What a beautiful picture Jenna, thanks for sharing.
This post was modified from its original form on 14 Jan, 23:42
Thanks, Mother Earth's Child...awesome !
Music to listen to while looking at the beauty...'The Way'
http://static.zoovy.com/merchant/kirfishkreations/ShamansWay_SF_theway.mp3
Rita Coolidge of Walela & Brent Lewis, master percussionist.
Lone Cypress Tree, one of our most treasured landmarks along California's coastline. This magnificent tree is the most photographed in the world and is more than 260 years old.
The lotus flower appeared in legends originating both from India and from ancient Egypt. It palyed an important part in ancient Egyptian religion.
The lotus flower played a prominent role in the version of the creation story that originated in Heliopolis. Before the universe came into being, there was an infinite ocean of inert water which constituted the primeval being named Nun. Out of Nun emerged a lotus flower, together with a single mound of dry land. The lotus blossoms opened, and out stepped the self-created sun god, Atum, as a child.
A slightly different version of the creation story originated in Hermopolis. In that version, the sun god who formed himself from the chaos of Nun emerged from the lotus petals as Ra. The lotus is a flower which opens and closes each day. His history went on to say that the petals of the lotus blossom enfolded him when he returned to it each night.
The lotus flower has been featured extensively throughout the art of ancient Egypt. In various works of art, you may see it held in the hand of a god or human, serving as a border to outline a section of the artwork, unfolding to reveal various gods or humans, and many other depictions.
In the Near East (Mesopotamia), the lotus was the flower of Lilith, the Sumero-Babylonian goddess that Jews claimed was Adam's first wife.
for sharing.Our Mother is a very good painter,such beauty we discard!
Have a great day everybody...
Candy
The grace with which they moved through the water this cool early morning and the fog looming over the trees and lake in the distance, to me it was like a poem filled with beauty and simplicity
Lightning is the most spectacular element of a thunderstorm. For the Vikings, lightning was produced by Thor as his hammer struck an anvil while riding his chariot across the clouds.
Lightning is a discharge of electricity. A single stroke of lightning can heat the air around it to 30,000 degrees Celsius (54,000 degrees Fahrenheit)! This extreme heating causes the air to expand at an explosive rate. The expansion creates a shock wave that turns into a booming sound wave, better known as thunder. Thus the name thunderstorm.
Lightning can take place in several different areas of a thunderstorm. (Over 40,000 thunderstorms occur throughout the world each day.) About 80% of all lightning occurs within a single cloud. Most of the other 20% occurs from cloud to ground. Sometimes lightning can jump from one cloud to another or to the surrounding air.
Most of the lightning we see appears as a single line of bright white light. However, there are several other types of lightning that can occur. These include forked lightning, (Forked lightning occurs when a second lightning stroke doesn't follow the same path as the first lightning stroke. Thus, it appears forked.) ribbon lightning, bead lightning, ball lightning, sheet lightning, and heat lightning, and St. Elmo's fire.
Ball lightning fireballs have been reported in some tornadoes and vortices have also been associated with floating spheres of ball lightning, which sometimes disappear with a loud explosion, suggesting they, too, contain combustible material. Basically the fire burns at the center of the tornado where the air is relatively calm. Nicolas Telsa claimed to have created ball lightening in his lab.
Bilskirnir- "the one striking lightning with rays of light." The name of Thorr's hall in Thrudhvangr. It has 540 apartments. Also called "Lightning".
Lightening strikes down from above in pure bolts of light. From one main beam, smaller beams break forth.. Each beam being of its own, and yet it is still separate. Music varies. Music nearly always conveys one single message, but gives this single message in many different thoughts. All these thoughts come together to form one thought.. The musical piece. Much as every strand of light from lightening pull together to form the bolt.
