most this amazing

i thank You God for most this amazing
~ e e cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any - lifted from the no
of all nothing - human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Boulder Mountains from Baker Lake access road

All creatures great and small

As the great wolf debate rages on in court today I am saddened by the thought that by tomorrow hundreds of thousands of hunters may converge on the packs that have now made Idaho their home.

I myself have yet to encounter a wolf in the 'wild' here although I spend almost every day out there; whether it be for work, pleasure or just obligation to dog I walk hundreds of miles and spend thousands of hours throughout south central Idaho many places of which the wolves call home. Someday I hope to encounter one or more here however I fear that if the wolf harvest does come to fruition I may never have the chance.

I don't know what the answer is in regards to humans and wolves coexisting in the same place. Our management of the wolves and their reintroduction into Idaho has gotten us where we are today and today there are many very angry people on both sides of the debate with I believe humans and wolves both suffering.

I wish I had a photograph or two of a wolf to share but since I don't I will substitute other various photos of numerous creatures that I have come across here in Idaho all of which have caused me to pause and be thankful. (The photograph of the moose was taken in Maine though but I couldn't leave it out as it is the most magnificent creature I myself have come across in the 'wild'.)











































































Saving the best for last. A coyote that dog and I ran into two weeks ago. A very fat and happy one. We ran into it as we were hiking into a stream bed for work and it took pause before it continued down the slope ahead of us. We saw it again a few hours later tracking us from above.

In closing an excerpt from A Sand County Almanac,

“Thinking Like a Mountain”, by Aldo Leopold

"We were eating lunch on a high rimrock, at the foot of which a turbulent river elbowed its way. We saw what we thought was a doe fording the torrent, her breast awash in white-water. When she climbed the bank toward us and shook out her tail, we realized our error: it was a wolf. A half-dozen others, evidently grown pups, sprang from the willows and all joined in a welcoming melee of wagging tails and playful maulings...

In those days, we had never heard of passing up a chance to kill a wolf...When our rifles were empty, the old wolf was down, and a pup was dragging a leg into impassable slide-rocks.

We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes–something known only to her and the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunter's paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view."

Sunflowers

As Summer is slowing fading into Fall

This weekend not only did I have the need to wear my down jacket in the evening to take the chill off I also noticed a lot of trucks coming home from up north full of firewood.

By no means am I ready to even think about the recent rain turning to snow, and I LOVE the snow, so I am posting lots and lots of wildflowers I've found throughout the summer to warm me up a bit.

Subaplpine spiraea, Spiraea splendens or wild rose
Found in the backyard.

Ciliate bluebell, Mertensia ciliata
Found in Slaughterhouse Canyon where we take our daily dog walk. Just behind the house.

Sitka columbine, Aquilegia formosa
Scarlet paintbrush, Castilleja miniata
Elephant-head, Pedicularis groenlandica or pink elephants
Elegant camas, Anticlea elegans
Slender cinquefoil, Potentilla gracilis

All found at Washington Lake in the White Cloud Mountains while hiking with Mom and Dad. What a treat.

Closeup of pink elephants.

Closeup of elegant camas.

A lone Silver lupine, Lupinus argenteus
found in a field of Twin arnica, Arnica sororia.

Following are a couple of my favorite
wildflower photos from this summer.
Both were taken while on a hike
to Betty, Baptie and Goat Lakes.
The same hike I found the white bog orchid on
mentioned in my previous post.

Lewis's monkey-flower, Mimulus lewisii
Oregon bluebell, Mertensia bella
Spear leafed arnica, Arnica longifolia

California false hellebore, Veratrum californicum

While working in early July I was lucky enough to be up in Copper Basin during some of the height of the wildflower season.

Prairie smoke, Geum triflorum

Taper-leaf penstemon, Penstemon attenuatus
Spear leafed arnica, Arnica longifolia
with the Pioneer Mountains in the background.

Pioneer Mountains in the background again. Only this time from the other side. The field of wildflowers consists mostly of American bistort (white), Bistorta bistortoides, Mountain sheep sorrel (red), Rumex paucifolius, and Upland larkspur (blue), Delphinium nuttallianum.

Another view of the Pioneers with
Longspur lupine, Lupinus arbustus in the foreground.

