Hollis

LATEST ARTICLES ( 441 )

• Winter Tree Following: Cottonwood, Juniper, Willow

  

  Cottonwood twigs collected in January are leafing out – indoors. In the wild, leaves won't appear until late May.It’s time to part with my cottonwood and... Read more

  Posted on 07 March 2015 OUTDOORS

• Geo-challenge: What’s Behind This Curious Beauty?

  

  I found these beautiful and mysterious sculptures in Goblin Valley State Park in southeast Utah, on the opposite side of the main ridge from the goblins.View... Read more

  Posted on 04 March 2015 OUTDOORS

• Plants in the Abstract

  

  Aspen.There’s a photographic world somewhere between realism and pure abstraction where I love to be. Traditional subjects are secondary, upstaged by things... Read more

  Posted on 28 February 2015 OUTDOORS

• Laramie Street Plants (in February???)

  

  These don’t count.On a cold dreary Sunday with snow and rain falling, I walked the sidewalks and alleys of downtown Laramie looking for street plants – feral... Read more

  Posted on 21 February 2015 OUTDOORS

• Geology in the Abstract

  

  How a camera helps us see.Often when I look at the geological world through the viewfinder of my camera, I see things I don’t see with my eyes alone – light... Read more

  Posted on 15 February 2015 OUTDOORS

• Of Anchor Ice & Cottonwood Flowers

  

  It was the first of February, 8:30 AM, and 17º F after a cloudy night with light snow. When I reached the river, I saw two men with poles standing in the water... Read more

  Posted on 08 February 2015 OUTDOORS

• Geologists Make Some Sense of “Uinta Sandstone” Chapter, Still a Tough Read

  

  This post is a sequel to The sandstone that fooled the great geologists (but the younger generation needs to understand)."Haydens Cathedral, Uinta Mountains. Read more

  Posted on 04 February 2015 OUTDOORS

• The Sandstone That Fooled the Great Geologists (but the Younger Generation...

  

  Flaming Gorge Reservoir from the canyon rim.The Uinta Mountains of northeast Utah and adjacent Wyoming are “a grand sandstone structure” – red sandstone peaks... Read more

  Posted on 16 January 2015 OUTDOORS

• Am I Following a Cottonwood of the Bitter Kind?

  

  The Laramie River is lined with the wrong kind of cottonwood, including mine (left).... we arrived on the 10th March at a small branch of the North fork of the... Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2015 OUTDOORS

• Best Wishes from Plants and Rocks

  

  Lanceleaf cottonwood, Laramie River.Another year of blogging is almost over. I’d like to thank all my colleagues in the blogosphere ... those who read and... Read more

  Posted on 25 December 2014 OUTDOORS

• Street Plants in Laramie in December?!

  

  From asphalt and snow, some grass will grow.When Lucy suggested we post about street plants four times a year, I was not optimistic for December. We live at 700... Read more

  Posted on 22 December 2014 OUTDOORS

• Recommended Reading: “Photographing Trees”

  

  the air frost and heavy mist offered the potential for creating a great winter scene ... I left lots of room around the tree to make the photograph more... Read more

  Posted on 19 December 2014 OUTDOORS

• Lost Water Found

  

  Precious water flows from vertically-tilted limestone at Big Spring.Much of the American West is dry country, where farmers and ranchers lust after and fight... Read more

  Posted on 13 December 2014 OUTDOORS

• Tree-following: Bark

  

  tree-following (noun): informal The practice of observing a tree over the course of a year, and reporting on it monthly, usually online. Read more

  Posted on 07 December 2014 OUTDOORS

• Death, Destruction & Douglas Fir

  

  “The plant world exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.”(historian Will Durant, adpated by botanist Arthur Kruckeberg)I love Douglas fi... Read more

  Posted on 01 December 2014 OUTDOORS

• A Random Hike on a Reef

  

  Behind the San Rafael Reef – the answer to geo-challenge 2.Wild Horse Canyon – one of those beautiful Utah slot canyons – has been calling me for years. On a... Read more

  Posted on 23 November 2014 OUTDOORS

• Life of a Goblin

  

  Rock goblins in the prime of life.On Halloween I posted a day-appropriate geo-challenge. The answer is ... Goblin Valley State Park in southeast Utah. Here... Read more

  Posted on 16 November 2014 OUTDOORS

• A Visit to the First Ice Art of the Season Exhibition

  

  As you may have heard, the jet stream curved far north around a ridge of good weather and then curved south, followed by the infamous polar vortex ... or... Read more

  Posted on 13 November 2014 OUTDOORS

• Cottonwood Houses, Cottonwood Stars

  

  Many years ago, in the heat of summer, little girls sat in the shade of cottonwood trees and made tipis from the leaves.These they made in numbers and placed... Read more

  Posted on 09 November 2014 OUTDOORS

• Cottonwood Encounters

  

  Cottonwood leaf in mud.Cottonwoods are common in the American West, even in the drier parts (they often mean water's close by). I was pleased to meet three on m... Read more

  Posted on 05 November 2014 OUTDOORS