
This little creek flows through a steep ravine across the road from our house in Daphne, AL. This is a hilly neighborhood with winding roads and several small streams that flow into the upper reaches of Mobile Bay.
This little creek flows through a steep ravine across the road from our house in Daphne, AL. This is a hilly neighborhood with winding roads and several small streams that flow into the upper reaches of Mobile Bay.
There were a few people walking barefoot on the beach, but they were wearing their winter coats and avoiding the frigid water.
Visitors wade in the Gulf of Mexico at Gulf Shores, Alabama this afternoon. The fog added a kind of mystery to the beach that brought out a few explorers, including a Great Blue Heron almost lost in the mist.
More than two weeks before Thanksgiving and local businesses have already put up their Christmas decorations. Halloween to Christmas overnight. What ever happened to Thanksgiving sales and displays?
Frigid north winds blew the tops off two to three-foot waves rolling onto the beach, and brought record cold temperatures to the Gulf Coast last night. Sandpipers, Seagulls and Pelicans didn’t seem to be adversly affected by the cold, but there were precious few humans anywhere near the beach.
We were here first. There’s plenty of room; do you have to sit so close? Or maybe the story is: Come! Join us we’ll all have a good time. But more likely it’s, “How’s the water, Mabel? What does George have in his hands?
I’ve often read that “great photos always tell a story.” But I don’t think a single photo can ever tell a complete story. Stories have a beginning, middle and end. A single photo can only capture a small fraction of the story. Without context, this is simply a photo of a group of people at a beach with a vast ocean of water in the background. Are they family? Friends? Recent acquaintances? Are they stranded on a desert island? What is the story?
The quality of light is changing, the air smells a little bit like autumn. Hardwoods are still in full-leaf, but they’re getting ready for the changing season. It’s difficult to put a finger on precise changes, but they are coming. Nature’s aromas are different, the air feels different, the light isn’t quite so crisp.
…Then what should we work for?
Only this: proper understanding, unselfish action; truthful speech. A resolve to accept whatever happens as necessary and familiar, flowing like water from that same source and spring.
Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations” translated by Gregory Hays