Discovering Beauty in Everyday Life

Winter Sentries Guard Lower Manhattan

Yes, I remember. We left a track or two among the fray. Rush and scramble, turn and bounce. Cracking silence, muffled by a hat. Holding wet handfuls of winter.

I love a good fence. A fence puts a perspective on a thing. It tells you where your edges are, and has a certain voice. Don’t touch! Take care! Something needs protecting! The winter grass is tall, incautious, full of seeds. phragmites against the reservoir fence

The winter freeze has thawed, and it is time for a bit of spring.  I know it's premature, but I cannot resist a little indulgence in a clear, non-icy puddle.  Along the running path nearby, there's a favorite I have been watching for several years.  Graders come, land-levelers go, dirt arrives in piles nearby for shovelling.  My dear mudpuddle!  It survives them all.  And why not?  Beauty is a trancendental item. (Look carefully, and you will catch sight of new puddles just recently born)

Have you noticed? A good mudpuddle may appear to dry, but it remains as quiet and simple as a whiff of smoke to live another day. It's winter now, deep in January. There they are smaller, true, and frozen, but they will survive to live another spring.

I promise this is my last comment about Crestone and Southern Colorado for awhile! But I have to point out that Crestone is 40 miles from Alamosa, which is very small. Here is the Alamosa Airport Tarmac and Runway, as seen from the departure lounge. We waited and waited. It was cold and snowy. The plane finally arrived. I dawdled. Perhaps a small fear? Perhaps simply waiting my turn? Here are the passengers ahead of me boarding. Mind you, this plane is the one that flies over the craggy, rocky, stony, snowcapped 14,000 foot peaks. Yes, this  is the entire plane.  And that's the runway, too.

As you know, many ostrich feathers end up in feather dusters, and I’m afraid we are having more reports of unpredictable dusters. Here is one recent report from an innocent user: Dear (name withheld): I tested the electrostatic properties of your feather duster on a clear glass beside table top, a wood burning stove top and a LCD television screen with mixed results. It removed dust particles easily from each of these surfaces. I was amazed and gratified. However, the duster changed channels on the TV. Larry King was interviewing some Republicans about the president being a threat to the nation, and I found this to be a fascinating proposition. But upon contact the screen displayed the Nature Channel. The show was about the natural beauty and grace of wild ostriches. I have not been able to change the channel and the show keeps repeating. We'll keep you posted. Innocent-appearing Feather Duster, beware!

Sooner or later we will get a chance to see everyone’s fish, and I wouldn’t want you to think that the only creations we appreciate are those fish who look, well, a little un-fishy. Here’s a sweet little beauty, who could become an almost iconic Museum of Modern Art fish.

Welcome back to class, Boys and Girls, You have done a wonderful job during recess on the assignment to Create One fish. Here's an example of a very interesting prototype. Amazingly, the various spikes and whatnot do not deter this fish from swimming or eating or breathing. We shall see about its reproductive abilities later in the year.   Example Fish  ( temporarily residing in the Denver Acquarium-4th graders were on a field trip)

The Summer Reservoir fountain is long gone until late in spring, but the winter dawns provide a new beauty. Winter Dawn

On strolling through the park, we discover a happy but blurry opera singer, hailing the new year. Central Park Sailboat Pond, by Maia C.

Starting anew is a nice thing to do if you know where you were when you stopped, But if you're like me there's a certain degree of wondering where it was dropped. I remember quite well how I was when it fell, in between and betwixt and befuddled. It might be for the best to begin a new quest, where the waters are clearly less muddled. If beginining anew is the best thing to do, I shall begin twenty-ten optomistic! Away with the fear, it's a happy New Year, Be Happy, be Free, be Joyistic!

A transition ought to be carefully thought out, as though in an Escher Drawing. Remember those drawings? Well, just in case, here's one I love. The figures creep along like time. The changes morph discreetly towards the final form. But there's no creeping into New Years! 2009, BANG, 2010. Out/In/Next! Here’s my 2010 transition photo. A snapshot in time, a memory that continues. The snapshot moves from the green foothills of Southern Colorado to the snowy fourteen footers.