Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Nature's cool. (or - "To see a world in a grain of sand")

The natural world just blows my mind. Even just a walk in the woods is a source of amazement for me. The details in a curled fern frond, a spider spinning a new web, the colour of a bright orange fungus on a log. And these are things you can see just with the naked eye.

What's even more amazing are the things you can't immediately see with the naked eye. Like looking through a microscope at the intricate details of each single snowflake, or the fractal-like branches of leaf veins.I think it's incredible how the macro images of nature are reminescent of the micro images.
Check out this Google earth image of a dry riverbed in Sahara in northern Algeria; That image was taken from a satellite in outer space! How does that NOT blow your mind!

And check out this Google Earth image of the San Francisco Bay salt marshes:
You could frame this image and hang it in your abode. Gorgeous.

I'm convinced that the natural world is a secret and magical world - and it's good to remind yourself about that once in a while.
To see the world in a grain of sand
And to see heaven in a wildflower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

~William Blake.

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