Beth Thompson Photography

Check out my reading on Granite Outcrops in Georgia:

Blue Mosses in a Sea of Red by Beth Thompson

The best time…

To visit a rocky outcrop in Georgia is in late February, early March, the day after a rainfall. Its when the tiny plant, Diamorpha smallii, is first coming up. It makes a dramatic appearance, for such a tiny plant. Carpeting the stones with a scarlet shawl, here and there, in patches, combined with the blue of the sky reflected in the waters pouring over the rock, Rocky Outcrops in Georgia become one of the most dramatic and beautiful places on earth at this time of year.

Water, Rock, Moss by Beth Thompson

Sweet Surrender

The water that the reading remarked upon embraces the rocks and obstacles in its path. It flows around and over the rocks. Imagine if the water stopped to argue with the obstacles in its path. It would be like the world as we know it had turned on its head. Yet the water does not, it simply flows on to the path of least resistance, ever downward, on its journey home to the sea.

Juniper Island by Beth Thompson

Here grows Juniperus americana

One of the few trees that can survive the harsh environment of sudden waters and long dry spells on the granite, a desert-like environment, makes a dramatic appearance too upon the rock. sunlight shafting through its branches and needles, the rich green moss growing beneath. Juniperus shelters other plants and allows grasses to grow as the absorbent moss must nourish it with water during the dry spells.

D. Smallii by Beth Thompson

Dynamite!

A granite outcrop hangs in the balance here in Athens. Cedar Shoals may soon shatter with dynamite, its  unique ecology, rare plants, and extraordinary beauty lost forever. There’s an article on the subject in the local paper, The Flagpole, which asks whether perhaps we can make Cedar Shoals a centerpiece of our downtown area instead of broken shards. I find it especially wasteful when schools, roads, and other city parts are named Cedar Shoals like that very outcrop.

Environments

Environmental degradation is a theme of our society these days. Progress marches ever onward, with no regard for pristine worlds, or even the realization that its the very environment that makes humans, and our progress, possible. I think too individuals are mirrors of the environmental degradation, as we degrade environments, we degrade ourselves. As the waters of the rocky outcrops reflect the sky so we as humans reflect our society’s values.

For now…

Some of our granite is protected. Perhaps only because its forgotten. Or because it’s a tourist site, like Stone Mountain in Atlanta. Or because, some of us humans raised the hue and the cry when development was planned. So, here and there, scattered across the Georgia landscape, lie the bare bones of the mountains that have worn down into the hills of the Georgia Piedmont, places with a desert environment and an unusual color and beauty.

True Confessions

Bartram didn’t write that audio reading. I did. I couldn’t find a passage in Travels on the granite outcrops in Georgia, so I made up my own. I hope you enjoyed it!