photography

Wordful Wednesday: Geese & Gaza

/ Tracy Abell

Isn’t this a serene image? Five geese winging their way through blue, blue skies? Aren’t you glad you can view this in the safety and comfort of your home?

Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge. March 11, 2024

On February 1, I wrote about the Biden administration callously suspending funding for UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) because of unfounded allegations against some of the workers. In the time since, Israel has offered zero evidence of those lies and one million people are facing starvation and the spread of preventable diseases. Per Jewish Voice for Peace: Today, one-third of children under the age of two in Gaza’s north are suffering from acute malnutrition, more than double the number from a month ago. 

PLEASE take two minutes to email your Representative and two Senators, asking them to pressure the Biden administration to resume funding of UNRWA. That link contains a letter template you can personalize. I know we’ve already emailed them with this same demand, but we cannot stop pressuring them to do the right thing until they actually do the right thing.

As way of thanks, here’s another gooseful photo:

Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge. March 12, 2024

Solidarity!

Sunday Confessional: crane overwhelm

/ Tracy Abell / 16 Comments

As I posted last Wednesday, we recently had the privilege of witnessing a layover during the migration of Sandhill Cranes. This trip was fifteen years in the making as we’d planned to go to Monte Vista in March of 2009, but had to cancel for health-related reasons. And somehow, we never got our acts together until this year. All this to say, last week’s experience was a very big deal for a variety of reasons, and it didn’t disappoint. In fact, I literally have hundreds of high quality images from the two days we spent watching the cranes. For the last couple days I’ve been trying to rally my decision-making skills so that I can share photos (although not all that time was spent agonizing over photo selection as some hours were spent shoveling the 27 inches of snow we got in the storm that started Wednesday evening and finally ended Friday morning).

Decisions! This is where the overwhelm comes in: how can I possibly choose from all my wonderful photos? How can I convey the whole experience with just a sampling of pics?

Should I begin with the very first photo I took on Monday evening? (click all to enlarge)

Do I include the yoga-pose photo?

Do I share the majesty of cranes flying against the backdrop of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains?

Should I include an image showing how the camera sometimes struggled to focus on the closest crane when SO MANY OTHER CRANES were headed our way?

Or the very first crane dance I had the honor of witnessing? (According to BirdNote, Sandhill Cranes mate for life and they do this dance each spring to reaffirm their bond.)

And I should probably include an image that shows how close all of us were to these magnificent birds, right?

Maybe include an image showing another field we visited right as the sun went down (even though the photo doesn’t convey the sound of THOUSANDS of cranes), where many stood facing west?

Along with a photo showing how the cranes just kept coming?

And what about the next day’s photos–should I begin with this crane running before lift-off?

No doubt I should include this crane ‘s dance that began with a leap, right?

But then which of the other dance moves should I include . . .maybe this?

And which of the many photos I took at the other field when approximately three thousand cranes lifted off as one (leaving behind just three cranes who remained in the field for another hour) should I share?

Unfortunately (or not), I don’t have a photo of me overcome with emotion in this moment, tears running down my face. I can only say that being in the presence of all those cranes in motion/in community was one of the most profound experiences of my life. Minutes later, I stood in the silence they’d left behind, incredibly grateful for the gift of their presence and the peace of that moment, wishing that same kind of peace for everyone around the world.

I have an entire afternoon and evening worth of photos that I haven’t delved into here, but I’ll stop so as to not overwhelm anyone else. No worries, though! I’m absolutely positive I’ll be posting more in the near future. 🙂

Sandhill Cranes

/ Tracy Abell / 11 Comments

We had a glorious time at Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge with the thousands of Sandhill Cranes. This is just a tiny taste of what we experienced and one of the final photos I took yesterday evening. These four cranes were coming in for a landing at a popular feeding spot in the barley field.

March 12, 2024

I don’t know what it was about that corner but during each of the three feeding times we witnessed, cranes showed up at that spot which is within 50 feet of where people are allowed to stand. There’d be just a few to start and then others, like the four above, would drop in to join them. Zippy joked about the cranes having an agreement to take turns posing for the humans. Whatever the reason, I’m grateful for their presence. More photos to come!

Sunday Confessional: on feeling powerless

/ Tracy Abell / 7 Comments

I haven’t been here much lately because reality feels so very hard. Don’t think anyone would argue with that sentiment, but I do know that many would argue against giving up. And they’re right. Despite the fact that these are incredibly dark days in which we’re facing multiple crises funded and enabled by the powerful elite–people who live insulated lives and truly do not care what the rest of us think and want–that doesn’t mean we can drop out of the struggle. There’s so much to fight for–people and planet.

So, today I’m dipping back in on a small scale. Here is a wee mouse that was hanging out below one of our bird feeders.

January 16, 2024

It was brutally cold that day and this little mouse was out doing what needed doing in order to survive. They weren’t giving up without a fight.

I won’t, either.

Snowy aftermath

/ Tracy Abell / 13 Comments

Yesterday my plan to spend the day doing revisions was upended by a snowstorm that began at about 10:00 in the morning and continued for twelve hours. By the time it ended, we’d received at least 17 inches of snow (it was HEAVY so there was compression). This was the view out the kitchen window right after sunrise this morning.

