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I recently spent a few days along Washington's northern coast participating in the International Coastal Cleanup. I met with an intern from Olympic National Park early Friday morning in Port Angeles. She provided me with lots of bags (I expected the company of friends, alas no one could join me), a bright green "Beach Cleanup" vest (it was cotton, I didn't take due to rain), and a NPS radio (to relay information as needed and due to my prior involvement with cleanup events).
As is often the case, rain greeted me just west of Lake Crescent. Full rain gear would be my attire for the next few days. Arriving at Sand Point I discovered there was a group already camped at the point. I had considered this a possibility but had not given much thought to alternate campsites. Without much hesitation, I backtracked and worked my way out to the beach where I discovered the small site just to the north of the point was available. With a break in the rain, I quickly went about setting up camp. I gathered water from Wish Creek, which I was happy to see flowing well.
With camp set up and the rain not pounding down I wandered south to pick up debris and beachcomb. No treasures found this year. Had a couple odd finds - such as a toilet seat and an arm chair at the mouth of Wish Creek (unable to carry this out). Beyond that a never ending supply of plastics. By aid of a driftwood stick I hauled my bags of debris back to camp. I spent the evening beachcombing to the north with umbrella over head.
After a night of rain, morning was equally wet. I had little desire to try and strap bags of debris on my external frame backpack in the rain. I must hang a tarp. Unfortunately, my campsite tucked amid the tall salal didn't offer a wide range of tarp hanging opportunities.
Nevertheless, I considered my options. There was a jumble of driftwood logs and wave-worn timbers in camp. As the rain fell, I attempted to construct a lean to of sorts. As my hand grasped one of the logs, a horrific event ensued. Poop on my hand. Human poop. I dropped the log and stared at my hand. In the brief seconds before I went about cleaning my hand - first on salal then in a nearby puddle - great disappointment left me shaking my head.
Who does this!? Who is so lazy that they can't use the nearby privy? And, if you simply can't get to the privy, who is so lazy they cannot properly, excuse me, shit in the woods? This disappointment caused me to think of a whole host of things that disappoint me about those who wander into the wilderness uneducated and uncaring. I will save that rant for another time.
After Purell-ing my hands - twice - I ditched my previous lean-to effort and strung a rope across the two trees that fronted my campsite. I awkwardly attached my tarp, making several adjustments before complete. It wasn't that pretty, but it gave me a spot out of the rain to work on attaching debris to my pack.
Without company to distract me, the "worry about everything" part of my mind ran rampant on the hike back to the trailhead. Questions like, "What diseases can I catch from someone else's poop?" filled my head. Or, "Oh, no. I have a slight puncture in the skin on my other hand. Do you think when I washed BOTH of my hands in the puddle I contaminated my other hand with possible disease?"
Thankfully, a kind and familiar face greeted me at the check-in station which brought a smile back to my face. After unloading my haul into a nearby dumpster, I noted a large group of people in the parking lot. As I saw the coolers, beer and surfboards I simultaneously thought two things: I bet they're a fun group and I'm going to have noisy neighbors this evening (the group at the point had departed).
I made quick time getting back to my camp. And, to my surprise, the site at the point had already been taken by a group of three. It seemed a safe bet that the big group would be camping elsewhere. The evening proved relaxing, thanks to my tarp. I sat watching the waves, birds and clouds while waving at passing hikers.
The following morning I enjoyed coffee and breakfast before packing up all my wet gear. I opted to walk the beach back to the start of the inland trail. As I neared the path, the rain became a drizzle and I allowed myself to beachcomb prior to hiking back to the trailhead. It was a relaxing way to end my trip.
I'm endlessly drawn to the sea and I'm endlessly thankful for my time spent near water's edge (yes, even when I get handfuls of things unwanted). I've been participating in coastal cleanup events for many years now (since 2006) and in the last few years I've made it a priority to volunteer for both the spring Washington Coast Cleanup and fall International Coastal Cleanup. I feel lucky that I've been able to do this. It's highly rewarding to give back to an area that you love and an area that has given me so much.
Mark your calendars: Saturday, April 23, 2016 will be Washington Coast Cleanup.
The cleanup of streets in New Orleans after Mardi Gras parades is phenomenal- one of the best shows of the season!! Efficient on another level! At the end of each final parade, the streets and neutral ground are CLEAR!
Mardi Gras 2017
New Orleans LA
A recent entry into our camera club set subject competiiton - 'People at Work'. This caused a little controversy for some as they said there were no people in it!
On July 7-9, The Bahamas Plastic Movement (BPM) teamed up with The Island School to host its first ever Marine Debris and Me Plastic Pollution Camp. Twelve students aged 9-14 from throughout South Eleuthera, Bahamas were welcomed onto the Island School campus for three fun filled days of marine debris and plastic pollution education and research. The camp was developed and facilitated by Kristal Ambrose and assisted by Cape Eleuthera Institute educational programs interns, Anna Williams and Andrenique McKinney, along with Deep Creek Middle School students Tyrin Culmer and Destinee Outten. Each day of the camp had a specific focus with day one geared towards plastic pollution education and awareness, day two; scientific research and day three; art and activism. Students covered a range of topics from the dawn of the plastic era, to its effect on the marine environment and on human health and concluded with solutions to the issue.
