spring | At Home with Tech

April 7, 2024

What Do an Earthquake, the Solar Eclipse and a Spring Flower have in Common?

These tree blossoms represent something much larger, which we can barely understand… if at all. Happily, you can still take a picture.

The big news this week was supposed to be the solar eclipse. But the New Jersey earthquake that affected much of the northeast stole the headlines three days before the big celestial event.

Having always lived on the East Coast, I didn’t really know how to process this sudden experience of our entire house vibrating. (I first thought our washing machine in the basement had badly malfunctioned during the peak of its spin cycle.)

Fortunately, it was not a big earthquake… just a taste of nature’s raw power.

Puny Humans
We are certainly not the center of our universe. A little earthquake or a total solar eclipse will quickly remind anyone of that often-terrifying truth.

We are tiny.

Mother Earth and its moon. The sun and its solar system. Our galaxy and its place in the universe. It’s barely possible for us to even comprehend.

It’s not Just a Flower
When spring shows up in the Northern Hemisphere, and the cycle of life is on full display, it’s just another example of forces much larger than us.

Sure, clipping a pretty daffodil from your backyard and popping it into a small vase on your dining room table is enjoyable. But perhaps it’s also good to remember what powered that flower’s creation. (I know one can take this in more than one direction. But that won’t change my point.)

Clarity
So this year, while I walked about my neighborhood with camera in hand to greet spring, I did it with something of a more evolved perspective. (My early-April photo exercises have become an annual tradition: 2022 and 2023)

Sometimes it just takes a little earthquake or a massive solar eclipse to put it all in perspective.

April 2, 2023

Hello Spring!

It’s my annual tradition to welcome springtime by walking through my neighborhood with camera in hand to witness all of the sprouting colors.

I looked out the window this morning. It was sunny, cool and blustery, but I knew it was finally time. So, I grabbed my Panasonic Lumix LX-10 camera and strolled around the neighborhood in search of spring. I didn’t have to look too hard. Nature is ramping up. The explosion is still to come, but we’re close.

I am so ready. So, let’s do this!

Here are my early spring 2023 photos…

April 17, 2022

The Story of our Two Pear Trees

Spring begins for me when I spot the little pear tree blossoms in our front yard.

Many years ago, before our son was born, my wife and I planted two little pear trees in front of our house in Connecticut. They’ve since grown large and quite bushy on top. In fact, we’ve had to cut them back a couple times to keep them from taking over our front yard.

They’ve never born fruit, but they’ve always put on a big show in spring. During the third week of April, hundreds of beautiful little white flowers bloom on the trees.

These blossoms last for barely two weeks and then blow away in the next April rain. The petals dust our driveway, and then they’re gone.

This year, the big event started a week early. (Global warming?)

I know our Lester trees are hardly unique. Spring is playing out everywhere right now. But as I look out our windows every morning, I see a stunning display of nature’s enduring power, and this luminance feeds me.

And so does snapping a few photos of this annual event in front of our little house.

Happy spring!

Tag: spring

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