Welcome to this first 2007 edition of Good Planets celebrating the majesty of our natural world. We’ll start with the sunrise over SW Ontario submitted by Ruth of Body, Soul, and Spirit. A beautiful new day is dawning.
Susan’s cousin Cathy at Left Curve sent in some tulips photographed last spring at the Boston Public Garden. 
Robin from Dharma Bums caught this Red-Tailed Hawk soaring over the Larry Scott Memorial Trail along Port Townsend Bay on the winter solstice.
Susannah of Wanderin’ Weeta sent this view (reflected in a plate-glass window) of stern-wheelers and the “Sky Train” on the Fraser River, New Westminster, BC. Old and new, both in operation.
Evan aka *whisker* sent along this beauty. He writes, “I just got back from Saba in the Netherlands Antilles.” He sent many beautiful photos; I chose this one to post simply because it looks the least like any view I’ve ever seen!
Bunny blog that this is, there’s the requisite beautiful bunny pic shared by Sharon. This is their story, written by Sharon: “Not sure if this is too domestic a small wonder, but this nest of bunlings was (and remains) quite a breathtaking wonder for me upon their arrival 07/25/03, 2.5 days (yes, 2 point 5, not 25) days after I adopted their dear mamabun from our local SPCA. A complicated gestation of a remarkable 43 days (30 the mean norm) led to complications that resulted in two dark lops failing to thrive, but here are the five plucky survivors, a week later. As initial shock resolved, Dick and I determined to set the babes on their course, have them neutered, socialized, and foster them for placement in loving homes. Two weeks later we were hopelessly smitten, unable to part with any of the wee terrors who continue to dominate our home today. “
The Fat Lady Sings sent this image of migratory birds and writes, “There were literally thousands of them, filling tree after tree. The sound of their chattering was deafening.”
Maggie from Banter, Bones and Breath sent this from her favorite park: Sawgrass Lake in St. Pete Florida.
Pam at Tortoise Trail writes, “… one of my goals for this year is to learn how to take closeups. I’m always fascinated by the detail the camera can show me that I had no inkling of before. … I photographed [this] in the Tucson Botanical Gardens last February. I had no idea what the flower was until I noticed today that the centre pattern looked similar to that of the red poppies I photographed in my friend’s garden in Canada. I took a wild guess and googled “white poppy” and came up with Icelandic Poppy.”
Sarala sent this from Bryce National Park in Utah. She considers it one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Recently relocated to Florida, Vicki writes, “Up until a couple years ago I couldn’t envision myself spending any time in Florida. Now that we have a little aging bungalow right by the bay I am enjoying the respite from Northern winters. One of the very best parts is the birding. This place is rife with stunning water birds. I hadn’t seen a yellow crowned night heron before yesterday. This handsome fellow was making the most of a very low tide.”
Jimmy from Details of Nature sent this photo of a Showy Lady’s Slipper growing in the woods nearby to his home.
Naturewoman sent this view from Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Arizona.
Yankee Transplant writes, “Here is a picture I took at the playground just up from my house, where I would take my now-grown kids when they were little, in Boston. We had a beautiful ice storm in February of 1990. This close up of a bush, its branches laden with ice, brings back great memories of the wonder on my daughter’s face when she saw the playground transformed into a winter extravaganza. “
My own submission of a captive Barred Owl, cared for by the Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge and used for educational purposes, photographed at the Tuckerton Seaport in NJ.
Carolyn from Roundtop Ruminations took this photo of the sunset near her cabin at Ski Roundtop near Lewisberry PA.
Gary sent this gorgeous view of the last sunset of 2006 over the island of Niihau from Polihale beach on the west side of Kauai.
And finally, the first pic I received for this week’s submissions from SB Gypsy of the moonrise on 12/3/06 in central Connecticut.
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Can you believe that this is just over half of the photos that were submitted to Good Planets this week? I’m delighted with the examples of beauty and wonder found by those sending photos. Kudos and thanks to you all for taking the effort to submit them. Please note that many photographers submitted more than one photo, but I’ve only posted one by each. Getting these photos up tonight has been something of a comedy of errors. The first 8 photos were uploaded quickly by Blogger, but then it went downhill when Blogger refused any more pics. The rest were uploaded via my Photobucket page, so if you click on them you will be directed there. I apologize for that. For the first time in more than a year, I then lost my internet connection – three times! – causing me to have to redo this post multiple times. If there are any errors, please understand that it’s late and I’ve been at this for over 6 hours now. Let me know of the problem and I’ll fix it first thing.
Thanks for posting mine, honey. And I want to thank everyone else for all the beautiful photos they submitted. Lovely! You know – it’s funny you mentioned having trouble posting tonight. I’m on Typepad – not Blogger (which has shut me out of almost all my favorite blogs this last week, by the way); and tonight, for some reason, Typepad won’t let me post a single word. Not only did it refuse to upload ANYTHING – but it screwed up my last several posts to boot; necessitating massive work on my part to fix them. And you say you’re having trouble too? Something must be up. Any sunspot activity of late that anyone’s heard of?
