Photo Friday - PhotoTrice

Contrast

These days most of us live in urban areas with access to every possible consumer product. Even if we live outside the city, internet retailers are there 24/7 to meet every need. Most of us in the developed world have the expectation of living a comfortable life.

In the days BD (before digital) expectations of having a comfortable life were similar to today but the scale of consumer choice was somewhat different. For the most part we made do with goods that were available locally. Our choices were fewer in number but more than adequate. So we thought.

Today there is a simultaneous explosion of access and goods that drives us as consumers. Every possible need is met with multiple choices. Novelty drives our shopping experiences as much as need. In some ways we have too many choices available which makes selecting the best goods nearly impossible. Compared with earlier times I’m not sure whether we are actually better off or not. Regardless I’m happy living in a connected world of endless possibilities.

Mountianous

Grapevine Hills - 4 — Grapevine Hills – 4

Many of my most vivid memories of living on the earth are about mountains. I was born at five thousand feet at the base of the Wasatch beneath peaks where you could see campfires and snow pack in early summer. As a teenager we dared to swim in the icy water of Pineview on a moonlit winter night. The snowy peaks all around were a magical sight.

Later I rode the Jemez where spirits are strong and mastered the last switchbacks of the Crest road. I visited the Plains of San Agustin where whispers from stars are captured. The back roads between Grass Valley and Truckee are in my memory as are the peaks above Palm Springs.

These days I spend as much time as possible in the Chisos. The drive from hot desert floor to the cool air of the basin is always good. Sometimes the peaks make their own weather. They Appear out of heavy ground fog or with tops obscured by storms or adorned by a halo of lenticular clouds. I feel at home when I can see the dark blue high altitude sky with mountains close by.

Foliage

Guadalupe in Flood – Zuiko 28mm 3.5 @ f8.0

The experts say it is weather not climate change. The extreme year to year changes are just normal fluctuation. When a butterfly flaps its wings in China the wind blows in Texas. Maybe so but lately people have been swimming for their lives on one part of the globe and desperate for moisture in other places. Where I live the average temperature is up, up and away. A scary trend if it is one.

Just last year one reservoir in the Hill Country was seventy feet below normal water level. Last week it was full and overflowing. It’s just the weather not climate change. I’m not sure where all those Pacific islanders are going to live a few years. Closer to home I’m not sure where people in Miami and New Orleans will live either. Get ready to meet your new neighbors. They may be a little damp or perhaps very thirsty.