Stinky Potpourri

Observations in passing and in brief.

Summer fades ever so gently into fall, and fall chills one freeze at a time into winter, but winter does not go easily. The land convulses into spring.

This was 23 April or thereabouts. (I need to fix the timestamp on my camera.) Afterwards we got a lot of rain. A lot. Of course, the afternoon windstorms happen with or without the precipitation.

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there” is a line I turn over in my mind when I find myself thinking about things in my long ago past. A personal variation I keep coming back to is, “The past is a foreign country. We had good reasons for moving.”

I always feel honored to witness a sunrise. They’re pretty no matter the season.

I’ve always found the expression “going forward” annoying. Who thinks this is a good substitute for “henceforth” or simply “from now on”? Pretentious gasbags aiming to sound “professional,” of course. Like “ongoing” in place of simply “continuing” from the 1970s, though, this will likely stick with us.

The Sangre de Cristos, like a big foamy wave poised to crash over the valley floor.

I never thought I would live so long to see Christianity become a barely tolerated minority religion. The arson of Notre Dame was one corner turned. What happens to the structure during its repair will be another. If Islamic minarets aren’t put up in place of the destroyed Arrow of God, it won’t be for lack of enthusiastic and insistent effort. The desecration has already been suggested.

As one who suffered a most bitter break with the faith in his teens, this open disrespect for Christianity still puts me off, especially for how cowardly it is. The comeback, “Real edgy, bro. Now do Islam” after someone mocks Christians and Christianity is already a meme.

The asters resurgent.

Having lived in Alaska, where the birches bud in early June and the leaves begin changing in mid-August, and now in Colorado, where trees budding in April is early, and you can see shocks of yellow in the green boughs by late July, I consider how strange it is that these trees live so long only to have leaves for less than half of the year, if even an entire season. Something about the tenacity of life, half a loaf being better than none, etc. Something.

Anyway, it’s good to have the warmer weather back.