Tag: nature

by jad

Costa Rica: Day 7

Today’s the last long driving day when we make our way back to Guanacaste, where we’ll spend a couple more days before heading back to Seattle. So this feels like a good enough time as any to post this random frame I took using Christine’s camera on our most epic moving day when we shuttled back and forth between SLU, SODO, West Seattle, and Madrona. This is where we parked our car when we picked up the U-HAUL. I just love how the light leak that came through after accidentally opening up the back a bit too early actually elevates … Continue reading “Costa Rica: Day 7” →

by jad

Costa Rica: Day 6

I was punched in the gut and slapped on the face by the humidity and heat when we first arrived in Puerta Viejo, and I wasn’t sure I was going to survive the simulated jungle shack experience in our “boutique” accommodations where everything is always a little damp and the “sounds of nature” are part of the fun—there are no windows so you don’t have a choice but enjoy a million cicadas buzzing, a hundred howlers howling, and dozen geckos chirping, day and night. But I was now king of the pivot, and by the second night I had acclimatized … Continue reading “Costa Rica: Day 6” →

by jad

Costa Rica: Day 3

I’m posting these pictures from the suburbs of San Jose, but we started this morning walking around with our necks craned trying to spot monkeys, birds, and sloths high up in the coastal jungle canopy. I found the spectacle of it all just as entertaining as the carefully curated experience of manufactured adventure itself. Our guide’s enthusiasm for every species of any kind we encountered — from fluorescent lichen to the national tree of Nicaragua — was infectious. You couldn’t help but get carried away with everyone else. Swipe to the very end to see two very cute subjects of … Continue reading “Costa Rica: Day 3” →

by jad

Ecotone

I learned a word when I was trying to find more information about this hidden gem of wilderness, encircled all around by private property and technosocial infrastructure—like when it was established, who maintains it, etc.: the word was “ecotone.” Ecotone refers to “a transition area between two biological communities, where two communities meet and integrate.” They’re natural formations; swamps, marshes, and other wetlands are by definition “ecotones” because they are the crossfade between dry land and bodies of water. They’re home to a mashup of species from both environments, along with those specially adapted to that particular mix. But you … Continue reading “Ecotone” →

by jad

Earth Week: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 17

Part 1: Lebanon I’ve noticed a pattern on Instagram in the last few weeks; every time I flick through your stories, I see one or two or three or four of you posting images of plant life—wild flowers, potted plants, tree bark, even grass. These little odes to botany come from different countries & diverse people, but they usually share a similar aesthetic: close up, almost reverential, with an air of rediscovered naïveté like “have you ever really seen a leaf, like really really seen a leaf?” It seems that social distancing has brought us closer to our non-human neighbors. … Continue reading “Earth Week: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 17” →

by jad

George Washington, Spider, Esq.

This little guy is George, a gentleman lodger we’ve had in our kitchen window for the past month. We named him George because we first met him as a tiny spider baby on the Fourth of July—you know, like George Washington? Since then, he’s more than quadrupled in size, feasting on dang fruit flies. I don’t like bugs in general, but we appreciated his help. I watched him attack and devour his prey, sometimes wrapping it up for later when he was too full; I’ve seen how he mended his web, and where we curled up to nap when he … Continue reading “George Washington, Spider, Esq.” →