A Quiet Place in God's Creation - 50with50 No. 26

Peaceful

The pine tree and sweet gum tree in our front yard provide a quiet place in the shade on a sunny day, a nice part of God’s creation. This photo is the latest entry in the 50with50 series of 50 photos taken with a 50mm prime lens.

The other day, some friends and my parents stopped by for a visit. Because there was not room in our house for all 8 of us to stay a safe distance apart to follow the social distancing guidelines, we sat in spaced out chairs in the shade of our trees in the front yard. Not that the chairs were spaced out as in, “Whoa….,” but rather that the chairs for each household group had the appropriate distance between them. I’m sure you knew that, though.

Anyway, as we were sitting out there, it was not too hot, especially in the shade. There was a gentle breeze blowing, rustling the leaves and the pine needles over our heads. Birds were singing off in the distance, thankfully not perched right above us. Someone said, “This is just about perfect. You could take a nap out here.”

And then a pine cone fell from the pine tree and almost hit someone on the head. It did not exactly ruin the peaceful moment, but it did remind us that nothing is exactly perfect.

Still, even with the occasional falling pine cone (we figure we average one falling pine cone per hour), it was still a wonderful place to be. It was a quiet place, great for sitting outside and talking to people. It is always nice to be able to spend some time outside in nature.

A Quiet Place

When people come to our rural location, they often comment on how quiet it is. But actually, it is not that much of a quiet place at all.

There always seem to be some birds singing, especially in the cooler morning hours. The wind is often creating some noise in the trees. Off in the distance, a dog barks, a cow lows, or a horse whinnies. Cars going down the road occasionally make noise as they pass by, even though we are pretty far back from the road. You might hear an airplane flying overhead, as we live somewhat close to a small airport. And sometimes you can hear a train on the tracks that are about 10 miles away.

At night, things really get loud, especially during the summer months. As it gets dark, the crickets, cicadas, and katydids start singing their songs. The tree frogs chime in with their harmonies. And a few night birds add in some arias just for good measure.

While it may be different from the noises that you hear in the city, it really is not that quiet at all. And I am not complaining about that in the least.

God’s creation is wonderful. And it has all sorts of interesting sounds. Sometimes you just have to get away from many of the man-made sounds of the city to be able to hear them all.

Bible Verse

I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. - Psalm 145:1-3

About the Photo

Just to be clear, this photo was not taken at the same time as the story above about sitting under the trees. This photo was from a week earlier. And although it is slightly difficult to tell much about the grass in the photo, all of the grass had been cut in between the time the photo was taken and our friend and family visit. Just in case you were wondering. I know you were dying to know if we had cut the grass.

For this photo, I was wanting to capture the feeling of being outside under the trees, since I do like being out there. So you can see the pine branches in the foreground, and then the trunk and some lower leaves of the sweet gum tree. I have taken photos of the trees together many times, but for this one I wanted to remember what it feels like when you are actually under the trees instead of far away from them.

Also, is it “sweet gum” or “sweetgum”? Looking it up online, you can see it both ways. So since I had used the two-word version in the past, I stuck with that again here. If that is actually incorrect, hopefully someone will let me know.

I haven’t said anything about this being a 50with50 photo in this “About the Photo” section, because there is not too much more to say about that than what has been said on the previous photos.

Photo: Each photo is a single Raw exposure, processed in Aurora HDR. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: SonyFE 50mm f/1.8
Date: May 22, 2020
Location: Home, Williston, Tennessee