The title of today’s article is meant to honor the fact that this is the 300^th post on the Earth Image’s Blog.  My intent when I created this forum was to write and share for three months, or about 12 posts.  I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the support that I have received  by you the readers.  Some of you have been with me since day one (and before).  Whether Earth Images continues forever or ends tomorrow,  just remember that I am grateful to you.   Also please take note that many of the 300 posts were written by Ron Toel.

It has been well over four years now since I walked this mountain valley in the Colorado wilderness.  I can still hear the Mountain Bluebirds, smell the flowers and taste the sweet mountain air.  Images are a powerful reminder of special moments.  Whether it is your daughter taking her first steps or your first car, all of our senses are aroused allowing our memories to remain rich and full.

I love working (photographically) with young birds who are newly emancipated from their parents.  You get to view the many struggles they endure as they first search for sustenance.  They have yet to develop their skills of hunting/fishing or foraging.  They get so wrapped up in their struggle for existence that you cease to exist to them.  This young Virginia Rail worked the edge of the marsh for over thirty minutes, at times getting so close to me that I felt compelled to back up.   Eventually I picked up my camera and tripod and gave thanks to the bird and to a higher source, and moved on.  Once again my memories are rich and full

Sometimes a photo of one subject can stir memories of another.  This image evokes memories of friendship, as well as that of a Badger.  I was driving along a remote dirt mountain road when Ron said “hey what was that“.  Ron spotting wildlife and me turning the car around in quick order was a normal occurrence and I had gotten good at it.  As I drove slowly, finally Ron said “right about here” (I paraphrase).  I stopped the car and sure enough this wild and wonderful Badger showed her head.  We made some pix and she disappeared into the den.  I re-started the car and once again she appeared.  I shut the car off and we created images until she once again disappeared into her den.  She was not agitated but she was just as curious about us, as we were about her. We repeated this procedure until we decided it was time to leave our new-found friend alone.  My images do remind me of this great animal, but mostly they remind me of friendship and a shared experience.

When I look at the pictures above it stirs memories of moments.  I spent an entire day hiking in the mountains when I made the first image.  I was in that meadow making pictures for maybe forty minutes.  Thirty minutes with the rail and maybe ten with the Badger.  Now they are all reduced to brief and special moments. Five hours or five seconds, in the totality of our lives they will become moments. Life is a series of moments. The secret to (my) life has always been noticing those moments when they are here. I can only hope that a time or two along the way I infected those around me to feel it too. If you notice and feel them while they happen, you will create both beautiful memories and experience life to the fullest, at the moment.

In the first ten years of the 2,000s I took many trips that my logic told me I shouldn’t.  I kept saying to myself that this could be the last trip, or my final pictures.  Nobody ever knows. I took those trips and I experienced more moments than I would have ever imagined.  Learn from and appreciate your past, pray for a bountiful future, but live each moment of every day.

God Bless