The View At The End Of The Day...

I take a lot of pictures of sunsets. I take a lot of pictures around my house. If you check out this blog with any regularity, or if you follow me on social media, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.

I grew up across the street from where I now live. My father designed that house, a structure he never got to see finished. But he was a man ahead of his time when it came to creating a home for his wife and three kids. One thing he did which was unusual in the early 1970s was he designed the main room of the house with floor-to-ceiling windows. I never talked to him about why, but I would imagine one of the main reasons for having those big-for-their-day windows was to enjoy the view. I mean, why else live on the side of a mountain?

Unfortunately, window technology in the early 1970s was extremely inadequate when it came to insulation. That room was almost uninhabitable during the summer months. The home faces due west and, though not the warmest place to live, Utah along the Wasatch Front can get hot. We never really had the resources to upgrade those windows while my mom was alive. Basically, we just avoided the room altogether. Winters weren't much better, but you could use blankets or a space heater to help.

My family moved into our house thirteen years ago this month--almost to the day. It's very modern compared to my parent's home we lived in all those years. The windows in our new(ish) house were the most advanced at the time. I'm sure they make better ones now. But as the sun sets over our inland sea, I still look out a window to check out the evening sky. Tonight, one might argue that there wasn't much up there. But as it's wont to do in summer, the smoke from fires distant and near filter the dying rays of the sun so that even when there's not the spectacular oranges and reds, pinks and purples, it's still beautiful.

And because of that, I'll take another picture.