St. Elmo's Fire
Named for the patron saint of sailors, St. Elmo's Fire is created by the soft glow of an electric field generated by a continuous flow of tiny sparks. The tiny sparks are positive charge reaching skyward in response to a growing area of negative charge in the clouds or air above. Instead of generating a lightning strike, the corona discharge, as it's called, flees objects such the masts of ships, power poles, antennas, and the wings of aircraft, causing the glow. It becomes visible as a crackling, pale blue glow in tree tops, tower tops, ship's masts, and airplane's wings. Often considered a good omen, it has, however been blamed for starting the fire that destroyed the Hindenburg. It is most often visible after the worst of a storm has passed.
This is a great URL that has some great panoramic scenes..
botanic rain forest
A hot spring from Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Hot springs often have a color because of dissolved minerals and bacteria in the water.
Below, a hot spring from Iceland. The blue color is from dissolved silica. It looks a bit like opal, which is the non-mineral that crystallizes from this water. Opal is not a mineral because the silica ions are not regularly arranged in a crystalline structure.
Mount Fuji (Fujisan) is with 3776 meters Japan's highest mountain. It is not surprising that the nearly perfectly shaped volcano has been worshipped as a sacred mountain and experienced big popularity among artists and common people.
Mount Fuji is a dormant volcano, which most recently erupted in 1708. It stands on the border between Yamanashi and Shizuoka Prefectures and can be seen from Tokyo and Yokohama on clear days.
The easiest way to view Mount Fuji is from the train on a trip along the Tokaido Line between Tokyo and Osaka. If you take the shinkansen from Tokyo in direction of Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka, the best view of Mount Fuji can be enjoyed from around Shin-Fuji Station on the right hand side of the train, about 40 to 45 minutes after leaving Tokyo.
Note however, that clouds and poor visibility often block the view of Mount Fuji, and you have to consider yourself lucky if you get a clear view of the mountain. Visibility tends to be better during the colder seasons of the year than in summer, and in the early morning and late evening hours.
If you want to enjoy Mount Fuji at a more leisurely pace and from a nice natural surrounding, you should head to the Fuji Five Lake (Fujigoko) region at the northern foot of the mountain, or to Hakone, a nearby hot spring resort.
Mount Fuji is officially open for climbing during July and August via several routes
Ripples of flowing pahoehoe lava. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii, USA
Ledenika
Ledenika is one of the most famous caves in Bulgaria. Situated near the town of Vratsa, it is around 300 m in length. You can see there a great amount of structures like stalactites, stalagmites, stalactites, rock draperies and waterfalls that makes the cave an attractive tourist spot.
Iagodinska Cave
There are about 140 caves and karsts found in the Iagodinska Cave. It is 10 km long and it is one of the top 10 most beautiful ones in Bulgaria. It is located in the Rhodope Mountains and it is supplied with electricity. There are amazing structures in which shapes you can recognise animals, St Mary and Jesus Christ, The Snow White and the seven Dwarfs etc
Magura Cave
The Magura cave is one of the biggest in Bulgaria. It is located in the Western Fore-Balkan, near the town of Belogradchik. It contains of many halls with whimsical structures - Hall of Triumph with a small lake, Gallery of Drawings. Interesting things you can see there are the ctraces of settlements dating back to the early Bronze Age and early Iron Age - ceramics, tools and rock drawings.
The legend says that if you put your hand in the cold water of the lake and make a wish, it will come true.
Diavolsko garlo – the throat of the devil – secret or mystery?
The cave that is taking in everything and everyone and nothing or nobody comes back. Thousand of trees, animals, even people have disappeared in the depth of this cave. The highest waterfall on the Balkan peninsular is situated there. The cave is supplied with electricity and is accessible for tourists. The temperature is around +8°C
Bacho Kiro caveMagura
Snejanka /Snow white/ - the white cave. Hardly accessible but famous for its magnificent glacial shapes. It is called The Snow white because you can see in there the figure of the beautiful girl from the famous fairytalel. There you can find also stone structures thousands of years old! Duhlata - the deepest cave in Bulgaria 17kmThe Madara Horseman
It is situated near the town of Shoumen, north-east part of Bulgaria. It is a relief showing the life-size forms of a horseman trailed by a running dog and a speared lion caught beneath the crushing hooves of the horse. The scene presents itself 25 meters up a 100-meter-high cliff. This is one of the most significant symbols of the Bulgarians and acknowledged as part of the World’s Heritage.
