Live For Love
It is one of the biggest stories of the year and it is one everyone can see and appreciate. The headlines are in full color printed from horizon to horizon and say, "SPRINGTIME!" All you have to do is open the door, go outside and enjoy the glory of nature in all its beauty and magnificence! As for myself, I prefer a stroll about the neighborhood with camera in hand that I might capture those exquisite and precious moments for which I feel blessed to have been given eyes to see and an intellect to appreciate.
Please come along and share the wonder of springtime: a bumble bee gathering pollen; a honey bee gathering nectar; the heart of a wild rose; the groping finger-like petals of an aromatic anise flower in full bloom; and the silent ring of tiny dangling bell-shaped blossoms, all which will linger but for a moment in the sun and be gone until next spring.
There is beauty to be found all around us. All you have to do is get up, go out and explore nature's wonders. In addition to taking a camera upon my hikes and strolls, I will often take a magnifying glass to observe small flowers and binoculars to observe birds.
I enjoy peering into the heart of flowers to discover tiny insects and intricate the architecture pistils and stamen crowned in the golden luster of pollen. Sometimes I will collect anther to view later after I return home, preparing a microscope slide of pollen to view the unseen world of thousands of tiny geometrical structures, some of the most beautiful forms in nature, a testament to either evolution or creation, whatever you wish to believe.
Some of the most beautiful pollen grains are those of the simple dandelion which also produces one of nature's grandest displays of inflorescence, those puff balls we all use to blow to the wind and make wishes upon as children. Each seed of a dandelion has a feathery umbrella-like parasol attached which will carry it upon the wind given a gentle puff, that though our wishes may be only hopes, prayers and dreams, the delicate dandelion awaits all with the same hope our wishes might come true one day. When was the last time you made a wish upon a dandelion and blew its seeds to the wind?
There is always beauty in the dandelion's inflorescence, if but we will look close and marvel upon its perfectly symmetrical array of parasols, each waiting to catch the wind. I can not promise your dandelion wishes will ever come true, but I can promise if you will gaze upon a dandelion's magnificent puffball of seed with a lens, you will see one of nature's great wonders. Plus it never hurts to make a dandelion wish, perhaps for health and happiness, especially in springtime which can bring sunshine one day and storms the next, that on a stormy spring night the clashing of warm and cold air may spark a tornado here or there, wind without any other wish but to blow everything in its path away. Just remember, whatever you wish for, your wishes are more likely to come true if you work hard and each day strive for your dreams no matter how impossible they might seem.
Not everyone regards the dandelion so reverently as one of God's gifts to wish upon; in fact, to the keeper of immaculate lawns the dandelion is a most obnoxious weed. Many communities have been inspired to outlaw the dandelion and other obnoxious weeds as they are considered unsightly and one of the primary causes of allergies. If you happen to suffer the sniffles, congestion and discomfort of springtime pollens, dandelions may be high upon your list of enemy weeds. I guess I'm blessed not to suffer pollen allergies, but should that be your fate, perhaps you will suffer less by revealing in the beauty expressed by the dandelion the next time you treat your lawn with herbicides, a primary carcinogen, which cause far greater damage to our environment than the dandelion every did to humanity.
There also comes with spring a multitude of small animals which fill the fields and forests. Many of these tiny arthropods are too small to see well without the aid of a lens. There are tiny insects and spiders literally everywhere if one will but look closely under leaf, rock, fallen wood or bark. In fact, the closer you get to nature, the more life forms you will discover. Every leaf, every flower, even every drop of stagnant water is teaming with life, mush of it microscopic, yet beautiful beyond belief.
As an example I present the mosquito larva. These alien creatures resemble something from another world, a tiny monster. Indeed, as vectors for some of the worse pathogens known to man, adult mosquitoes are some of the most monstrous of life forms. They begin their lives as eggs floating upon a raft in pools and puddles of stagnant water. Soon thousands upon thousands of tiny, wiggling larvae hatch out to fill every place where water is let to set, that within a few weeks the larvae will pupate and adults will soon emerge, taking to the sky, every female in search of a host upon which it may dine, a tiny vampire, sucking blood, often transmitting disease in the process.
Mosquitoes transmit malaria, yellow fever, West Nile virus and other deadly diseases. Dispute all the efforts of man, such diseases as malaria continue to kill more people in the world than any other single disease. The World Health Organization has reported that between 300 - 500 million people will be infected with mosquito borne disease this year; and, perhaps as many as one-million children in third world nations will die from mosquito borne disease each and every year! These high death rates are despite the fact that there are proven and effective methods to control mosquitoes. Either governments around the world do not care, preferring to spend monies upon munitions and support of their waring armies, or to hoard it to pleasure the reign of despots. Either way many third world nations simply do not have the resources to eradicate mosquitoes in populations growing so fast that one can hardly feed the starving millions, much less kill the mosquitoes.
However, there is beauty in all things made by God or man. Even the most obnoxious of weeds or most deadly of creatures expresses great beauty and wonder. We humans are fortunate to have a natural resistance and skin to protect us from most pathogenic organisms. Yet sometimes the actions we take to gain power and control over our environment can backfire and have an ill effect. It is almost a certainty that many of the cancerous causing chemicals in our air and water are caused by human produced products such as insecticides and herbicides. Even chemicals used to bleach paper can cause cancer when dumped in great volumes into streams and rivers.
It is not unheard of to find mutated frogs, salamanders, toads and fish covered with tumors speculated to be due to such pollution as acid rain caused by the burning of fossil fuels or other agricultural run off. There is so much pollution now being dumped into the streams and rivers of the world, all which drain into the ocean, that fish and shell fish are becoming contaminated with heavy metals. What may begin as a low level of toxins in insects becomes an elevated level of toxins in birds and fish; then is elevated to even higher levels when people eat those animals. Hence in industrial nations which can afford research programs we see higher rates of mercury poisoning occurring from eating contaminated fish, but what we don't see is the hundreds of millions of people being poisoned around the world who can barely afford to eat, much less any form of health care.
We are fortunate here in America. Such diseases as malaria have been eradicated. However, each year there are more and more reports of West Nile virus. Many states now advise people to wear long sleeve shirts and pants and to use mosquito repellant when outside during the evening or at times when mosquitoes are active. Fortunately I do most of my nature photography when the sun is out. Yet upon occasions I will explore the night for spectacular creatures: a fiery camellia blossom, a great umbrella mushroom, mating frogs, hunting spiders, twinkling fireflies dancing in the meadow, giant slippery slugs, great orb web weavers, and those most elusive king of toads perched upon a giant toad stool.
Life abounds during springtime and seems even more wondrous given the passage of winter and the turning of the landscape to green, trees developing thick canopies, flowering in majestic bouquets, the dogwood crowns of Christ and the pink pastel wild cherries, filling the air with sweetness, bringing some to cheers and others who suffer allergies to tears.
That life which blossoms today will carry through the summer into fall. If you want to add some adventure to your life, turn off the television and take a walk. Explore the urban jungle of the great out doors. Take only pictures and leave only footprints. With a field guide you can learn to identify the many wild flowers, native trees, birds and other flora and fauna. If you love the art and adventure of photography, a camera upon your outing is a must, even if you journey no further than your own backyard, you will find God's grandeur everywhere!
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