Tag / nature

by LG

4.1.22

Happy April Fool’s Day! Weed is now legal in New Mexico! I woke up this morning just outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. We’re staying at B’s mom’s home for the rest of our trip until we fly back out of Albuquerque. It’s so beautiful and peaceful here that it’s hard to imagine ever leaving even though we just arrived.

We got here yesterday evening after a full day of driving around and through Albuquerque, Corrales, and Bernalillo. The drive between there and Santa Fe was absolutely gorgeous with hardly any traffic, which felt fortuitous because I was obsessed with gazing out the window at the changing landscape. Red rocks and soil, hills and mountains, black volcanic rock, shallow canyons and arroyos, all capped off by a brilliant blue sky. The view changed every few moments and felt like a marvel to behold.

We had a nice dinner and a margarita, chatted for a while, and called it a night since we were feeling pretty tapped out from such a busy day. We turned out the lights, and … darkness. No light pollution. No sounds of traffic. Glorious.

We plan to have a simple, restful day. We’re dropping off the rental car now that we’re here, and we have dinner reservations at FIVE. B’s mom likes an early dinner, and the place we wanted to go only had reservations at that time. I don’t mind – an early dinner means I’ll have room to eat that piece of chocolate cream pie I took home from the restaurant last night.

Being here feels like breathing again.

by LG

jtotheizzoe:

alchymista:

Until late this month, the Red Sea north of Rugged Island was glassy and clear — and then a new island emerged almost overnight. Yes, that smoking mass of land above is an infant isle, formed by a volcanic eruption. Fishermen off the coast of Yemen witnessed lava fountains 90 feet (30 meters) tall on December 19, 2011; by December 23, what had once been unbroken water surface was now a new chunk of land. 

The plume in the photo, captured by NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite, is likely a mix of volcanic ash and water vapor. The new island is part of the Zubair Group, a line of islands arising from a shield volcano under the Red Sea. In this area, the Red Sea Rift, the African and Arabian tectonic plates are slowly pulling apart, and new ocean crust regularly forms

Dammit, I got the new National Geographic huge-ass Atlas of the World* for Christmas, and it’s already out of date!

*It’s not a coffee table book, it’s a coffee table. I look like a child when I read it. It’s enormous. I love it.

Do you think Mother Nature just woke up one day and was all, “I’m in the mood for a new island!” or what?

by LG

life:

Aww — Little Blue Penguins are released by wild life workers at Mount Maunganui beach in Tauranga. The Penguins were affected by New Zealand’s biggest sea pollution disaster when a ship slammed into a reef on October 5.

(see more — Baby Penguins)

I like seeing any animal skedaddle, but this is right up there with the best.