I don’t want this blog to become routinely and overtly political. There are times, like yesterday, when politics makes itself so blatantly obvious, to not mention it would be like trying to make photographs with my lens cap on—impossible!
Trees are political. What?! Individual trees have long played various parts in history and politics—from several “Treaty Oaks” to New England’s “King’s Mark” trees to those used as survey markers. Because they outlive single generations of humans we are forced to deal with them, or, in some cases, consciously ignore them. Clearly our world would not exist without trees.
I also want to share a link that puts humans in a perspective that seems useful.
All that said, what I want to continue to do in this blog is to share what I’m learning about seeing and what I’m seeing and making photographs of. As is often the case, the photographs I’m posting today are merely records of reality—plain, simple and beautifully timeless.
Sun, sand, water and gravity. I love the way the two materials respond similarly and yet appreciate the differences as well.
I can imagine this piece of beach ending up in sandstone.
The patterns in the sand cast into sandstone long ago on a beach in West Wales.
Still Learning To See 
APOD! It’s one of my favorite sites–thanks for including it. I used to say to students that everything else in the universe “knows” how to fit the role s/he plays–blue whales and trees and galaxies. We seem to be the ones who struggle with what our role should be in the great chain of being. Stephen Jay Gould once said we are the universe AWARE of itself, so it’s a great waste when that role is perverted into the morass of politics and mediocrity.
I really love your eye for pattern–this time in sand and rock.
Thank you (again!) for your kind and insightful comments. You are such an ally in become aware!
The Huangs’ scale of the universe creates a wonderful perspective. Now add the infinity of (possible? likely?) multiverses to expand the scale beyond any conceivable boundary.
As Lady Mary Wortley Montague, our calico cat, is so clearly thinking each and every day: “Silly hoomans.”
Thank you, Ed. LMWM is so “cat-on!”
gorgeous patterns, John. love these!
Thanks, Deb. I’m in Michigan at the moment! Good times and memories.