{"id":18523,"date":"2019-08-27T07:53:36","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T14:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=18523"},"modified":"2019-08-27T07:53:44","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T14:53:44","slug":"collecting-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=18523","title":{"rendered":"Collecting wonder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“Give it a rest,” screamed my shoulder this weekend,”after a day of photographing art you should put the camera down. Nature can wait!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I couldn’t – the wondrous landscape around me begged to be documented, for the 100th time that I’ve walked these hillsides. And also, there is always Ibuprofen… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The essay attached all the way below points to something that we should keep in mind, though: finding succor in the beauty of our surrounds should not be reserved for the awe-inspiring vistas. We should also attend to things that are small, or familiar, or habitually by-passed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Poore’s essay riffs off Annie Dillard’s question: How blind are we? How resistant to wonder have we made ourselves, and how unaccommodating of the universe\u2019s gifts? As Dillard phrases it: \u201cWho gets excited by a mere penny?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She goes on to distinguish between environmental conservation’s focus on wilderness, prized environments in distant regions, instead of applying efforts to protect what we have in our neighborhoods, on a small scale. Your garden, my yard, this little city park. The need for being astute observers rather than starry-eyed adventurers, as she puts it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Columbia Gorge in today’s photographs is, of course, full of grandeur, as are the views of Mt. Adams at sunset – all experienced on Saturday. But as you know, if you’ve followed my stories, I can get just as enthusiastic about the bees in my garden, or the little birds in Eastern Oregon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From my Denizens of Climate Change <\/em>series, (2017)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I truly believe it will make us better environmental stewards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Lifetime of Pennies<\/a><\/blockquote>