It’s Friday once again (are there more Fridays and Mondays than other days?) and time again for the Weekly Photo Challenge. It’s another grey day in Chicagoland, threatening more rain that we no longer need. I’d send some to California if I could just figure out the logistics. But here at WordPress, there have been several weeks of colorful themes to brighten the days, and I’ve enjoyed them.
This week’s theme is “Muse .” Nature tends to be my muse for photography, but there’s a specific place that I come back to fill my cup: these mountains in Wyoming. While any mountains will do, as will the ocean or a walk in “my” park, this is where that last piece of the puzzle slots into place, making me feel whole again.
Sit back with a cup of your favorite tea (or coffee, if you must) and enjoy the photos and stories for this week. Have a wonder-filled weekend, filled with time for rest and refreshment.
Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.
― John Muir, Our National Parks
Mountains seem to answer an increasing imaginative need in the West. More and more people are discovering a desire for them, and a powerful solace in them. At bottom, mountains, like all wildernesses, challenge our complacent conviction – so easy to lapse into – that the world has been made for humans by humans. Most of us exist for most of the time in worlds which are humanly arranged, themed and controlled. One forgets that there are environments which do not respond to the flick of a switch or the twist of a dial, and which have their own rhythms and orders of existence. Mountains correct this amnesia. By speaking of greater forces than we can possibly invoke, and by confronting us with greater spans of time than we can possibly envisage, mountains refute our excessive trust in the man-made. They pose profound questions about our durability and the importance of our schemes. They induce, I suppose, a modesty in us.”
― Robert Macfarlane, Mountains of the Mind: Adventures in Reaching the Summit
Nice shot Janet. I suspected it would be nature for you. 🙂 And I expect you know exactly what mine would be.
I suspect I do know, Sandra. Yours would work for me as we’ll.
janet
Powerfull shot, amazing view
you’re gifted one
My contribution for the challenge:
http://www.sylvain-landry.com/challenge/muse-the-daily-posts-weekly-photo-challenge.html
Thanks, Sylvain. I’ll be visiting a bit later. I look forward to seeing your choice
janet
I agree that nature is usually a good muse when it comes to photography. I haven’t thought of what I’ll post for this challenge as yet but am sure it will be nature based 🙂
There were too many choices, Gale, but this spot is always a center for me.
janet
I’ve about had it with rain, too! We rec’d another 2″ last night and shearing winds. Power was out until this afternoon. What a weird thing to be without power! We’ve become so dependent….and now that storm is probably heading for you or maybe already there. Anyway, this afternoon, we’re heading to the farm, 160 acres of original Kansas homestead, planted to tallgrass prairie. That’s what refills my cup. Here’s a link to a photo looking out over the prairie.
http://janetsunderland.com/2015/01/28/am-i-back-and-to-what/
Janet, how beautiful it is! I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, but my grandfather farmed about 80 west of these. Of course, there’s no prairie left these days, just farms, at least in that part of the state. I understand that in Lincoln at the Univ. of NE, they have an area of prairie grass that’s 12′ tall and between 1/2″ and 1″ thick in the stem. Imagine all the prairie states covered with that and the immense herds of bison! It gives me goosebumps.
Today it’s been cloudy, windy, and chilly the entire day, not much like summer. But I’m heading to CA tomorrow to visit our older daughter, so I’ll be in warm, sunny, and (too) dry weather for a bit. Wish I could direct some of this rain out there.
janet
[…] https://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2015/06/26/weekly-photo-challenge-muse-going-home/ […]
Wilderness does call. Not all hear, and they suffer so without knowing why. Lovely image
While walking today, I was thinking how sad it is that so many are in places where there are few, if any, parks (or perhaps they’re not safe), no money to go to the wilderness, etc. If we were able somehow to get everyone to if not the wilderness, at least into nature and away from the city, I think we’d all be better off.
janet
Truth in that.
I’m with you. Nature is the best muse of all – it is always changing and surprising us.
I can see why you’re drawn to this spot, Janet it’s lovely.
Lisa, with the exception of one summer, I’ve been going there every year since college. That’s a long time. We won’t make it this year, unfortunately. But I love it.
janet
Beautiful !! 🙂
It is. Thanks.
janet
[…] Challenge, Muse: Odyssey in the Forest Primeval Journeyman Muse: Daily and Spectacular Cityscape This, that and the other thing Weekly Photo Challenge: Muse…Going home From Hiding to Blogging A Little Red House MyBlog Weekly Photo Challenge: Muse four camels and […]
Beautiful photo, beautiful quotes! All of nature inspires me: mountains, oceans, forests, desert… It’s an amazing planet.
It really is, Maggie. This week I’m seeing the California part of it. So different and so beautiful.
janet
A beautiful scene, Janet! 🙂
Thanks, Linda. Hope you’re enjoying your weekend.
janet
Interestingly Janet, I almost chose mountains as my response to the muse question, but elected instead to stay closer to home. But I agree with you, they are magnificent and a wondrous reminder of the majesty of our world. Well chosen, beautifully portrayed.
There are lots of places that can be muses, Tina, but this is a place I love and can go to every year. I look forward to seeing what you chose, but it will be some time yet. Just walked around Carmel a bit this morning and are getting ready to head for Napa. 🙂
janet
Nature is a wonderful muse, as you demonstrate on this and other posts.
[…] Challenge, Muse: Odyssey in the Forest Primeval JourneymanMuse: Daily and Spectacular Cityscape This, that and the other thingWeekly Photo Challenge: Muse…Going home From Hiding to BloggingA Little Red House MyBlogWeekly Photo Challenge: Muse four camels and a […]