Sunday, May 25, 2014

Rain, and More Rain

In a setting as lovely as Pyramid Lake, the weather doesn't have to be sunny for the landscape to be beautiful.  Both Friday and Saturday brought continuing rainshowers while I was there this weekend, which created lovely atmospherics as mist rose through the trees and ascended the mountains, and stormclouds rolled dramatically across the sky.


The rain had stopped for a moment while I walked on the lakeshore to take these photos.  The grass was still wet and slippery, though, which is why these two views of the lake were the last I could take this weekend.  I lost my balance and threw up my arms, and whoops!  There went my camera into the lake.  Alas!  Ah well, perhaps it will dry and recover, or perhaps I will need to obtain a new one.  The camera certainly seemed to be dead, even though I did manage to retrieve it from the water.

(Here's a photo I took at Pyramid Lake a year ago, of spectacular clouds that looked just like ones I could not photograph this year because I had no working camera.  I just had to share it again. Pyramid Lake and its forested mountains provide unparalleled opportunities for observing such awe-inspiring vistas of earth and sky.)




How fortunate that I stopped along the entrance road when I first arrived, to photograph the beautiful Purple Virgin's Bower (Clematis occidentalis var. occidentalis), which spills over large limestone boulders that rise steeply from the road.



Although this plant is not classified as rare in New York State, it remains one that I rarely find.  In fact, this entry road to Pyramid Lake is the only place I have ever been able to find this flower and admire its beauty up close.




Other beauties lined the roadside, including this marvelous mixture of Foamflower, Miterwort, Fringed Polygala, and Christmas Fern.


6 comments:

threecollie said...

Lovely photos! So sorry to read about your camera. What a shame!

Jens said...

I'm glad that only your camera was on the casualty list ... losing one's balance can yield far worse!

Ruahines said...

Kia ora,
I arrived here via Allan Stellar and love your photos and moments. Cheers!
Robb

Jacqueline Donnelly said...

Thanks, threecollie. It's hard to take anything but lovely photos of such an incredibly beautiful place. But it's terrible how lost I feel without my camera, as if nothing I see counts unless I take a picture of it. I've got to get over that.

You're right about that, Jens. I've had some falls and other close calls while hiking or paddling alone, but so far I've not broken anything but my camera.

Ruahines (Robb), so good to hear from you, all the way from the other side of the world! What an amazing thing this internet is! Welcome and thank you.

Jens said...

your wrote " But it's terrible how lost I feel without my camera, as if nothing I see counts unless I take a picture of it. I've got to get over that."
Entire essays could be written on this, but it is the disease of those who take remarkable photographs, and I predict that you will never get over it completely.

catharus said...

Your photos and stories are such a treat! That one of Pyramid Lake and the billowing thunder cloud is amazing!
Whatever camera you get, get on similar to what you had -- you've taken some great photos with that one! I was following you before you had this last camera, and I believe I could see the difference! No kidding! Cameras are not all the same!