Safe Selfie Saturday, bundling up for the cold winds and the leaf dust from Fall leaf cleanup. Blowing - Raking and Suck up - then replete several times.
Black sheet over a bean bag was used for shot. Single light source with 5ft octa.
Post production the black background was airbrushed in to clean up the black sheet. The hard part was the umbilical cord.
TIP: Airbrush, clone, Heal the belly first to get rid of the clamp.
Next Clone in a clean belly button from another child from a previous shoot.. I used my sons. Feather the edges of the belly button and overlay then scale and match skin tones with hue and saturation.
Second day of cleanup. Amazed at how much back to normal it looks!! Kudos to the hard workers of Kyiv!
Photos taken for work of the cleanup effort underway at Hoover High School and Meredith Middle School after severe thunderstorm. Hail the size of golf balls and larger damaged the roof of the campus, causing water damage throughout the schools.
Semi-annual cleanup in the garage. Reorganized, picked up, lots thrown out. Will be racking and oaking the Syrah and Carmenere tomorrow. Always feels good when it's picked up.
Several Harrisburg Students participated in flood clean up effort run by the Lend-A-Hand program on Friday, September 30th. The clean up took place in Hershey from 9 a.m. until late in the afternoon. The group from Widener assisted in removing paneling and ceiling tiles from a flooded house that dated back to the 1700’s. Students were provided with rubber boots, masks and gloves.
Third year student Matthew Dorry said, “It was a great experience to work with members of the community struggling to recover from the recent flooding. The event went very well. We tore down the basement interior quickly so the homeowner can obtain contractors to start rebuilding. Lend-A-Hand was a great opportunity for Widener students like us to assist others who need help.”
Groups are continuing to be arranged. If you are interested in helping out, please contact Nicole Radziewicz at nradz704@live.kutztown.edu or Kristin Potter at kmpotter60@gmail.com. Sign-Up sheets are also available on TWEN.
This picture was taken during our walk around Selebarum Kampung, a village built upon stilts within the city of Kota Kinabalu of Sabah, Malaysia.
Crews have been working around the clock since Saturday to clean the city streets. - Washington, D.C. via 500px ift.tt/1Vqctba
The building wasn't pleasant to look at.I'm confident the city won't miss it. The people who lost their lives in it's destruction, though? That's another thing. No one in that building deserved what they got today, yet they're dead. I couldn't save them. Just listen to their hearts run out of beats one by one. All I can do now is stand outside and watch the "cleanup". My mind is so cluttered I don't even notice the Daily Planet's news crew, with her leading the pack. I'm on camera and she's here. I'm shoved into bottling everything up and putting on a facade for them. I an't let the people see me like this. I've never been good at hiding things, though. And it goes to show when some EMTs pass by with a stretcher. It's covered, but I know an innocent is under those covers. My fake grin falls apart as I watch the EMTs take the body away. I look at the person on that stretcher, and without a word give my apologies and ask--no, beg for forgiveness. Forgiveness for the fact that I wasn't quick enough, and now this person has payed the ultimate prie for my own shortcomings. I keep watching the EMTs take the body away, until I hear something. Two miles northeast from here, the familiar violent "WHUMP" sound of two cars crashing. I can recognize from the sound how fast one of them was going. There's no other way to put it: those people need help, now. I turn to her, tell her I'm needed and offer my analogies to her. She nods at me and I ascend, making my way to the crash as fast as I possibly can, hoping that I can finally do something right today...
I went for a hike recently at Lockwood Trailhead Park on the banks of the Truckee River a few miles east of Sparks, Nevada. I stopped at a story board to read about the fish of the Truckee River. I knelt to pick up a couple of plastic bottles when I noticed more trash on the river’s edge. As I approached the water I found clothing, canned goods, tools, backpacks, sodden toilet paper, papers, plastic bags and more, much of it partially submerged in the mud. It appeared as though it may have been strewn about by high water conditions during spring or winter. I just couldn’t leave it and spent several hours gathering and packing it out to a nearby dumpster. While I suspect this may have been a homeless camp that may not be the case. The full cans of food and condiments and water bottles suggest someone’s or multiple person’s camp. Another possibility is that this was a thief’s booty as though they stole multiple back packs. There were 4 back packs and a duffel bag. There was no sign of a shelter other than the willows. Regardless I hauled out about 200 pounds of muddy clothing and trash. By chance there was a large dumpster in the park where I deposited the debris. I suspect the dumpster may have been placed in concert with a local clean up effort by Keep Truckee Meadows Clean a local 501 (c3) organization. I heard rumors that they had a cleanup day that very morning.
Images of Downtown Austin #22
During our long Flickrwalk, we stopped at a bar called Lovejoy's for some beer.
All of these images in this series were taken on a Flickrwalk I did with a bunch of friends back in late April. We started on West 6th Street at about 6:30pm. This series will show some bits and pieces of downtown Austin over 6 hour period. It was a long Flickrwalk and we did a broad loop around downtown. The images will be posted, for the most part, in chronological order. They vary quite a bit as we moved throughout the different parts of the city and as the day turned into night.