The Long View

Another cold day, temperatures in the teens.
Morning snow gave way to blue skies;
By afternoon the clouds were rolling eastward.

Masses of pearly clouds mimicked
The snow-covered slopes . . .

And both blushed in the light of the setting sun.

Cloud Mountain

Setting autumn sun
Warms the eastern slopes; roiling
Lavender clouds rise ...

Looming high above
The wall of Blue Ridge Mountains,
Shapeless forms converge ...

For a brief moment,
I thought I saw perfection --
Fujiyama-san.

A Thing of Beauty . . .

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness . . ."

from Endymion by John Keats

Some beauty is more fleeting. Kate the Donkey is shedding her winter coat and emerging, for the summer, sleek and lovely as a race horse. (Well, possibly I exaggerate. But I think she's beautiful.)

The tiger lilies are here for their brief moment of glory.

And this evening, the beauty of the mists on the eastern mountains changed constantly.

But the view -- ah, may it remain a joy forever!