And last but not least some cactus flowers.
They are some of my favorites
as they grow in extreme heat and dryness,
they are very delicate, their color is amazing
and they last for only but a day or two.

Spiny prickly pear, Opuntia polyacantha

Brittle cactus, Opuntia fragilis

And...
an Aztec poem

From within the Heavens
by Ayocuan Cuetzpaltzin

From within the heavens they come,
the beautiful flowers, the beautiful songs,
but our yearning spoils them,
our inventiveness makes them lose their fragrance,
although not those of the Chichimec prince Tecayehuatzin.
With his, rejoice!

Friendship is a shower of precious flowers
White tufts of heron feathers
are woven with precious red flowers,
among the branches of the trees
under which stroll and sip
the lords and nobles

Your beautiful song
is a golden wood thrush
most beautiful, you raise it up.
You are in a field of flowers.
Among the flowery bushes you sing.
Are you perchance a precious bird of the Giver of Life?
Perchance you have spoken with God?
As soon as you saw the dawn,
you began to sing.
Would that I exert myself, that my heart desire,
the flowers of the shield,
the flowers of the Giver of Life.

What can my heart do?
In vain we have come,
we have blossomed forth on earth.
Will I have to go alone
like the flowers that perish?
Will nothing remain of my name?
Nothing of my fame here on earth?
At least my flowers, at least my songs!
What can my heart do?
In vain we have come,
we have blossomed forth on earth.

Let us enjoy, O friends,
here we can embrace.
We stroll over the flowery earth.
No one here can do away
with the flowers and the songs,
they will endure in the house of the Giver of Life

Earth is the region of the fleeting moment.
Is it also thus in the Place
Where in Some Way One Lives?

Is one happy there?
Is there friendship?
Or is it only here on earth
we come to know our faces?

(as translated by Miguel Leon-Portilla)


With a little bit about Aztec poetry.

Some orchids and a poem

White bog orchid, Platanthera dilatata

Found while hiking in the Pioneer Mountains
to Betty, Goat and Baptie Lakes.
Goat being the highest lake in Idaho.

An Encounter by Robert Frost

ONCE on the kind of day called “weather breeder,”
When the heat slowly hazes and the sun
By its own power seems to be undone,
I was half boring through, half climbing through
A swamp of cedar. Choked with oil of cedar
And scurf of plants, and weary and over-heated,
And sorry I ever left the road I knew,
I paused and rested on a sort of hook
That had me by the coat as good as seated,
And since there was no other way to look,
Looked up toward heaven, and there against the blue,
Stood over me a resurrected tree,
A tree that had been down and raised again—
A barkless spectre. He had halted too,
As if for fear of treading upon me.
I saw the strange position of his hands—
Up at his shoulders, dragging yellow strands
Of wire with something in it from men to men.
“You here?” I said. “Where aren’t you nowadays
And what’s the news you carry—if you know?
And tell me where you’re off for—Montreal?
Me? I’m not off for anywhere at all.
Sometimes I wander out of beaten ways
Half looking for the orchid Calypso.”

On the way to work the other day...

I finally got to shoot a photograph of an antelope. Usually when I see them they are long gone before I get my camera out but not this one. He seemed very content to be resting in a pasture with horses. It was a treat to be able to see one so close up instead of watching one bounce away. I know, I know he looks like a colt all curled up...but he's not. Click on the picture so you can see it enlarged and it's an antelope. Really.

And today I took lunch in a field full of flowers. Some of my favorites, pussy-toes and prairie smoke, are in full bloom right now. According to my Mountain Wildflowers book and I quote "Pussy-toes are not particularly attractive, but they are so numerous that one cannot help but notice them"....

I'm quite partial to them.

Rosy pussy-toes Antennaria rosea

And in the same field lots and lots of prairie smoke.

Prairie smoke Geum triflorum (pink)

With lots of Slender and Early cinquefoil
Potentilla gracilis and concinna (yellow)
and a little bit of Upland larkspur
Delphinium nuttallianum (blue)

More cinquefoil

Wild Flowers

Wild Flowers at the height of the Burma Road, Idaho

For myself I hold no preferences among flowers,
so long as they are wild, free, spontaneous.
Bricks to all greenhouses!
Black thumb and cutworm to the potted plant!
~ Edward Abbey