Kudos to you for this great posting. I knew it was a lot of work by Robin Andrea’s report, but well worth it.
Stunning photos- aren’t we the lucky ones? For me, as soon as I saw Evan’s photo, I thought “Ahhh! Nevis!” Close, Saba is in the same chain of islands, some spectacular beauty. Evan- you make me want to go back.
Just cruising around this morning, checking out my favorite blogs, and I opened yours. What a way to start a Saturday.
The photos are wonderful–what a statement about the fierce beauty of mother earth and all her creatures.
As I looked, I kept thinking–I wonder how long it took to post all these photos as I have done battle with Blogger at times. So I read with great interest your closing note, and say an even bigger thanks to you for your dogged patience loading all these treasures.
Laura, thank for your this and your patience! I can imagine your grief while trying to accomplish this post. I should thank those who shared these wonderful photos, too. I don’t have a favorite because they are all beautiful. Will we see more?
Nice pictures – very nice way to start Saturday. Good work, everyone, especially Laura.
A big thank you for all your time and effort – I’ve battled blogger on occasion, and it ain’t pretty! I love all the great photos, and remind anyone who’s new to Great Planets that the archive is here, going bact to August of last year. A big thank you also to Robin Andrea of The Dharma Bums for starting the whole thing, and doing all the work of posting the pics for many weeks.
Just beautiful…thanks for posting mine! Now! If it would only snow!!!!!
Sounds like it was a lot of work but wow! Well worth the effort! What a beautiful showing. I’ll make sure I get something submitted in upcoming weeks!
What a lovely way to start the morning! Thank you to you and all the photographers!
What a fantastic compilation of photos here. All gorgeous and all a reminder of the beauty of our good planet. Thanks for being so persistent with it, Laura. When blogger is bad, it can be very bad. So your efforts are absolutely appreciated.
Robin: Yes, when it’s bad it’s very bad. But why did it have to be bad last night!
Wow. I’m breathless. These photos are gorgeous! Thank you so much for your time and patience to bring us these wonderful photos! Do these photos end up on Flickr eventually? I’d like to add them to my favorites folder.
And thank you for including my photo in the bunch.
Laura! This is such a rich reminder of our planet’s wonder. In my elder-internet-confusion I guess I thought that “Good Planets” existed out there as one entity and didn’t realize that it was a multi-participatory web happening. Du-uh. I promise I’ll send you a picture for next year’s celebration. These pictures are so neat.
Fabulous! Glad to discover this now I’m going to take the time to view the archives. You do great work.
Round the world and round the clock – amazing photographs to show us our beautiful world. But what I love best is that bloggers and photographers come together each week to share these. There’s such a sense of communion and exaltation.
Laura – this is a wonderful post. Thanks for your hard work and persistence. I hope that Blogger behaves for you next week and that you derive the same pleasure from hosting as I did.
(P.S. Please let naturewoman know about the GP archive on Flickr. I couldn’t find an email address for her.)
Thank you for your efforts. Blogger can be maddening!
Awesome, Laura.
I didn’t even attempt to send a pic because I just don’t have one that means something to me…yet.
How do we find out who is hosting the next one?
Awesome job! You know my favorite is the Barred Owl.
I think with next week’s pics I’ll try uploading a few each day to a draft post. I don’t want to be up unitl 3 am again next Friday night!
Naturwoman: Pam will add them to the flickr site at some point during the week – she’s linked it above.
Cathy: I’ll be doing this each Saturday in January so send a pic if you’d like.
Susan: I’m not sure yet who has February, but will post when I do.
Thank you for taking all the time to put together such a beautiful post. Hopefully you will be able to streamline the process for next time. Wouldn’t these pictures make a lovely calendar?!
Thank you for all that effort, Laura. 6 hours! Such dedication!
I hope next week goes easier for you.
And that issue with not loading more than 8: Robin Andrea mentioned the same problem with Blogger. Good to know; I’ll be prepared.
And for susan gets native;
I’ll be doing February’s “Good Planets”. You can send your photos to me at: susannah at dccnet dot com.
Such a wonderful series of pictures and collaboration with everyone! Can’t wait to see what comes next! Keep up the great work!
TOM
Thanks Laura – and thanks Pam in Tucson – BTW Pam, I like your name!
Great job Laura. All beautiful, but all unique. Impossible to compare or choose a favorite!
You may want to try Picasa2. After locating all of your pics it allows instant downloading to your blog.
I love the photos. And thanks for including mine. We certainly do have a beautiful planet.
What adorable baby buns!!!! Do they have names yet?