How many times can you take the same walk, without beginning to take your surroundings for granted? This was my thought as I went out on a walk yesterday - to be purposeful in searching for the newness. Our minds are trained to filter out the "noise", and with computer-fast accuracy, it reloads the cached page of our surroundings. Forcing a hard refresh should be fairly simple, but it does take a conscious effort to pause, blink slowly, and open your eyes again to the beauty around you.
First I started with the sky, it was beautiful. The clouds were like cotton candy strewn over a turquoise backdrop. Do you see how you can trace the curvature of the dome above? I love when it feels like we're inside a glass ornament! Take a look, can you see it?
I wanted another view - a longer, expansive view of the sky! I wanted to see if it changed the way I felt... and it did! What do you think?
Next - it was time for weeds. Could I actually find the beauty in the weeds that have grown up, wild and untamed? Of course, I'm a sucker for purple flowers - so once my eyes spotted these - it was easy to find the new!
Gorgeous right? Look at the changing states of these little pods! Some are green little prickly bulbs - some are the purple starting to break free, and then it isn't long until they turn into dry little hay-colored spikes!
And then there was this little guy! Having quite the feast! He was so interested in his lunch, that he let me get very close and didn't even bother me! hehehe. I wanted to see those spikey flowers up close - so I went looking for the perfect specimen. Look how even in their "death", this weed is really very striking!
Speaking of death - I always love how dandelions become little angels in their death! To me, they don't QUITE seem dead, until they blow all the little seeds into the air. Little helicopters floating away to make more dandelions. I really liked this picture because it showed the contrast in the two stages here. Side by side, death and clinging to life!
I saw this pinecone. It is in the middle of summer, and yet... hehehe I imagined that little pop of lightness on the cone - was snow! I also loved how this pinecone was on the pavement, with some little leaves next to it. I kept seeing so many contrasting images side by side! I really started to enjoy this new perspective approach!
Now this next picture - is something that makes me pause and take notice every time I see it. Seeds blow into the cracks of the asphalt, and over the course of this weed's life - it grows bigger and bigger - until it actually breaks up the asphalt beneath! It's just a nice reminder of the resiliency of life!!
We often have lightning strikes that target our poor trees and even cause wildfires. Occasionally - the trees are just old and the weight of them pulls them to the ground. It's the most amazing sound - and it happens more often than you can realize. Probably 3-5 times a month? We hear the sound of a tree cracking, and then WHOOOOOSH and BAM! I've actually seen them fall several times and it's an intimidating sight! Once - a tree VERY CLOSE to our house fell. It was so frightening, because you could hear the sound coming closer and there was no telling if it was going to hit the house! The trees here are HUGE. I don't even want to think of what would happen if it actually fell on the house! Here you can see a small-ish tree. To me - it looks like a lightning strike here. But, not exactly sure! But - beautiful, right?
This is just a random picture - but again, I wanted to see the beauty in the ordinary. A pinecone might be ordinary - but a sea of pinecones? I think it's a little bit extraordinary!
This is just a simple spot... a lookout over Big Baldy (the mountain in the distance) with a clearing in front. I love the singular dead tree in the center of the photo. I'm not sure why it's still standing. My guess is that it is just that stubborn. hehehe
Not sure if you can see the context of how big this insect is. There is another bug alongside him - and he is probably about the size of a fly. So, compared to him - this red and black superbug is pretty large! I enjoyed capturing him! There was an even LARGER black shiny insect that was feasting here - but when I took too long to take the shot (I couldn't get the camera to focus hehehe), he flew away. This guy was my consolation prize! hehehe I wanted to make his picture special, since he stayed to model for me - so I hope he appreciates how famous I'm making him on Hive! LOLOL
My final shot here.... again, just a bit of a second take on the "everyday". As I mentioned before - we see so many fallen trees! Some are cut down and left to rot (food for the forest critters!), and some are burned in burn piles (so that we don't have extra fuel for the next wildfire laying around). The unique shape of this tree, and the pattern as it was rotting really seemed beautiful to me. I especially love the color of the "meat" of the tree. I had fun editing this one to highlight all that beautiful rich color in the middle. See that cute little leaf resting in the middle too? hehehe
This post is an entry for the weekly challenge for #WednesdayWalk , founded by 
