Patterns

On a clear day, you can see Labrador from about 38,000 feet. On Monday, the place was still frozen. Our plane was somewhere near the Quebec border; of course, it may even have been Quebec. It’s hard to see most borders on the face of the earth. A meandering river, thawed in parts, with ox bow lakes picked out by the snow and ice. This flight, on a nearly empty 747 (?!), really took me back to my roots in geography. Lots of good views of landforms. Holland’s barrier beaches (hey, Doggerland!) and vibrant rectangles of tulips. The sandy teardrop turned out to be Noorderhaaks. Then came the irregular hedged fields in southern England, still essentially medieval, in such contrast to the rough hills of Wales. Ireand was clouded over and I took up five empty seats to lay down. South of the St. Lawrence, the fields were long and rectangular, short ends abutting straight roads. Sky resorts in Vermont looked like a gigantic catamount had raked her claws down the slopes.Some of the lichen on the Jättekullen stones in Södra Härene, Sweden. This is a 4000 year old stone cist, or burial chamber, the largest of its kind in the country at 14 by 4 meters.