The “Deaf Stones”
The cult site “Deaf Stones” represents an isolated 10-meter high rock, and number of smaller ones. They are one of the phenomena of the ancient Thracian culture. On the rocks around the complex can be seen engraved rituals bays, the purpose of which has not yet been determined and proved.
The dramatic sandstone monoliths serve as a history book of animal and plantlife in the area for the past 250 million years. As spectators gaze at the towering red sandstone rocks, they view the ancient tales of prehistoric times.
Gradual earth movement slowly raised the great sandstone ledges from the prehistoric ocean floor, to form the "walls" of the Amphitheatre. Within these walls is contained a record book of the ages.Nearby dinosaur tracks tell of the Jurassic period of 160 million years ago. Fossil fragments of the giant 40-foot sea serpent, Plerisosaur, the marine reptile Mossaur, and flying reptiles captivate students and geologists alike.
Some of the rock formations in Red Rocks slope as much as 90 degrees, while others tilt backwards. The southern monolith, that bears resemblance to a ship, is named "Ship Rock."
Red Rocks is a mountain park just west of Denver that is administered by the Denver Parks system. It can be found in the foothills, near Morrison, Colorado. Red Rocks is famous for the natural Amphitheather, where concerts are held regularly. But it is also a natural wonder of red sandstone rock formations.
Photographs
Spider Rocks Canyon De Chelly National Monument Arizona navajo reservation white house trail cliffs desert varnish chinle anasazi ruins Photographs
That's one heck of a picture of the salt Joan. Isn't nature just beautiful???
Why is the Dead Sea so Salty?This lesson takes us back to the subject of plate tectonics. In this part of the world there is a rift forming where two crustal plates are spreading apart. The East Rift Valley runs through most of Africa, but it starts north of the Dead Sea and runs south along the eastern side of the continent (go look at the map). The Sea is located right along the Rift Valley where the earth's crust is being stretched thin. To get an idea of how this "crustal spreading" thing works, take a bar of taffy, or taffy-like candy and try to pull it apart. You'll see where the candy starts to come apart it gets really thin just before it breaks. That's what is happening to the earth's crust in the Rift Valley. Where the earth's crust gets thin that part of the surface sinks downward. Look at the picture at left to see how the rift forms, sinking downward where the crust is stretched thin. You know what? The Dead Sea is still sinking lower, even today. Scientists figure that the Dead Sea lowers by as much as 13 inches per year. On a geologic time scale that's incredibly fast!
Anyway, back to the formation of the Dead Sea. We talked about how the surface of the Sea got down so low in elevation, but why is it so salty? All roads lead to the Sea when it comes to the rivers in the area. The Dead Sea is continually fed water from the rivers and streams coming down off the mountains that surround it. But the kicker is this....no rivers drain out of the Dead Sea. The only way water gets out of the Sea is through evaporation. And boy does it evaporate! This part of the world get plenty hot. When the water evaporates, it leaves behind all the dissolved minerals in the Sea, just making it saltier. In fact, it's through the dual action of; 1) continuing evaporation and 2) minerals salts carried into the Sea from the local rivers, that makes the Sea so salty. The fact that the water doesn't escape the Sea just traps the salts within its shores. There's nothing living in the Dead Sea because it got so salty, so quickly, that evolution has not had a chance to produce any creatures that could adapt to such brutal conditions.
Blue and Yellow Hot Spring
Hot springs emit gaseous water at temperatures higher than that of the surrounded air. These springs are a result of the mixing of regular groundwater flows and still-hot volcanic rocks in the Earth's crust.
Cave Without A Name
Commercialized in 1939, this cave has a unique story behind its name. A contest held to find a name left a local student as winner. The student said that, "The cave is to pretty too have a name" and the cave received its name. The cave is located near Boerne, TX a little drive out of town takes one on a scenic drive to the cave. Go 11miles Northeast of Boerne on FM474 to reach the cave. 
