Wednesday, October 16, 2013

The Uniqueness Of A Moment

Several weekends ago Zack and I spent 2 days at our condo in the mountains.  Zack didn't have school on Friday so we headed to Silverthorne on Thursday evening and stayed until Saturday.  When stay at the condo each day we take the dogs out for several long walks through the forests and fields behind the condo complex. 

Japanese Pine Bark beetles have killed most of the pine trees in Summit County where our condo is located.  The forest behind the condo became a graveyard of dead and dying Lodge Pole pines over several months in 2008.  In order to provide a defensible space against forest fires in these masses of dead trees, most of the forests around the residential areas in Summit County have been cut down.  As I walked through this area late on the Friday afternoon that we were in the mountains, I came upon the most marvelous sight.  The sun was setting behind Buffalo Mountain and the position of the glowing orb was illuminating a "teepee" of cut tree trunks that will be burnt once the weather turns colder.

The sight was truly awe inspiring.  What was even more remarkable to me than the sight itself was that it only lasted for 20 seconds before the sun sank behind the Buffalo Mountain.  This one small moment in time was unique in so many unfathomable ways!  When the sun was setting the following day it won't be in the same place, or perhaps a cloud would obscure the sun - it staggered my mind to think of all the impossibly large number of variables that came together to create this one unbelievable sight!  And then in 20 seconds it was gone and land was plunged into the shadow of the mountain as the sun slipped behind it.

(My cell phone was the only camera equipment I had on me at the time.  I did my best to capture this beautiful sight with the iPhone's camera.)

Some day when you see a beautiful sight like this, realize all the things that came together at that exact moment to make it occur and realize how fleeting it might be!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week. It's half over!!

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.