My first set of contrasts this week is Desolate/Verdant.  First is a photo taken right along my drive to and from work every day.  There is a plot of land that is the most desolate, depressing place I can imagine.  I have no idea who owns the land, or how it got this way, but it appears to be a forest that, sometime in the past was flooded, and all the trees are dead.  The contrast is the wooded area behind the building where I work, with its little trail, and mature, growing evergreen trees.

The next contrast is actually the same feature, at two different seasons.  Snoqualmie Falls in the Spring, is high and spread out with the melting mountain snow, “spring runoff”.  It is so loud you can barely talk over the roar of the water.  In the Autumn, the flow is much less over the falls, and the river is mainly confined to the center of its channel.  We love visiting at any season!

I have been to both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of our wonderful country, and the beaches are quite different.  The Atlantic coast, represented by the beach at Cape May, New Jersey, is wide, and the sand is light-colored with fine grains.  The beaches on the Pacific Coast, on the other hand, are mostly rocky, with dark, coarse-grained sand, which comes from the nearby young, Cascade Mountains.

My state of Washington itself is a study in contrasts.  The Western side of the state is wet, green, and rocky.  The Eastern side of the state is more flat, with fields of wheat and other crops, and a much drier climate.

When we were in Vancouver, BC this summer a nice little contrast presented itself.  Anchored out in the harbor were some very large tanker and bulk-carrier ships.  And around them sailed much smaller sailboats, looking like they were daring those big ships to come out and play.

Here’s the Link to this week’s Original Post. And Tina’s too!