Constant change

I have noticed that since I got the digital camera I write less about what I see and take more pictures. For the first time in my life my pictures come out pretty good and I don't have to wait for them. Every time I look up from my computer monitor and look outside something new catches my eye and I run for the camera. Even last night, lying on the couch watching the original animated series, Aeon Flux, I glanced out the window and the clouds were purple and the sky was darkening and full of rose and copper fire. The colors changed from moment to moment as more charcoal and darkness muted the colors until the final blaze was a glorious mix of red, pink, purple, lilac, lavender, rose and copper, the clouds smudges over the fire filled horizon like the sun did not want to give up the sky and fought a final battle before sinking below the hills. That line of golden coppery fire in the deeps between the peaks beneath the clouds and the deepening blue of the night sky glinted off the stars as they winked into view. This morning, as every morning, was the same in reverse with the sun blooding the horizon and turning the skies and clouds every pastel shade every dreamt.

I notice light more than I did before and probably not as much as I once did when I painted, but light changes everything from the clear greens and yellows and oranges in the full daylight to deepening shades back lit with fire as the sun goes down the sky and slips below the horizon. Just before the sun disappears from sight the colors are richer and deeper from that last hint of fire as the sun goes down making everything an intricate tapestry of color and textures different from the morning or daylight views. Everything I see fills me with wonder and I run for the camera to catch the moment and freeze it in time, knowing that the next moment it all will be different and that moment lost.

I don't know if the camera makes me more aware of my surroundings or just makes it possible for me to capture it all. I do know I love taking pictures and seeing what I've captured when I upload it all to my laptop. I even took my camera downstairs to get a picture of the landlady after she finished candling my ears.

When we were out on the deck I saw Eddie puttering around in his yard and asked if I could take his picture. He said no and then turned around and showed me his overall covered backside and said, "Take a picture of that." He laughed and turned around, posing for a front side picture. He has such a great sense of humor and nothing ever gets him down, not even the lumbago that sometimes pushes his head toward his knees when he walks. Even then his smile is evident through the salty pepper tangle of his beard.

When my mother and sisters get here I will take pictures of them to remember them by -- or to make into dart boards. You just never know. I know I do want to show them the beautiful skies and hills and the purple mountain majesty of Pikes Peak and the Continental Divide. Did you know the "purple mountains majesty" of "America the Beautiful" was written about Pikes Peak and the Rockies? Now you do.

Everything is changing so quickly as time speeds by. The golden leaves are nearly off all the trees but a few trees are valiantly hanging onto their green skirts. Tangled branches and twigs once covered with verdant green are now bare, still reaching for the sky. Even the tree the tree hating orc wench who used to live next door was full of leaves and branches this year. With all the rain we have had, everything has been a lush and luxuriant green -- and there is more rain on the way.

Wouldn't you just know there would be rain the whole time my family is here? Even with the rain, I know the skies will clear and that brilliant Colorado blue will sport a few mare's tail clouds among the con trails before the clouds hunch over the horizon and spread their gray rags over everything before bringing the rain. I don't mind. Change is good and one thing is certain in life and in the weather around here -- lots of changes.

That is all. Disperse.