S W O O N D: b e a u t i m u s e : twilight on the western front

8.05.2009

b e a u t i m u s e : twilight on the western front

Time for some pretties, my darlings. I've been away far too long. It's good to be home and it's oh such a pleasure to reconnect with all of you wonderful, patient, wicked-talented visiteurs.

For this evening's plaisir des yeux, we offer a photo from recent travels. This shot of the Wasatch Mountain range is one of several that I took from a 20-mile distance at five-minute intervals. You can see a trio of pics over at beautimuse, the new-ish place where I post Jumbotron-size images.

The shift in colors from moment to moment was stunning. And, lo and behold, the sunset hues perfectly match those of this 1940 travel postcard (below). All that coral and rose saturating the sky must come from years and years of pollution — courtesy of the copper mines. Thanks, Monsanto and Kennecott Minerals.

If you'd like to comment (you know I'd love to hear from you), please, pretty please do so here.

the world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.

- w. b. yeats

sounds travel through space long after their wave patterns have ceased to be detectable by the human ear: some cut right through the ionosphere and barrel on out into the cosmic heartland, while others bounce around, eventually being absorbed into the vibratory fields of earthly barriers, but in neither case does the energy succumb; it goes on forever - which is why we, each of us, should take pains to make sweet notes.

- tom robbins

the same dream returned each night until i dared not to go to sleep and grew quite ill. i dreamed i had a child, and even in the dream i saw it was my life, and it was an idiot, and i ran away. but it always crept onto my lap again, clutched at my clothes. until i thought, if i could kiss it, whatever in it was my own, perhaps i could sleep. and i bent to its broken face, and it was horrible . . . but i kissed it. i think one must finally take one's life in one's arms.

- arthur miller, after the fall

YIN AND JUNG

who looks outside, dreams;

who looks inside, awakes.

everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.

when we must deal with problems, we instinctively resist trying the way that leads through obscurity and darkness. we wish to hear only of unequivocal results, and completely forget that these results can only be brought about when we have ventured into and emerged again from the darkness. but to penetrate the darkness we must summon all the powers of enlightenment that consciousness can offer.

- carl jung, the stages of life