Afternoon sunlight sneaks through the narrow gap in the canopy to brighten the early leaves of deciduous trees coming to life after a long winter rest among the firs, pines and larches.

(((((((((((—-))))))))))

I’m offline till 19^th May, so can’t respond to comments, likes, follows, or questions. But please continue to interact and I’ll do my best to catch up with everything on my return. Also, this month will be the last of the daily pictures. But I’ll post a picture of natural beauty once a week. Please see the reason below.

_________________

Uncounted millions dwell in ugly, overcrowded, unsanitary slum cities, but most of humanity lives among natural wonders. Some are immune to natural beauty, and some actively dislike it, preferring to ‘tame’ it and even working to destroy the only planet we can inhabit.
These daily posts are placed here to encourage joy and respect for the natural world, and to inspire love of a planet that’s a marvel of unlikely coincidences.
We may be the only sentient species in the universe. We may never know. Immense distances in space and time mean we’re unlikely to meet, or even effectively connect with, any other sentient lifeform.
So, we must live as if we’re the only life form conscious of our own existence. We can either benefit all life forms, or act selfishly in the mistaken and self-destructive belief we’re apart from nature. History, science, and common sense show us daily how intricately we’re interwoven with nature. Is it wise to ignore this?
If you want to spread joy in our wonderful planet and encourage respect and responsibility for it, please share these posts on social media (‘share’ buttons below make it easy), comment with your thoughts, and help sustain our environment for the future. Thank you. After all, Earth is our only home.

 
I will, however, be ending this series at the end of May, as it’s somewhat overtaken a website I set up to talk about books and writing, and this aspect has necessarily taken a back seat for some time. I started this series of daily posts when the Covid pandemic began, and many people were confined to their homes, unable to get out and enjoy nature. That’s now changed. It’s time for me to return to my writing, which also tends to encourage a love of nature, even when the stories may be set in an alien or a future environment.

*****…*****
For more pictures see the Gallery.
And you can view over 2000 here if you want images for book covers, calendars, greetings cards, jigsaws, advertising, or anything else you fancy online, or in print as art quality prints to decorate a room.
The small fee helps me maintain and buy the expensive equipment and software that quality digital photography needs. Unlike some artists, I loathe the idea of exclusivity and instead want many people to easily afford my work. Photography is essentially a reproducible medium, and treating it otherwise strikes me as elitist.