And here’s the patio where we’d sat just days earlier when the temperatures were in the 50s.

Yesterday’s shoveling was an exercise in futility as the snow fell faster than we could clear it. The neighbors and I never had more than a minute or two of feeling a sense of accomplishment before the pavement was covered again and we had to start all over.

A neighbor from farther up the hill made a crucial error when driving up our street on his way home: he stopped to allow a struggling vehicle to get past on the barely plowed street and then was unable to get going again. His vehicle slid to the gutter and my immediate neighbors and I spent a long time trying to dig them out, but the road got too slick beneath the tires and there was no traction. He ended up abandoning the vehicle overnight.

Despite waking up a bit stiff and tired from all the shoveling, I couldn’t resist the lure of the open space. Late this morning, I gathered my snowshoes and poles, and walked up to the trailhead. After strapping on the snowshoes, I veered off the path where others had already walked, thinking I wanted my own adventure. Um, no. The deep snow made each step a major chore and I knew I’d be exhausted within minutes. I instead followed others’ footprints, huffing and puffing as I gained elevation beneath the blue-blue-blue sky. I did my best to ignore the nasty brown cloud hovering above Denver and the surrounding area. Instead, I smiled at the yucca spines sticking up from the snow, marveled at the really deep drifts, and listened to chickadees and juncos. There were deer tracks and ski tracks, and I saw one person carrying a snowboard. Up on the ridgeline, a group of younger people were sledding down the hill.

On the way down, I chose to take advantage of gravity and break trail rather than follow the established trail. Plumes of snow rose and fell with each step, making me feel strong and powerful.

And after getting home and eating some delicious avocado toast, I finally got to work on revisions. Yay!

Twofer Tuesday: feathered friends

/ Tracy Abell / 8 Comments

Birds are keeping me going during these dark days. Even more than usual, I’m intentionally watching and listening for them with the knowledge that such interactions ground me and bring a moment of peace. And joy.

Today as Zippy, Emma, and I took a slow walk in the neighborhood, we heard a loud call. A hawk was perched in a tree above the street. I quickly pulled up my Merlin app in hopes it would help me identify whether it was a Cooper’s Hawk or Sharp-shinned Hawk. Unfortunately, the hawk went silent. But we were gifted with an up-close sighting as the raptor flew directly above our heads (and no, I couldn’t tell whether the tail feathers were rounded or flat) and then circled back around before landing in another tree. A gift to us.

Here’s another bird that brought me joy recently. A White-breasted Nuthatch exploring the tree trunk outside my window. I was thrilled to get a decent photo because these guys are always on the move.

January 13, 2024

And here’s a familiar face: male House Finch, of which we see many every single day. But every sighting brings a smile.

January 13, 2024

Once again, birds for the win.

Ending the year on a positive note

/ Tracy Abell / 8 Comments

I deliberately went in search of natural inspiration and rejuvenation this afternoon as I wanted to end the year on a positive note. And during that time watching and listening to the birds and other wildlife around my home, the grief and anxiety fell away. I was at peace. Here’s a sampling of what I witnessed:

Scrub Jay

American Robin

White-crowned Sparrow (immature)

House Finch

Disgruntled Bunny (and yes, that’s a great name for a band!)

Dark-eyed Junco (and no, that’s not their mess)

House Finch

Goldfinch

Squirrel!

And lastly, Emma Jean-Jean, keeping an eye on things as I photographed yard visitors

I also saw Northern Flickers, a woodpecker, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadee, Mourning Doves, and magpies. It was a bird buffet!

But that’s not all I did to soothe my soul. I also hoop-danced for 10 minutes today which brought my hoop-dancing total for the year to exactly 28 hours! In 2021, I hooped for 24 hours and in 2022 I hooped for just over 27 hours. So, this year is my new record. Woot woot!

Happy New Year to all! May the coming year bring more justice and peace around the globe.

Nature’s refuge

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

I’m in the final stretch of revisions before sending the middle-grade manuscript back to my agent so the book can go on submission in the new year. The work feels both like a blessing and a curse. I’m grateful to be able to focus on something besides the horrific reality of our government’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza, but also sometimes feel selfish for escaping reality. Deep inside, I know that’s silly, and not only because the story I’m revising focuses on righting societal wrongs.

I also realize it’s silly to begrudge myself my creative outlet because we all need a refuge, whether it’s via the art we create or connection to the natural world.

July 20, 2023

In that spirit, I’m offering this Painted Lady on a sunflower. I photographed this in July and gazing upon their interconnectedness replenished my spirit as soon as I found it in my files. Maybe this image will do the same for you.

Forest tableau

/ Tracy Abell

From the moment I woke this morning, a heavy fog has hung in the air. We never saw the sun, not even a glimpse. The entire day has been cold, damp, gray. Utterly dreary. So I went in search of an image to remind myself it’s not always a monochromatic world.

Here’s a still life from our hike in Pike National Forest. I remember being charmed by the bursts of color that day and today the vibrant foliage warms my heart even more.

