Nature Journal Nine (NJ9): A Snowy Thanksgiving


Nature Journal Nine: A Snowy Thanksgiving

            Growing up in the midwest has its perks and downfalls. One of those downfalls is fall’s quick turnaround into winter. When I travelled back home to Chicago for Thanksgiving break, I was dropped into a vortex or wind, sleet, hail, and snow. It seemed as if a tornado could have broken out of the sky at any moment, the trees holding on with their final roots as the slash of the branches move like a metronome. As I make my way back to the house, I walk outside to a couple inches of snow. Still falling, the snow flurries covered the sky as if a snow glob was surrounding the house. Little flurries float in the wind as they fall onto the ground as gently as a feather. Building on top of the previously fallen frozen water, the snow beings to compile together into a field of white clouds as if the ground and the sky switched places. The snow was soft, breaking apart into thousands of molecules when I began to inspect it at a closer angle. As I am playing in the snow with my dog, a garbage truck drives by the street. In the moment I did not think anything of the truck, but when it passed, I noticed the snow near the end of my driveway was mis-colored. Different to the pearl white fluff near my front door, the snow near the street was infiltrated with soot as the poisonous gas from the exhaust of the truck ruined the beauty. While the snow is magnificent in its natural beauty, the mineral composition of the snow allowed me to see the impact of human’s industrialization on the environment. Such a beautiful piece of nature that few people get to truly appreciate yet it gets vandalized by our lack of consideration for the future.   



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nature Journal Three (NJ3): The Koi Sadness

Image
Nature Journal Three: The Japanese Garden             I decided to take a walk through the Japanese Garden at the Fort Worth Botanical Garden Center. I was curious how the cultural differences in nature appearance could be assimilated to urban Fort Worth. I thought it would be an especially interesting opportunity after listening to Tomoko Arakawa speak to our class in our urban shoebox.             I walked through a large dojo door to enter into the preserve. It was full of luscious flora as a greenbelt filled my vision. Small stone paths with sand carried my feet through the exhibit. The smell of Jasmine and Thyme tickled my nose as the aroma dripped down from the plants arching the pathway. A bamboo palisade guarded the flora from any outside inhabitants. As I made my way through the jungle, I saw a rock formation sitting in a pit of sand. Absolutely still as if ...
Read more

Nature Observation Two: A Berry Good Time

Image
           Nature Observation Two      Under the canopy of an oak tree sits a berry plant, full of vigor and vitality. The adolescent berries are lucid and extend out against the backdrop of the leaves. The berries are circular, like fish eggs, yet soft as watered down clay. They are still young as a little bit of force causes one to break in a juicy eruption. The berries extend from their nest and begin to build a fortress around the outreaching stem. A squirrel begins to examine the hand of food. Are they safe to eat? Are they poisonous? Is it worth my risk? The squirrel delays its meal for another time. Perhaps these natural paintballs were not ripe for the taking or may be disturbing to the stomach. A question for another day.
Read more

Nature Journal Thirteen (NJ13): A Windy City

Nature Journal Thirteen: A Windy City             Growing up in a suburb of Chicago wind has always been a common natural element of my life. Until this class, I never really thought anything of it. I decided to spend some time outside over Thanksgiving break and reflect on the atmosphere. No one seems to fancy wind; it amplifies cold weather, or it can destroy lives through tornadoes. While wind is always portrayed as a negative element, it can do some beautiful things as well. It can transmit smells and sounds across the earth. I could hear animals whaling in the distance as their cries were miles away yet echoed so clearly. As the wind chilled my soul, I began to notice the leaves falling from the trees. The simple process that many anger at as it requires work to clean was a stepping stone to new life. The falling leaves will soon disappear and make the soil stronger and more nutrias for it's inhabitan...
Read more