Give Thanks...Seeing The Good Through The Bad

It's not the best example of perspective...a bit of a stretch, actually. I didn't think about it until I got home and looked at the photos of the sunset I took returning home last week. The sunset looked to be another classic. Of course, you have to see how a sunset turns out. 

Turns out, it was a good one.

As sunsets sometimes do, this one became more stunning as time passed. When possible and whenever it was safe, I snapped a picture from time to time as the colors increased, the light transformed from captivating to breath-taking. Since I wanted to get home, I didn't check the shots I took until I pulled them up from my computer and checked them out.

My favorite shot was not perfect, as far as the qualities that make a good photograph good. The beauty of the sunset can be seen through a dirty car window, the angle of the sun greatly highlighted the dirt. Still...

It was beautiful.

Life is like that. You can use technology to "remove" the dirt, eliminate the bad leaving only the a false presentation of reality. I suppose I could have used some program to show only the incredible sunset. Life, however, has dirt...has problems. The trick is to see through the dirt to the beauty beyond.

I'm thankful I could see the sunset, watch as it developed. I'm thankful that there's dirt because without the dirt, it's harder to appreciate the beauty.

Give Thanks...Right Place, Right Time

 Leaving work tonight, I happened to glance to the west. When the sun is about to disappear into the western sky, it's one of the few times you can look at the sun without sunglasses or anything else to protect your eyes.

Tonight's sky was beautiful.

Of course, all the smoke from distant fires helped create the incredible colors. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Actually, I happened to look west at the right time and I was in the right place to see what I saw.

I've watched thousands and thousands of sunsets not necessarily from that exact spot, but from the area. I miss seeing the sun set behind the mountains. Where we live now, we see the sun set behind our backyard neighbors's homes. The skies are still beautiful, but it's different to be able to look at the sun at is disappears. 

I'm grateful that I've been fortunate enough to have seen so many beautiful and incredible sunsets. Sometimes, I see them forming, get an idea that they might turn into something special. Other times, I'm walked through a parking lot to get to my car and I look west...

Right place, right time.

A Sunset For Kim...

The text message she sent was simple...Just seeing how we're doing.

The few words conveyed more than asking for an update--I could tell the person sending the text was hurting...

And, without even asking, I knew why.

She's been watching the news.

Me, in my little house snuggled in the Rocky Mountains, am about as far removed from events hundreds and thousands of miles away as possible, but feelings of pain, of empathy, of fear, of hate, of rage, of sorrow can cross those distances in the blink of an eye. 

We chatted electronically. I tried to lighten the mood, just like I've tried to do with others. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I told her I haven't been watching the news--I told her it's good to be informed, but it can be too much.

As happens often at my little house snuggled in the Rocky Mountains, the setting sun floods the western sky with beauty, unparalleled by anything man could ever create. Tonight, though my vantage point from inside our kitchen was not the best, I snapped a quick picture and sent the digital photograph to her, a state away.

For many, the world burns tonight--both figuratively and literally. As with any figurative or literal fire, it may die down, or may explode in intensity. No one knows which way it will go. But I do know that tonight's sunset was beautiful and calming and peaceful and real. It was created by the hand of God for those who would only look and feel His hand in all things.

Yes, she is hurting and the pain is real. The images she's witnessed that have followed only add to her pain. But, for every evil deed done, there are many many more good ones done to counteract. If it weren't so, humanity would cease to exist. I know it wasn't much, but I hope the simple picture of tonight's sunset helped. Because, if we would only look, we will see His hand in all things.

Playing Around With My Phone's Panorama Camera Function...Shooting Up

It took a me a long time to figure out that the panorama camera function on my phone wasn't just for shooting a wide landscape shot.

It can also shoot up....

Or, I suppose, down, if needs be.

Of course, you have to turn your camera horizontal to take a vertical panorama shot, which, is weird because you have to turn your camera horizontal to take a horizontal shot in normal mode.

Tonight's sunset didn't have much color near the western horizon, but higher up, it was gorgeous. Taking a normal vertical shot would not have done it justice, so I utilized the panorama function and I think it turned out well.

Here's a few examples.

I use my phone everyday (like most of us...) and a majoritty of my Pics Of The Day are from my phone. It's an old phone, too--ancient in technological years--but I'll keep using it. It keeps taking pictures I'm glad to share.

The Night The Sky Came Alive...

As October slowly disappeared into the west, the sky came alive. It was beautiful. Sometimes you can tell when the sunset's going to be good. Other times, you think the sunset might be special and it doesn't turn out.

Tonight, I wasn't sure, but since it's Halloween and I was setting up jack-o-lanterns and getting things ready for trick-or-treaters, I was outside a lot. I watched as things developed and I couldn't stop taking pictures.

It just kept getting better and better.

Here's a few of the shots I took, as October slowly disappeared into the west.

Hell From Heaven...

Last night, as we headed out to pick up our daughter, I looked west and was blessed to see another amazing Utah spring sunset. 

I snapped a picture.

It wasn't until I added it to Instagram that the words, "Hell From Heaven" popped into my head. To me, it's what the picture looked like. Those three words mean something else to me, and to several other people.

They're the words that were on my father's B-17, his plane that flew over Germany in WWII.

It wasn't until I was an adult that I found the pictures and learned a little about the plane and its crew. My father had passed some thirty years earlier. I never tried reaching out to any of the crew members then, and it's even more unlikely any of them are still alive today. Their stories and the stories my father knew have passed with them. Hopefully, one day I'll get to hear them.

When I took the picture last night, it wasn't one of the most spectacular sunsets we've had. I wasn't even sure if I'd use it for anything. But, when I posted it to Instagram, it made me think of my dad, and that made me think of his plane, and that made me think about all the things associated with that.

Hell From Heaven...it fits the picture. And I'm sure, as those kids (basically...) were flying in that rickety plane, it did fell like hell. I have so much respect for them every time I think about what they did. Thanks dad, and everyone else who served.