walking to the eternal flame: Western New York, late September

It's been a way too busy time for me lately,

and I had to do something magical,

like take a walk

in nature.

My partner found the perfect place to take me,

a place that borders on the magical:

we walked to see an

eternal flame.

And here is what we saw along the way:

Unfortunately,

the sound on my camera

is broken,

from having dropped it into similar brooks

one time too many:

. . . Now, at this point, you may think:

What's the big deal?

This is just a walk in the woods.

And that was what I thought too,

until I saw this:

(I'm sorry to say I can't get Blogger to accept
the film I made myself, though
I have now processed it in a number of ways.
Good ol' Blogger.
So I'm borrowing this film from YouTube.
At least this one has sound!)

If it appears to you that this flame is burning behind water,

well,

you're absolutely correct.  

This is a natural methane leak

right inside a water fall,

and the result is,

well,

quite elemental.

Here it is, in winter,

with more water:

Well, that truly made my weekend perfect.

I walked away looking

for elves and fairies,

while approaching children squealed in anticipation

of the magic

just up beyond the bend.

May you all have a magical week.

(except for the YouTube video, all photos and film by me.)