Shining Sunny Days in the Rainforest… Wait a second…

Posted on by

Photo #428: Dry HohLocation Taken: Olympic National Park, Washington
Time Taken: June 2008

Ever since I first heard of them, I wanted to visit the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. I mean, it’s a forest where it rains a whole freaking lot (which I love) and isn’t in lands where the temperatures are always in Sharayah-melting zones (unlike the classic tropical rainforests)!

So the very first time I headed to the west coast, I made sure that a stop to one of the rainier sections of Washington was on our itinerary. So as part of our tour of Olympic National Park, we stopped at the Hoh Rainforest, nestled in just the right part of the Olympic Mountains. It gets 12-14 feet of rain a year, so it definitely qualifies as a rainforest!

And it was just as I imagined: moss covered trees, moss covered paths, moss covered telephone booths, happily flowing rivers and streams, large wildlife just wandering around eating moss, the sun shining brightly overhead…

Yeah, it wasn’t raining.

It was summer, after all. That’s the dry season in the region And it had been a drier than normal spring too. So all the moss was that yellow-green they get when they’re conserving moisture while waiting for the rains to come, which isn’t anywhere near as pretty as the vibrant greens they have otherwise.

In fact, for that whole ten-day vacation in an area famed for its rain, we got only one tiny sprinkle that barely got the ground wet. It was oddly disappointing.

I’ve been back in the Seattle area since then, including during the rainy season, and the weather was quite pleasantly wet then. But I haven’t made it back to the Hoh yet. At some point I shall have to go out there and see the place in all its wet, dripping glory.

  

A Tiny Little Plant, barely Four Inches Tall…

Posted on by

Photo #427: Tiny FlowerLocation Taken: Powder River Pass, Wyoming
Time Taken: June 2008

Did you know I have specific photo categories to post on specific days? It’s not so much for the reader’s benefit as it is for my benefit. It narrows down the options to a manageable level, so I’m not overwhelmed by them and can pick a photo quicker, and it makes sure each week has a nice variety.

Today, for instance, I’m to post a Close-Up photo, one where I put the camera really close to the subject to capture the fine details. This usually means flowers, because they’re one of the most common things that are really pretty when you shove your face in them.

Wait, I posted a flower photo yesterday, didn’t I?

Darn it! I knew my brain was largely non-functional due to the heat, but still!

Hmmm…

Here, have a photo of a really tiny flower! It’s even MORE Close-Up than yesterday’s Close-Up photo!

It’s a rather pretty one, too. Far more decorative than I’d have expected for an alpine flower, where every extra day warm enough for growth is precious beyond belief, and resources have to be allocated carefully. But then, that may be why it’s so tiny. It’s investing its energy in showing off for the pollinators rather than an extra centimeter or two of leaves.

It’s a pretty smart little flower, really.

…It’s really bad when you start to feel like a plant is smarter than you are, isn’t it…

  

Here a Daisy, There a Daisy, and- Ooo, look, a Daisy!

Posted on by

Photo #426: Daisy DaisyLocation Taken: Eugene, Oregon
Time Taken: June 2008

Look at all these pretty daisies! They’re so pretty and white and full of petals and they’ve got a yellow center and-

Ok, so maybe my brain’s still operating at the speed of a particularly dim puppy right now, thanks to the heat.

But look at the daisies!

I don’t even really like daisies that much, but look at them!

Aren’t they preeeettty?!?

  

The Waves in Sea and Sky call to me

Posted on by

Photo #425: Turbid SeaLocation Taken: Olympic National Park, Washington
Time Taken: June 2008

The summer heat is starting to hit this area. It was solidly in the 80’s all today, and will be tomorrow as well.

So yeah, I’m a melted puddle. These are not temperatures I was built to handle.

Give me stiff sea breezes, snow-filled skies, foggy nights, torrential thunderstorms, anything besides hot muggy days with not a cloud in sight.

Please?

Please?!?

  

A Blocky Temple to The Art of Getting Lost

Posted on by

Photo #424: Minecraft TempleTime Taken: May 2013

This isn’t what I typically think of as my art. I mean, it’s a video game screenshot!

But the video game is Minecraft, and the joy of the game is what you make of it.

In this case, what I made was this building.

It’s a Greek-inspired temple-like thing, I think. I was definitely going off the Greek architectural cues, though with my own quirks. It was definitely interesting trying to figure out how to do a 30° angle in a world of right angles. But that was the look I wanted, so I played around until that was the look I got.

And well, I like how it turned out enough to actually consider it a piece of art rather than just something fun I built in a game.

What you see is only the surface to this place, too.

Inside is a very difficult three-dimensional maze, topped with a hedge maze.

Photo #425: Minecraft Hedge MazeTime Taken: May 2013

That was the seed of the idea that lead to me building this, the maze. Another person on the server built a much smaller maze, which I got through in a minute. So I decided to go all out and make a maze that would challenge even my legendary sense of direction.

I succeeded. I tested my maze to make sure it was possible to get through, and I got turned around about halfway through. Spent about twenty minutes trying to figure out the right way to get through. And I had literally just built the durn thing.

If you have a Minecraft account and want to try it out for yourself, the server I’m playing on is open to the public. The details are available at the server’s website.

Me, I’m going to go and build something else.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, that odd dome structure in the back, yeah, I built that too. It’s fun free-handing curves in this game.  I didn’t build the paths in between, though.  Those are part of the PlotMe plugin on the server that adds a creative mode area to a survival mode server, so I didn’t have to gather all those blocks myself.  I mostly play in the survival mode, but every so often it’s fun to go into a full creative mindset.