Lately, as of some undetermined day in 2013, I have become infatuated with the wonders around me. The world is full of beautiful things—you just have to know where to look. I live in a city and sometimes it's discouraging to see the mark humans have on the beauty of nature, but I've learned to see some scenes as enhanced by the human touch. This may not always be the case, but nonetheless, there is plenty of beauty around, as long as I'm ready to see it.
I find myself to be a rather Romantic person. I am nostalgic and I appreciate an impromptu rendezvous with beauty. I am thrilled with nature's splendor and I wish I could find the camera and the words to do these scenes justice.
Alas, due to human flaw, I fall terribly and unforgivably short, but at least I can hope to find myself in the midst of shortcoming.
All of these photos are unfiltered and either very mildly edited or not edited at all. So enjoy my phone camera Au Naturel.
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| This picture is from Mexico, near Rocky Point. I took it last spring (2013) when my friend came with my family to a condo in Mexico for Spring Break. I love watching sea-foam as it is rushed up onto the shore and then left behind when the water recedes—then dissipates so quickly into the sand. |
I'm not really sure where this one's from but something about these bright flowers is so charming. Whenever I see wildflowers I think of summer and immediately a whole swarm of memories is triggered...warm weather, friends, relaxation, reading, old trips and rendezvous...and I get lost in reverie and then everyone around is staring and I'm probably standing in the middle of the sidewalk... Oh the plight of a hopeless Romantic.
I love the blue flowers hiding in the back. Blue is a nice color—not too flashy but hardly boring.
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| One of the first weeks of summer vacation, 2013, my friend invited me to stay in her neighbor's cabin in Pine Top with her. Well of course I couldn't say 'no' to cooler weather, chill time, gorgeous scenery and lakes to swim in. So we took about a....I-don't-remember-how-long trip and I wasn't disappointed in any of my expectations. The drive up was gorgeous and the weather upon arrival was fantastic—especially compared to the blazing heat of summer in Phoenix! I captured this moment as we sped by on the freeway. I guess the little industrial huddle perched amongst the barely-surviving grasses was too alluring not to photograph. Also, the hills in the background immediately grabbed my attention. I have a weird thing for hills. I don't know, I just like them—inexplicably. The whole time I was in Pine Top, the skies were perfectly blue and the clouds were just gorgeous. I love seeing this scenery because living in the city, we don't get a lot of clear (smog free) skies and boundless open-ness. P.S.—bonus advantage of going to Pine Top: I finished reading Les Mis which I had been working on for a while. |
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| Since it was Pine Top there were quite a few pine trees. (GASP.) There was this hammock out back and I was overwhelmed while laying there under the bright but not blazing sun. The blue sky, the intricate silhouettes of the trees, the bright sunlight.... I think I already mentioned my hopeless Romanticism. What can I say, it's all unbelievably beautiful. |
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| The skies in Pine Top were so blue. I really could have cried. (This photo is unfiltered!) |
Left: There's nothing like a good iPhone picture of a ghetto building with some birds on it—and I mean that with the least possible sarcasm. There were hundreds of birds on top of this building, on the wires, on the wall and the fence, on the street, in the air, on the air-conditioning fixtures...as soon as we drove up to take a picture, many of them hastily departed. But this picture still displays the whimsy of the birds perched along the wire and the fence.
Right: This adorable mushroom, which I found in Oregon last summer (2013) on a walk with Sophia, was just so...adorable. It was about 1.5 inches tall and I loved the way it was nestled into the grass. Plus, the cap was sort of rosy but not abnormal or weird or Creepy-Disney-Fairy-Movie-Pinky-Wierd. So much cute in such a small little organism.
I should begin by saying that sometime during 2013 I developed a deep love of the sky. I'm not really sure how it began, probably it was in Pine Top. There's something about the way I feel when I gaze into the open sky. The clouds have dimension, yet the sit in something we can't see or feel. But then the sky looks blue, yet unlike water, you can't reach in and touch the blue. It's just there, all around, but not immediately perceivable by any sense other than sight. How mysterious. How fascinating. How truly endearing and lovable and ponder-worthy. This is the thought process which occupies all of my time driving around to Seminary at 6:15 am, and driving to school at 7:45 am, and staring out the window during math class...er...while I pay very close attention to the lesson of course.......anyway, my point is, the sky looks different every time I look at it, but still there's something eternal about it. I can always count on the sky as the theatre for my sunrises. I can always look to the sky and expect beauty in some form, and comfort in another. The sky always holds me down, anchors me to Earth, yet pulls me gently from reality into some waking dream. It's rather grotesque—if grotesque can simultaneously be wonderful—how lost I can get in the sky.
And there I went on a poetic ramble. I'll have to stop before something weird happens. I'll save the rest of my Romantic Garble for another day...
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| The crisp edge of this sunrise-rays was sort of awe-inspiring. A beacon over the city's morning. |
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| This may be the most beautiful sunrise I've ever beheld—and I watch the sunrise every day en route to Seminary. The colors alone were other-worldly, and on top of the mere vividness of the spectacle, there was dramatic textural contrast and a marvelous splay of shape and depth...I think Heaven opened up and leaked out a little that day. |
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| This is another of the most beautiful sunrises I've seen. This was actually taken a little later than technically "sunrise" (you can tell by the position of the sun) but nonetheless, I was immediately emotionally paralyzed by the visible rays. Once I stopped, turned, and beheld these glorious rays of sun, which always make me feel a certain Happy when I see them, I had a moment to take the rest of it in: The gentle gradient from gold to silver-blue; The uneven yet mysteriously balanced sprinkling of clouds; The way the clouds thin as the blue becomes more saturated (which reinforces the perfect gradient); The momentarily troubling but quickly endearing palm trees right over the face of the sun; The nuanced edges of clouds lit by the brilliant rays...I'll stop. |
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| This day, I was riding in the car on the way to who cares where and the skies just kept being perfectly lovely. The clouds were snowy white and precariously puffed, and the sky was as blue as I've seen it in a long while. This particular photo features two Phoenix things which I (being the nostalgic human I am) am sure to miss when I leave: 1) the palm trees lined up along the edge of the road, eager to block my sky (I don't mind too much..) and 2) the edges of the Light Rail station. The Light Rail stations all have interesting shapes and patterns within them such that when they appear against an illuminated background, well, immediate eye candy. |
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| It's a rare day in Phoenix when it rains during the daylight—and an even rarer day when a rainbow appears. This one was little but nonetheless potent enough to brighten my day as I pulled into school. I love the way the purple is so subtle as to almost be lost in the gray clouds. I like to be kind of like that purple stripe—there, in the world, and just present enough to be acknowledged, but not so flamboyant as perhaps orange or yellow as to be the first one to draw the eye of another. |
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What would a post about nature and beauty be without my kitty? It certainly wouldn't be quite as cute. Hi, Biscus!
I conclude that this world contains too much beauty for us to even appreciate. And this is all within my own sphere—imagine the adventures waiting just beyond the edge. I am standing here, on the edge of a mental cliff, looking down into endless bliss in natural beauty. |
