Greetings from a happy camper.
On the second week of June, I was honored with an invitation to join a group of volunteers
to help clean up and do maintenance work at a private bog and orchid wetlands that has been kept
in it's original, natural state for many decades. And of course, there were the necessary photo breaks
My reward was to meet some of the greatest and most knowledgeable people I have ever known,
and of course to get a lot of photographs. Learning from people who know what they are talking
about is priceless. Oh, and the tree frog concerto was worth it all when darkness fell.
Last week, I set out on a second journey. I went bogging, marshing and swamping through the states
of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the panhandle of Florida. I went as far east as
Tallahassee, FL. It is less than 900 miles from Dallas to Tallahassee, yet I put well over 2600 miles
on the car.
As soon as I can sort through all of my photos, I'm going to put them up on a website so that I can share
the beauty of all of the cp's that I found with all of you.
Please take note: with the concerns nowadays about poaching, I want to assure everyone that I did not
collect plants or animals of any kind. That was not my mission. The fact that I enjoy exploring and searching
for things is something I have enjoyed since childhood and that is reason enough to travel so far seeking
out wetlands. You see, cp's are only a small part of what lives there. To see a cultivated plant in a planter
looks nice, but is by far no comparison to seeing plants in their natural habitat intermixed with the many
orchids, bog buttons, wire grasses, and wildflowers. To just sit and observe the insects, reptiles, and all
of the other living things was worth it all, and some day I will do it again.
Here's a couple of previews until I can do the website. Enjoy!
The pic below reminded me of a poem that I have always been fond of.
The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ...
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
On the second week of June, I was honored with an invitation to join a group of volunteers
to help clean up and do maintenance work at a private bog and orchid wetlands that has been kept
in it's original, natural state for many decades. And of course, there were the necessary photo breaks
My reward was to meet some of the greatest and most knowledgeable people I have ever known,
and of course to get a lot of photographs. Learning from people who know what they are talking
about is priceless. Oh, and the tree frog concerto was worth it all when darkness fell.
Last week, I set out on a second journey. I went bogging, marshing and swamping through the states
of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the panhandle of Florida. I went as far east as
Tallahassee, FL. It is less than 900 miles from Dallas to Tallahassee, yet I put well over 2600 miles
on the car.
As soon as I can sort through all of my photos, I'm going to put them up on a website so that I can share
the beauty of all of the cp's that I found with all of you.
Please take note: with the concerns nowadays about poaching, I want to assure everyone that I did not
collect plants or animals of any kind. That was not my mission. The fact that I enjoy exploring and searching
for things is something I have enjoyed since childhood and that is reason enough to travel so far seeking
out wetlands. You see, cp's are only a small part of what lives there. To see a cultivated plant in a planter
looks nice, but is by far no comparison to seeing plants in their natural habitat intermixed with the many
orchids, bog buttons, wire grasses, and wildflowers. To just sit and observe the insects, reptiles, and all
of the other living things was worth it all, and some day I will do it again.
Here's a couple of previews until I can do the website. Enjoy!
The pic below reminded me of a poem that I have always been fond of.
The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ...
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.