Great Sand Dunes | Close to the Ground: Living Inductively

Last week when I was writing the article about my salad days and Joni Mitchell, I looked at some cloud photos I’ve taken. Below are several of my favorites.

*Front Range late afternoon, Denver, Colorado, April 2012*

*Kolob Canyons, Zion National Park, Utah, February 2013*

*The Needles Overlook*, *Canyonlands*, *Utah, March 2013*

*Sunset, Antelope Island State Park, Great Salt Lake, April 2013*

*Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, April 2013*

*Pawnee Buttes, Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado, August 2015*

*Union Bay, Lake Superior, Ontonagon, Michigan, September 2018*

*Mathews Arm Campground, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, September 2020*

*Bartholdi Fountain, Bartholdi Garden, Washington, DC, August 2021*

*Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore, September 2021*

*dawn Upper Mississippi River, Pikes Peak State Park, Iowa*, *September 2021*

*from the grounds of the Netherlands Carillon, Arlington, Virginia, May 5, 2022*

lilacs, Denver Botanic Gardens

I want to go on record that I don’t think April is the cruelest month. How could I believe that when my youngest child and my father were born one day (and about 70 years) apart in early April? I just like T.S. Eliot and so I usually remember these words about this time of year:

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.

From “The Waste Land,” by T.S. Eliot, 1922

I have also been thinking about Earth Day/old days. In 1970, I went to the Teach-In on the Environment at the University of Michigan. We were big on teach-ins back there in Ann Arbor. 1970 was also the first summer I went west and thereby became even more taken with nature than I was growing up on a lake in Michigan. In Ann Arbor, I was a minor functionary in ENACT (Environmental Action for Survival). In fact, in 1971, I submitted testimony for ENACT related the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to Congress. My own comments related to possible drawbacks of the pipeline for native peoples were included along with other, more academically expert, testimony. Since I am bringing up this tiny historical footnote, you probably notice that it was a big deal for me. I think we all stopped the pipeline for a few minutes or something.

Not only was I not very successful as an environmentalist, I didn’t even make it as an Earth Mother, and that designation didn’t seem to require any coursework. I sort of went back to the land to the extent that I have been an (mostly) organic gardener for forty years. I do recycle (some), I do clean with vinegar and other non-toxic materials, and I think our children feel a connection with and a responsibility to the natural world.

The Part about Agnosticism: Actually, I am a flaming agnostic (some might say waffler, know-nothing, etc.). I don’t claim to know anything about god or the meaning of the universe–and I have a hard time figuring out how one would claim to know such information–and I don’t have much use for or patience with organized religion. The thing is, because of my broken wrist (see, Scat Happens), I have had call to stretch my hands like this:

hands

This exercise has made me think about prayer. I am still a flaming agnostic and proud of it, but I am still reverent and hopeful within the natural world. So, below are a few of the photos I’ve taken on our travels. Happy Birthday Bill and Dad. Happy April. Happy Earth Day/Week/Month.