Tonight's Western Sky...And What It Said To Me

I've lived on the same street for almost forty of my fifty-four years. I grew up on the mountain, constantly looking east at the familiar rock formations, the indents carved by water runoff, the patches of scrub oak trees, the open fields of grass, the entrance to Patsy's Mine, and to top it all, Flag Rock.

But, as magnificent as those views are, they many times pale to what I see looking west, especially after a storm and the air is clean and the visibility is unobstructed.

And at sunset.

Tonight was one of those almost perfect nights. I walked out on the back porch before the colors arrived, just to take in the view. Though we're not as high as some, our vantage point is just fine. I could see the entire valley, from the Oquirrhs to the southwest to Weber County to the northwest. And Antelope Island right in the middle. With a full sky of clouds, I thought the sunset would be beautiful.

And it was.

As far as color, there's been better, but the lack of color doesn't make tonight's show any less worthy. A thought came to me as I took it all in...We are constantly surrounded by overwhelming beauty. Do we block it out? Do we ignore it? Maybe we do, because to acknowledge all the amazing things in our world would cripple us almost to inactivity.

It's not a great thought, but as I looked west tonight, into the original fireworks, the stunning views reminded me again of what is there for us to see, if we only will.

An Island On Fire...History Repeating Itself

My daughter came down the stairs Friday night and calmly said, "Antelope Island's on fire." We got up and gazed out the west-facing windows.

It's a sight we've seen before.

And one we'll see again.

Directly west of where we live lies Antelope Island. It's a barren rock surrounded by a dead sea of salt. I've been to the island only a handful of times, but each time I go out there, I'm amazed at just how little vegetation is there. It's hard to find even a single tree under which to find shade.

Since it's July 24h, a day when Utahns celebrate the Mormon Pioneers entrance into the Salt Lake Valley, I imagine much of the valley they saw when they entered the valley in 1847 looked like what Antelope Island looks like now. 

Friday night we watched it burn--I tried getting some good photographs, but it required a tripod and long exposed shots, which was a little tough with all the mosquitos buzzing about. I got a couple at night and in the morning, you could tel that much, if not a majority of the island was blackened by the fire.

I don't know the extent of the damage, There's not much on the island, a gift shop, a ranch, some campgrounds. I would think they'd be able to protect those. There's also a lot of animals there, antelope, American bison, among others. I hope they were able to escape harm.

The last I heard the fire was caused by lightning, and therefore, as close to a natural occurrence as possible (the island has been left undeveloped...). Fires are part of nature and, as I've been told, can be very beneficial. The grasses and plants will return and in the future, us--of perhaps, others--will stare across the lake and see an island on fire. 

Because it's happened before...

And it will happen again.