Fresh Pond, Cambridge, Massachusetts
This place is in the middle of the traffic that goes about and never lets IT be in peace.
Since the pond keeps water that all of us who live here drink,
surrounding patches of woods, meadows, and Black's Nook are kept as strainers.
The pockets of urban sprawl where wildlife comes for a visit from time to time,
and Nature seems to be striving to reassert herself
in surprisingly unexpected moments...
Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Carlisle, Massachusetts
Meadows are in bloom
and I expect those colorful flutters amidst the flowers,
hoping that some may come closer to feel their ripples...
A single Monarch is over there, suffusing the whole meadow with motion...
ONLY ONE...
Cannot but think of the recent decision from the International Union for Conservation of Nature
to place
Beloved Monarch Butterfly on the Red List of species at risk to become extinct.
ONLY ONE...
Stony Brook Wildlife Sanctuary, Massachusetts
From the bridge where the marsh meets the pond,
I look around...
Exotic Lythrum grabs the eyes though being regarded as an outsider and a major threat to wetlands.
Water Lilies are smiling...
Heron on descent over there.
Muskrat swims with a purpose while turtles bask in pure calm.
Swallows have borrowed a house from Wood Ducks to raise their family,
a little one has just taken the first flight... must be the MOMENT, one step closer to the freedom...
And they all enjoy to be here...
Monadnock State Park, New Hampshire
After many years, we've decided to visit Mount Monadnock again
and choose the trails to make our time with the nature of this iconic mountain...
It all began about 415 million years ago as sand and mud on the bottom of the ocean,
between the ancient continents of Laurentia and Avalonia.
Some time later, these two continents collided,
pushing early Monadnock rocks deeper into the world of intense pressure, making them hard to break.
When the higher, softer layers of land eroded away,
these rocks reached the surface,
standing proudly above all that surrounds them, by their given name Mount Monadnock.
And then, the last Ice Age came, about 115,000 years back.
The glaciers were advancing from the North,
scratching all they could from the northern slopes of the mountain and
pushing rocks and boulders down the southern slopes.
When finally retreated, about 100,000 years after,
they left the mountain with the character and energy I can sense today...
They are still here...
