There Is Always Beauty

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In the first blog post I created back in 2007 I wrote about the four seasons of the Inland Empire. When I was younger I always dreaded this end-of- winter- almost- spring time of year. Polluted smoke from the Bunker Hill smelter filled the already gray skies with a thicker gray and a dismal pallor hung over the skies of the Kellogg and the surrounding valley. The snow was dirtied by the slag used to give cars more traction. The sun didn't shine very often.

 I can't conjure up memories of anything beautiful this time of year from my youth. What I do remember as we marched slowly into a late spring was the absence of outside Easter egg hunts, white patent leather shoes covered with mud walking to church on Easter, and freezing weather the time our high school youth group organized an outdoor sunrise service. However I do recall the sweet smell of a blooming Easter Lily with a pot wrapped in pink foil and tied in a pastel bow.

 I paid attention when the lilacs bloomed in May, when we headed to Blum's greenhouse to get pansies and petunias, and the sight of Grandma's snowball bush blooming in her front yard in Spokane. I am sure there were other signs of spring before May, but I just didn't notice.

Now I notice the beauty of all four seasons each day. One reason is that I carry my camera wherever I go and have a visual history of the seasons in the Inland Empire. Another reason is that I try to be present and find beauty in every weather during every season. Today when I trudged through the mud in the driveway I looked at the beauty of the setting sun. The reflection of the frozen snow made me forget the broken branches and dead leaves waiting to be cleaned up in the flower bed by the front walk.

 I will notice beauty tomorrow also and the day after. I don't need a crocus blooming or forsythia buds swelling on the branch to have something to photograph. Tomorrow it may be the bare branches of the fruit trees awaiting spring. What I know for sure is I will have a record of it.
  You can find that first blog post here.