They Don't Ask for Much

Early in May when we were cosseting our garden plants at home, I came across this herb growing exuberantly in the gravel perimeter road at Halibut Point.

Yellow Rocket - Barbarea vulgaris

It didn't seem to be supported by what we commonly think of as soil. And yet it was achieving the full destiny of a flowering plant.

Bluets - Houstonia caerulea

About the same time Bluets were brightening crevices and waste places all over the Park.

Oxeye Daisy - Leucanthemum vulgare

They and Oxeye Daisies seemed to be setting up a sequence for blossoms in unlikely terrain.

Racemed Milkwort - Polygala polygama

Finding them was like hunting for treasure in places sometimes obscure and sometimes conspicuous.

Shad trees - Amelanchier sp.

In mid-spring shad trees enliven apparently sterile grout piles with colorful leaves and flowers.

Bigtooth Aspen - Populus grandidentata

Aspens veil themselves with shimmering foliage and flowers in the very same rocky debris cast aside by the granite quarrying industry.

Virginia rose - Rosa virginiana

Decades later botanical marvels have pioneered into the lifeless landscape.

Smooth Hawkweed - Pilosella piloselloides

They arrive as seeds prodigiously cast to the wind, or to traveling animals. A tiny portion of those seeds eventually find anchorage in water-retentive locations on Halibut Point.

Sheep Sorrel - Rumex acetosella

Drought-resistant species with advantageous structures are able to conserve moisture within their cells.

Eastern Red Cedars - Juniperus virginiana

Soil building on the bare rock proceeds through an interaction of chemistry, physics, geology and biology. The substrate is weatherized into particles, dissolved into nutrients, enriched by the carbon cycle. It could be said that the rough quarry debris constitutes the coarsest element in the soil formation matrix.

Seaside Plantain - Plantago maritima

Down on the coastal margins specialized plants overcome harsh challenges to colonize dry, windswept, salty crevices.

Seaside Goldenrod - Solidago sempervirens

All through these headlands an ineffable force pushes organic life to make opportunities for itself on the most meager, and resplendent, circumstances. 

The White Bird

The sun rising over Halibut Point bathed Folly Cove's ledges in golden light and deep shadows. It made a rich backdrop for noticing the birds gathered around a school of small fish.

Early morning, Folly Cove

The leathery tones in the granite accentuated  a singular white bird perched above the multitude like a serene icon over the feeding frenzy.

The White Bird

In its stillness the bird seemed an eerie transmogrification of a member of a usually frenetic tribe. It was an albino Herring Gull, feathers unmarked by color or pattern. At that moment the White Bird appeared aloof from the restless appetites of its species.

It's easy to sense transcendence in such a creature. It seemed to be composed of elements only partly of this world. Its lack of outward detail suggested supernatural detachment, self-contained elegance, potency in reserve. It projected a quiet knowing.

In both the Old and New Testaments a White Bird, particularly a dove, is often associated with divinity, purity, peace, and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

White tern, Plum Island

This was my second recent encounter with a mysterious white bird. The one above photographed on the Plum Island safari is apparently an albino Common Tern. Without visible field markings, taxonomy can be difficult. I felt the yearnings of science weaken. Like the ancients, and like mystics of all eras, I became aware of metaphor taking hold as a force of meaning and power. Whiteness has timelessly suggested clarity, hope, and new beginnings, the removal of pain and suffering, the unity of spectral diversity into Whole Light.

White is the color chosen for bridal veils and baby's swaddling clothes, for surgical healing and naval ceremony, for Islamic pilgrims and Christian angels, for Buddhist funerals and Hindu shrouds. The Pope has worn white since 1566 as a symbol of purity and sacrifice. It is the color of glory and of the heart bled dry.

From Moby Dick to alpha wolves to Great Sharks, white has been associated with power and liminal qualities at the boundary of life and death. The White Bird flies back and forth between ultimate realms. For minds seeking the fullest experience it brings science and imagination into Oneness.