible that because of our limited human capacity to see the larger picture that we cannot see that there will be some good which can – and will – come out of tragedy?  Maybe that benefit won’t affect us – or the Japanese now, but could there be a future plan for all of this?  I can’t imagine that this would be much of a consolation to the Japanese most affected by this tragedy, maybe even feeling like a slap in the face!  I have heard it said that to try to answer these questions is not our job.  Our job is simply to trust that God has a Good Plan for us, and is there to give us strength and comfort during our trials.  I also get to thinking about some of the Old Testament “punishments” for “evil doing” by an “angry god”, and it’s also easy for me to go there when these huge disasters strike.  I write all of this, but continue to shake my head in bewilderment and skepticism.  Yeah … I did start this paragraph about my faith being weak, didn’t I…  I’ve come full circle.

Like the US, Japan’s people are used to all the amenities of modern life — electricity, plumbing, technology, communications of all kinds. Once we get "soft" by getting used to these things, having to go without, with little sign that these things will return is maybe harder. I am often amazed at the strength of human character when faced with these kinds of things, though. I’m not sure any of us know our own strength unless we are forced to be strong.

Thankfully the affects of the tsunami was lighter on Hawaii and the Pacific shoreline. Yet — there were people who were either crazed with fear beyond what was necessary – or those foolhardy folks who decided to purposely go out in the surf at the time of the "wave".

Yet – it is reminding me that Ray and I have houses on the two largest barrier islands on the east coast of the US. Are we crazy?  We’re not the only ones, either… Humans flock to the beach for it’s beauty and recreation — building houses, hotels, restaurants on the edge of gorgeous beaches, forgetting that all that beauty can turn on us.  It’s true that tsunamis and earthquakes aren’t quite as commonplace as they are on the west coast — but they DO happen, and there are fault lines in varieties of places all over the US. It is not out of the question that we could have "the big one" here, too. It’s probably not "if", but "when". I guess we all hope that it’s "not in our lifetime". Humans have a knack for burying their collective heads in the sand and forgetting that even though the ocean is magnificent – and gorgeous. It can turn nasty and mean during storms and tsunamis. Mountains also are majestic and beautiful – but we can’t forget how hills are formed — good old fashioned earthquakes (and volcanoes) are one way our landscape changes. Out of the ashes rise such beauty…?!  And good?

Sometimes I think we know precious little about all of this, and we need to learn more.

The day of the earthquake, a friend of mine and I went on a photo walk along a local beach not far from home.  It was kind of bittersweet for me to see such beauty – realizing that on the other side of the planet – this same water did such destruction — and how this water could do the same with us. Oddly – I found I appreciated the beauty more – maybe because I was more keenly aware of it’s potential strength, too.

There really are no good words about all of this, and this entry is just me — spinning my wheels – trying to find them. I suppose there rarely are understandable words to explain things when this kind of tragedy hits.

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this tragedy…. I guess that’s the bottom line.