This afternoon, desperate for some relief from a week of horrible news, I turned to “my” webcams, particularly those in the mountains closest to me. But ultimately I fixated on a screenshot I grabbed a few days ago:
It’s fascinating to me how wind, sun, and clouds are constantly at play, dancing on Longs Peak. And, of course, on many lesser peaks as well. It’s another reason I love the mountains. They are “ever changing, never changed.”
(If that sounds familiar, I think it’s something Spock said to T’Pring in “Star Trek.” It has stuck with me all these years, though I can’t find anything now to confirm my recollection.)
I wished, when I came across this scene, that I’d arrived earlier. I could have grabbed successive shots, possibly some much better than this, recording the sequence of dance steps.
It reminded me of one evening many years ago when I was in Estes Park, vacationing from Oklahoma City. My brother, who lives a bit west of Boulder, had invited me down for dinner. It was late afternoon when I headed out on the 45-minute drive to his place. I was barely out of town when I noticed the sun and clouds playing on Twin Sisters, a mountain just south of Estes and across the valley from Longs. I pulled over to watch the show as the sun dropped lower and the clouds did their thing — materializing, dancing, vanishing in the changing light.
I was an hour late to dinner that night. My brother understood.
I do miss the mountains.
Me too. As I’ve gotten older, they’ve gotten farther away.
beautiful
Gets me every time.
A friend in Estes sent me some pictures she took the same evening —
I was 46 when I first saw mountains: it was Chic’s and my first European trip. From that moment I became an appassionata of this glorious part of nature.
Our subsequent four trips only made mountains more fixed in my heart.
And now I will never see them again.
But I have some of his wonderful photos ! 🙂
Well, I’ll never see European mountains, so I guess we’re even. My dad got me hooked on Colorado mountains when I was a kid by bringing us up here every summer. Took me 65-70 years to finally manage to move here, but better late than never. Sad, though, that I couldn’t afford to live where I could at least see them every day. (Mountain views are insanely expensive.)
You and Chic couldn’t find someplace farther from Australia to visit? 😉
All our roots are European, Colorado, and it’s from there that comes the siren call.
(Plus, I am obliged to admit, the fact that we followed our favourite tenor around the continent, when we could get bookings.)
Wonderful memories I’m sure. Sounds like great fun.