Yours, someone else's, found on the Net. . . .

To begin, a murmuration:

http://vimeo.com/31158841

"A chance encounter and shared moment with one of natures greatest and most fleeting phenomena."

Two minutes. It starts as a slide show with sound (it's not the playback acting up). Then it becomes amazing.

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“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

That's insane. (in the best sense of the word)

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In gratitude forever … .

Oh, Prim! I just came into this thread to post a link to that very video! I just had something of a spiritual experience watching it: what an awesome world we live in.

And the amazed giggle of the girl in the boat seeing what we're seeing sort of caps the whole thing.

Doesn't it just?

Though I think I would have been giggling, too!

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“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

That is so awesome! It brings tears to my eyes, actually.

And I have experienced this with about half this many starlings. I was driving home from the lab one Thanksgiving Day, and this murmuration of starlings descended upon me and the only other car on the road. We both had to stop; there was no way to drive! I couldn't even see the other car most of the time as the birds flocked and swarmed all around us, swooping and soaring. It was insane! After a few minutes, they moved on, and the other driver and I sat there stunned.

It was totally cool!

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Amazing video. Similar to a swarm of locust.

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An octopus goes for a stroll on the beach.

http://youtu.be/FjQr3lRACPI

(No, it's fine, I wouldn't have believed me either. )

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“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

That's crazy!

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Wow!

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In gratitude forever … .

Time-lapse HD video from Yosemite:

http://vimeo.com/couchmode/projectyose/ ... e/35396305

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“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

I saw that the other day. Pretty amazing.

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In gratitude forever … .

I could do without the singing. The music on either side is OK, but for me, vocal music doesn't fit with images of unpeopled nature.

But the images are so beautiful. I've never seen Yosemite.

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“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

My Mom had never seen Yosemite, and I had bugged her for years until I finally got her to come with us last spring. Needless to say, it was worth it.

You need to make that a priority. Pictures and videos like that don't at all do it justice.

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In gratitude forever … .

It's definitely on my list. Our retirement dream is doing a lot of long road trips in a van, camping most of the way through the West and Southwest and then seeing how far we get beyond that. Or maybe we won't have to wait for retirement, if things begin to go better.

Have you seen Crater Lake? If not, it should be on your list some July/early August. (That's about the only time the rim road isn't under 20 or 30 feet of snow.) Spending a night in the lodge there, maybe in winter, is another item on my bucket list. But just seeing the lake, and driving all around it, is an amazing experience. It really is that blue.

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“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

I've been to a fair number of National Parks, but sadly not to even a tithe of what I would like. For most people, there aren't enough days in a lifetime to see what they would like and I am surely in that category.

I would surely love to visit Yellowstone and Yosemite before I push up the daisies, but I am thankful for what I have seen.

Thankfully, Cape Cod National Seashore is close by and I have visited many many times. Maybe that and the visits to USS Arizona Memorial National Memorial, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, and the numerous DC Parks will temper my wants for my lifetime.

Yeah not likely. Before my end I want to see a few out west beyond Trail of Tears National Historic Trail and this side of Muir Woods.

edit to add:

It is true that visiting these types of places can be life changing experiences. At least for me, visiting the USS Arizona Memorial National Memorial and Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park brought me some perspective and made some sort of life changing thinking in how I viewed life and what was important to me.

Though it isn't a National Park, standing atop Mauna Kea in the dead of a starry night, thousands of miles from any substantial landmass and closer to the stars than I ever dreamed possible, essentially changed my world.

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I suppose there are worse things than to live in a world so full of beauty that we can't ever come close to seeing it all.

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“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

I have seen Crater Lake. And Lake Louise in BC, which is lovely.

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In gratitude forever … .

Yeah I need to get back to more travelling. I have seen nothing between Chicago and San Fran and nothing between LA and Oklahoma.
And I really like camping so this should be a no brainer.

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If anyone is around right now, check out this web cam of the Peregrine Falcons nesting in San Jose. Feeding the young right now!

http://www2.ucsc.edu/scpbrg/nestcamSJ.htm

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In gratitude forever … .

Speaking of Yosemite, I just got my reservations for a week of camping there -the week following Labor Day - i.e. September 3 thru 9 this year. You are welcome to join me. You won't regret it!

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In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.

And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.

~ Albert Camus