The Relentless Courage of Nature

Nature is relentless and unchangeable, and it is indifferent as to whether its hidden reasons and actions are understandable to man or not. ~ Galileo

Galileo couldn't know what man had in store for nature.

Oh Beautiful for smoggy skies, insecticided grain,
For strip-mined mountain's majesty above the asphalt plain.
America, America, man sheds his waste on thee,
And hides the pines with billboard signs, from sea to oily sea.
~George Carlin

The crimes against nature being played out on the Gulf Coast leave me sad, disappointed and angry. Not only that it happened due to criminal negligence and greed but that the response to it is so slow and arrogant.

Because we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us.
~Henrik Tikkanen

When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.
~John Muir

I recently visited FORT HANCOCK and rather than take the tour of Officer's Row or visit the museum dedicated to battery guns I chose to walk around the abandoned section.

It was a warm windy day, the sun was shining but clouds kept passing over creating wonderful moments of silvery light and cooling the air.



I was immediately struck by how nature was reclaiming the ground that had once been cleared for buildings.

A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows.
~ Doug Larson



I almost passed by these flowers. They were leaning against a piece of old wood. Not a single flower anywhere else. Just these.

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
~Anais Nin



Residents of an old basement, peeking out at the light.





Yes, there really is a door in there.



The steps are good enough for the ivy and the grass.



The stone may crumble but it will fall onto the softness and forgiveness of nature.

You could cover the whole earth with asphalt, but sooner or later green grass would break through.
~Ilya Ehrenburg



Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.
~Hal Borland



I watched this tree for a bit. Appreciating how she bends away from the building and toward the sea and sun.

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
~Albert Einstein

Logical thought told me that the wind was creating the sounds I heard as I wandered about. Yet the wind is part of nature and it made the trees rustle and the grass sway. It grabbed up seeds from one old plant and deposited them somewhere new.

I was quiet. I was calm. I was respectful.

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.
~Eleonora Duse