There is a flight 126 steps stairs that go down about 90 feet into the cave. Going down the steps is not a problem. However the stairs are the only way in or out of the cave and while going down is easy, going up 126 steps can take a good deal of energy. Still the cave is well worth the last flight up. The cave is full of awesome views of stalactites, stalagmites, and soda straws making the trip well worth it. This cave is said to hold the best 'cave bacon' in the state. One particular 'cave bacon' is about 22ft long. The Grapes is a very prominent feature in the cavern and is the only known formation of its kind in Texas. They are currently restoring the cave to some of its natural state. 
Beautiful, overwhelming pictures, Joan! Are you a professional photographer?
My compliments!
Hugs,
Giuliana aka Princess Little Rock
Grand Canyon National Park (North Rim): As one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the Grand Canyon shows an impressive display of erosion and mother earth's natural beauty. Stretching for 277 miles, the Grand Canyon ranges in elevation from 2,400 feet to over 7,000 feet above sea level. Many 
attractions and activities are located within the serene canyon. The breathtaking beauty of the Grand Canyon is enjoyable for all who visit. The Grand Canyon is a geologic museum of epic proportions. Of the earth's 4.6-billion-year history, nearly half is put on display in the canyon. If you were to hike one of the trails leading to the Inner Gorge, you would be able to see exposed rock strata ranging in age from 1.7 billion years at the Inner Gorge, to limestone deposited 250 million years ago on the Kaibab Plateau, to the 1-million-year-old black lava flows in the western canyon. It took the Colorado River a mere 4 to 6 million years to cut through these rock layers to create the Grand Canyon.
With a history that starts nearly 4,000 years ago , the North Rim has been home to the Desert Archaic people, the Anasazi, and the Paiute all before Europeans came in 1540. The Paiute were the ones to give the plateaus of the North Rim their names. It was the beauty of the area that gave the Paiutes the ideas for names. Kaibab, meaning "Mountain Lying Down," is the easternmost plateau. Here you will find Grand Canyon Lodge and major trailheads. Kanab, meaning "Willow," is just west of Kaibab and home to Kanab Canyon. Uinkaret, meaning "Place of Pines," is home to Toroweap Point. Here, millions of years ago, molten rock flowed over the canyon rim and coated the walls with lava. The Shivwits, meaning "Little People," are home to Hurricane Cliffs. The North Rim is a great place to see some unique rock formations and the Colorado 
River. The North Rim is home to six hiking trails and two scenic drives. The trails range from an easy half-mile trail to a two or three-day trip to the canyon bottom. The driving trips offer beautiful views of the canyon. On one hand, you can see Mount Hayden and Saddle Mountain while standing on the highest point in the park, Point Imperial. On the other hand, you can see stunning vistas of the canyon and the Colorado River. If you would like additional information about Grand Canyon National Park
Most of the world's glaciers are found near the Poles, but glaciers exist on all of the world's continents, even Africa. Australia doesn't have any glaciers; however, it is considered part of Oceania, which includes several Pacific island chains and the large islands of Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. Both of these islands have glaciers.
Glaciers require very specific climatic conditions. Most are found in regions of high snowfall in winter and cool temperatures in summer. These conditions ensure that the snow that accumulates in the winter isn't lost (by melt, evaporation, or calving) during the summer. Such conditions typically prevail in polar and high alpine regions. There are two main types of glaciers: valley glaciers and continental glaciers (known as ice sheets).
The amount of precipitation (whether in the form of snowfall, freezing rain, avalanches, or wind-drifted snow) is important to glacier survival. In areas such as Antarctica, where the low temperatures are ideal for glacier growth, very low annual precipitation causes the glaciers to grow very slowly.
If one would like to describe the geographic characteristics of Western Switzerland in two words, mountains and lakes would be the most appropriate.
Traditionally, Switzerland has been divided into three topographical areas: the Alps, the Moyen-Pays (the "Middle Country") and the Jura Mountains. Western Switzerland covers all three.
Part of the French-speaking countryside is distinguished by its being a part of the chain of Alps which, along with the Pre-Alps, distinguishes the entire territory of the Valais canton, as well as the Eastern part of the Vaud canton and the South of the Fribourg canton.
