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before everything comes undone
Here are some more distant forest fires. The one on the right expanded from a barely-visible wisp of dark smoke to what you see here in about three minutes. It was fascinating. It was horrifying. It was unbelievable. And as sometimes happens, a song lyric presented itself to my brain as I made this image. I heard “got to cover some ground before everything comes undone” from the Bruce Cockburn song “40 Years in the Wilderness”.
Galisteo, New Mexico
photographed 5.15.2022
in the crashing chaos
“Good God, woman, GET INSIDE.” -what my friend Don told me he thought to himself when I sent him this photo.
This end-of-the-world-looking cloud was right above my house and the rotation (a sign that maybe there’s a tornado) was clearly apparent. I’ve lived in tornado-prone areas for almost my whole life and this…this was scary.
There wasn’t a tornado, though, and my neighborhood didn’t even get too much rain. And also, I did go inside after I made this photo.
The title is from – you may know what I am going to say here – a Bruce Cockburn song, “Boundless.”
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 5.17.2021
Going up against chaos
My regular reader(s) already knows that I often photograph restrooms, and that reader is nice enough to not laugh to my face about that.
But this is a reason why I have that weird little habit: that turned-over trash can was just ASKING to be photographed, if you ask me.
Another one of my weird photographic habits, which my brain tends to do all on its own without any assistance from me, is to place song lyrics in my head when I see scenes like this. Usually they are Bruce Cockburn lyrics and usually they don’t seem to have a very strong connection to the actual scene. Today’s lyrics, suggested by Melinda’s Brain, come from a song called “Going up Against Chaos.” And if you listen to the lyrics and can figure out a connection to this photo, please let me know: I’ll be damned if I can tell what it is.
Slaton, Texas
photographed 2.17.2021
Boundless
“Clouds overhead were ghostly gray.” – even though these clouds aren’t really what I’d call “ghostly gray” my brain still made the connection between the clouds and the song lyrics, which are from Bruce Cockburn’s song “Boundless.” (Another part of the song says, “The sky looks troubled but I feel free” but my brain wasn’t smart enough to make that connection.)
Anyway, I decided to listen the song while I wrote this post. I’d forgotten that the song started and ended with chimes; I have the same chimes in my backyard, so for a second I was confused if I was hearing the yard or the song. (The chimes are made by Music of the Spheres, in Austin. If you need chimes in your yard, check it out. And if you don’t need chimes in your yard, check it out anyway. You can play the chimes, a surprisingly pleasant pastime.)
Oh, and this picture? Just something I saw last fall in Minnesota.
Iona’s Beach Scientific and Natural Area, Minnesota
photographed 9.25.2019
Could be looking right past
The way this place is being demolished (or, maybe, renovated), it’s possible to see all the way through a room, two bathrooms, another room all the way to the other side of the building.
If you’ve been around this blog for a while, you may know that my brain sometimes makes strange connections between a scene I’m shooting and a song. And usually, only my brain gets the reasons for the connections. (And, yes, it would be nice for the brain to share with the rest of us, but that seems unlikely, so here we are.) And I bet you just can’t wait to see what sort of odd connection this thing conjured up.)
It was a few lines from “Bone in My Ear,” by Bruce Cockburn:
In my heart there’s a an image
Like looking through glass
Could be looking at me
Could be looking right past
(You can see/hear the song here. Also, I was at that very concert. In case you were wondering what I was up to last April.)
what’s left of the Days Inn
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 2.22.2019
One Day | One Image 