Sunday Post – Nature Part II, Inanimate (So-called)

The so-called Inanimate aspects of Nature

As the great forests of the world continue to shrink into ever smaller and more isolated pockets, I nominate the endangered ‘species’, Forest to represent my concept of nature in its so-called inanimate form.  And, hidden within forest clearings, small, delicate plants are the antithesis of the giant heaving organism that is a great forest.

Forest – Knuckles Ranges, Sri Lanka

In 1821, the Englishman John Davy wrote in his “An Account of Ceylon”,  ”I never before saw so perfect a  specimen of  forest scenery.”  What do you think?

and

Sweet and delicious – wild berries, forest clearing, Sri Lanka.

Sunday Post – Nature Part I, Animate

I’m sorry, but I have to divide Jake’s Sunday Post assignment for this week into two sections: animate, and inanimate, and, because I seem incapable of deciding these days, my featured photograph will have its antithesis, as a means of expressing the all-encompassing breadth of  ”nature”.

Animate:  the living aspect of nature.

My selection is a little obvious, given my Sri Lanka connection, of course, but what could be  the antithesis of Elephas Maximus Maximus but a gorgeous butterfly?

I hope you enjoy my pictures of two of natures untold marvels.

Tickles, laughing ...

Some years back I brought my (then) 97-year-old mother to see “my” Sri Lanka.  She was determined not to like it, but her resolution finally failed her after we spent an afternoon watching a herd of elephants which had gathered in the grassy crater of the Mineriya Tank near Polonnaruwa.  Spellbound, we sat silent and unmoving – with only the flimsy chassis of the old jeep for ‘protection’ – as the herd socialised over the business of eating and bathing, babies suckled, and  youngsters played.  It was only the arrival of a lone male which caused the mothers to cast a glance at these exuberant teenagers, who cavorted like two gargantuan puppies on the grass and into water with total disregard for us (puny and uninteresting creatures).

Apart from the miraculous spectre of a laughing elephant, I like this photograph because it shows how little there is between us.

Like frogs, butterflies are an indication of the health of the environment.  For centuries, Sri Lanka was renowned for its butterflies, but even here in paradise chemical insecticides have been introduced as a means of increasing production and our butterfly population is becoming more reclusive.

Dawn Described the Meaning of Impermanence

It’s Poya, and dawn described the meaning of Impermanence (Annica).

Through the small window let into the upstairs hall, I caught a fleeting image of fluffy vermillion-tinged clouds engulfing the retreating sphere of the moon, sunset red as it slipped off the edge of the horizon:  forever gone except in memory.

The monks, having filled the air with their chanting – the most minimal of melodies, a barely discernible  cadence denoting rhythm – have left a moment of silence.  Filled now by the sweet smell of incense …

… Now a symphony of sound.  The world is awake!  In their temple down the hill, the monks have begun the Buddham, Saranang, Gatchami:  its affirmation and response lending a background rhythm to the deep bass notes of the pheasant, the sweet chirpings and twitterings of myriad other birds, the occasional exclamation of a rooster.

Moments pass:  to be replaced by others, like a river of time, eternal, forever changing.