As one moves Northwest, one enters an oblong stretch of land which runs along the foothills of the Alps and makes up the Moyen-Pays. It stretches from the banks of Lake Geneva towards Lake Constance. This area which includes the Swiss plateau, among others, is marked by a rather flat relief and a large number of lakes. The Moyen-Pays is made up of the central part of the Vaud canton, the Northern part of the Fribourg canton and the South-western part of the Neuchatel canton.
Finally, the North-western part of French-speaking Switzerland is made up of the Jura Mountains. This area includes the canton of Geneva, the western part of the Vaud and Neuchatel cantons, as well as the entire Jura canton.
First of all, as far as the Alps are concerned, it is important to point out that they are divided into Southern Alps and Northern Alps. In Western Switzerland, the Southern Alps are made up entirely of the Valais Alps. It is in this part of the mountain massif that one finds the most summits which have an altitude higher than 4,000 meters. The highest peak among these is the Dufour Peak at 4,634 meters. It is also the highest point in all the Swiss Alps.
The Northern Alps are divided into the Bernese Alps, the Vaud Alps and the Fribourg Pre-Alps. On the average, the mountains which make up the Northern Alps are lower than the Southern part of the Alps. Several summits are nevertheless higher than 4,000 meters.
A view of the Swiss alps
The Moyen-Pays is made up of a long plateau scattered with numerous hills. All along this area, particularly in the middle, a small massif stretches out which is higher than the surrounding area. It is called the Napf. Many rivers flow from this massif. The Moyen-Pays is bordered to the South by Lake Geneva, to the Southeast by the Alps, and to the Northwest by Neuchatel lake, Biel lake and the Jura mountain range.
The Jura are a mountain range that is much lower than the Alps. It is South of Geneva that the folds of the Jura separate from the Alps, before stretching out over an arc of a circle 300 kilometres toward the Northeast and France.
Of the three types of relief that one finds in the Jura mountains, the folded Jura (Southeast) make up almost all of the Swiss part, with the tabular Jura (North) occupying a small part of the Jura canton. The third type, the Jura plateau (Northwest) is located entirely in the French part.
What is Aurora?
Aurora means Roman Goddess of Dawn. Aurora displays are related to solar activity. When the Sunspot activity is maximum, then this solar wind can turn into a solar storm. It takes 2 days for the solar wind to reach the Earth. Solar winds particles follow the magnetic field lines. They are trapped in the ionosphere of the earth. They excite the gaseous molecules and the molecules while returning to the ground state emit light at a particular frequency. This is commonly know as Aurora Borealis in the northern hemisphere of Earth and Aurora Australis in the southern hemisphere of Earth. ("Aurora Borealis," the Latin name of the aurora of the northern hemisphere, means "northern dawn").
The Grand Canyon is more than a great chasm carved over millennia through the rocks of the Colorado Plateau. It is more than an awe-inspiring view. It is more than a pleasuring ground for those who explore the roads, hike the trails, or float the currents of the turbulent Colorado River.
This canyon is a gift that transcends what we experience. Its beauty and size humble us. Its timelessness provokes a comparison to our short existence. In its vast spaces we may find solace from our hectic lives. The Grand Canyon we visit today is a gift from past generations.
One of my favorite things on Mother Earth are waterfalls. Here is a website where you can find anything you ever wanted to know about the world's waterfalls.
http://www.world-waterfalls.com/
Tropical rainforests are located in many parts of the world, ranging from South America to Africa and Asia. Particularly found along the equator, tropical rainforests are defined by two factors. The first factor is their location in the tropics, and the second is the amount of rainfall they receive in a year. Rainforests obtain an annual rainfall of 4-8 meters and are further characterized by their non-seasonality. There is no dry season, cold season, or slow growth period.
Rainforests are the Earth's oldest living ecosystems. Fossil records have shown that these forests have been in their present-day form for about 70-100 million years. In other words, they have remained virtually unchanged dating back to the days of the dinosaurs.
