09/01/2026
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We wake slowly, as June breathes its first crisp whisper across the water. I am the lake, holding the glass still, a liquid mirror reflecting the jagged scars of ancient fires that climbed these hillsides long ago. My surface stretches out, a quiet witness to time, framing the silver-grey skeletons of the high timber standing shoulder-to-shoulder against the morning skyโa haunting cathedral of what once was.
Down at the water's edge, nestled beneath the towering remnants, sit the warm-timbered homes. They look out over my depths with quiet windows, holding lives that come and go like ripples on a breeze. They sleep inside timber walls, listening to my gentle lapping against the shore, seeking sanctuary in the wild embrace of the woods. But do they hear the heavier pulse beneath the floorboards? Do they feel the quiet plea of the soil beneath their foundations?
Look closer into my glass. For every vibrant green sapling clawing its way back into the sunlight, there is a standing ghost. We are bound togetherโthe water, the scorched earth, the recovering canopy, and the hearths built upon our shores. We give you air to breathe, water to drink, and beauty to mend your weary souls, yet we carry the heavy marks of your haste.
When you look upon this reflection, remember that you are not merely visitors in a painting. You are the stewards of the pulse that beats here. Tread lightly. Listen to the forest as it whispers in the early summer wind. Protect this fragile sanctuary before the mirror shows a reflection too broken to heal, for the earth remembers every kindnessโand every wound.
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Glacier National Park, MT
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June, 2026
Canon EOS R1/Canon RF 28-70mm Lens: 1/160, f/16, 28mm, 125-ISO
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#๐๐ช๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ฉ๐จ The ghostly gray tree trunks lining Lake McDonald are leftovers from massive wildfires like the 2003 fires that swept the park. These fires are a natural cycle, clearing space for new forests to rise and reflect in the lake's deep waters.