October 3, 2023

And to quote Raveena Tandon: Anywhere which is in a forest, that’s my zen place.

Please remain in the struggle

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

I’m writing this post for myself as much as anyone else. These are incredibly dark days on the planet and on some mornings, the grief of all we’re facing weighs so heavily it’s hard to get out of bed. But once I’m up, I always feel, if not better, then at least a shift in my emotions. And despite the fact that Biden and my three so-called representatives in the federal government refuse to heed our call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and, instead, continue to unconditionally support sending more money and bombs to Israel, I do feel a tiny bit better after calling their offices to voice my horror at the blood on their hands because my call equals me adding my voice to the chorus. How much worse would I feel if I remained silent and complicit as my tax dollars enable genocide and the displacement of millions?

So, from where I sit, it’s well worth it to make phone calls. Even better? Attending a rally in which I always, always learn something from the speakers (and always, always weep, which is also cathartic). Zippy and I did this yesterday. It was cold and the wind was biting, but we bundled up to join a whole lot of folks at the capitol for a rally before marching to the convention center in protest of the Jewish National Fund Conference. Here’s a good article explaining JNF and the protest.

It feels good to stand in solidarity with others. It feels good to remember there are MANY people working so very hard on behalf of the Palestinians. It feels good to be in company with people who recognize the connection between struggles, here and around the world. It feels good to share space with people who acknowledge the heartbreak of other ongoing genocides in Congo, Sudan, India, Armenia. All of that feels good, even in the biting cold.

Basically, it feels better to take action on behalf of the oppressed than to remain in bed, curled up in the fetal position. Again, I’m writing this reminder as much for myself as anyone else. And in case your energies and attention are flagging, PLEASE remain in the struggle. Please keep calling and sending emails. Go to ceasefiretoday.com for ALL help in taking action, whether it’s making calls and writing emails, learning how to arrange a visit to your rep’s office, or finding a rally or action where you live.

The powerful elites are counting on us getting tired, distracted, or overcome by despair. (But as Mariame Kaba says: “Let this radicalize you rather than lead you to despair.”) They want us to look away from the ugly truth. PLEASE do not avert your gaze. If you haven’t yet taken action on behalf of the Palestinian people, please know it’s never too late to add your voice to the chorus. Hello and welcome to the struggle!

Okay, this is me publicly vowing to remain in  the struggle. I hope you’ll do the same. Solidarity! ✊🏽

Nothing but birds

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

These photos were all taken after our first snowstorm on October 29th. We saw lots of different species that day and here’s a sampling of who came to visit the feeders and bath.

Black-billed Magpie

Dark-eyed Junco

House Finch

Northern Flicker

Mourning Dove

And one last Dark-eyed Junco, because how could I resist this delightfully round bird?
Wishing everyone a bird-rich day.

These dark days of autumn

/ Tracy Abell

My sorrow, when she’s here with me,
thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be;
she loves the bare, the withered tree;
she walks the sodden pasture lane.
 ~ Robert Frost

Park View Trail, Trinidad State Park 10.10.23

Denver in solidarity with Palestine

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

Today, Zippy and I attended the Denver rally and march in solidarity with Palestine. We masked up and rode the light rail and then a bus to the capitol building at Colfax and Broadway. Here’s the sign I hung around my neck via a shoelace to keep my hands free and to reduce the neck and shoulder pain I suffer when holding up a sign for hours.

The speakers were varied but all shared their appreciation for the millions and millions of people around the globe who understand what is happening in apartheid Israel and who stand in solidarity with the occupied Palestinian people. I wept as I listened, feeling an incredible connection to both the oppressed and those fighting for them. And then it was time to line up for the march. I stood to one side as people came down off the capitol lawn to the street, and offered N95 masks. I started with a bag of fifty and came home with only three, which was very gratifying (as was the sight of the many who were already masked).

I haven’t seen any official estimates of attendance, but there were thousands of people there. I took this photo upon arrival and by the time the march began, lots more people had joined us. I’d say this crowd at least doubled, if not tripled in size.

I usually take a camera to rallies and marches, but today only had my phone. But I was still able to capture some signs I especially appreciated.

   

 

 

 

 

 

This one resonated because of the number of imprisoned Palestinians. From Aljazeera: Since 1967, when Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, it has arrested an estimated one million Palestinians, the United Nations reported last summer. One in every five Palestinians has been arrested and charged under the 1,600 military orders that control every aspect of the lives of Palestinians living under the Israeli military occupation. That incarceration rate doubles for Palestinian men — two in every five have been arrested.

I was unable to get photos of two other signs I appreciated, but here are the words:

IT IS NOT A WAR IF ONLY ONE SIDE HAS AN ARMY

IT IS NOT A CONFLICT IF ONE SIDE HAS THE GUNS & THE OTHER SIDE IS PRAYING

And finally, this sign:

Again, there’s a handy-dandy one-stop site with info on contacting your congressional representatives to demand a ceasefire AND to find a protest near you because it’s never too late to speak up: ceasefiretoday.com

Solidarity! ✊🏽