Forest for the trees? Up close and personal?

Devil's in the details. Right? Devil has the right idea, in that case. What are (or aren't) details, if not the stitches in the canvas, the tiles on the pool floor, the peanuts in the packing box of LIFE (the experience, not the cereal)? I always liked those Magic Eye posters so popular in the 90s. Partly because going crosseyed was fun, and partly because the discovery of the bigger picture in all those splotches was even funner. More fun still was that a certain grade school nemesis who shall remain nameless was rubbish at the things (small victories). Any rate, since then, I have loved getting up close to things (oh yeah, just in the interests of full disclosure, I'm a bit nearsighted...well make that totally blind). Some say I miss the bigger picture for my love of details, but I'll take that over only seeing the broad view and losing its component parts.

I've gone on about flowers and their ilk, but really, they look pretty cool when you get right up in there-

Growing up in Farm Country, I have seen a field or two in my day. And right across the world, those fields look pretty much the same up close. And are just as important whether they are Idaho Corn, Italian Grapes, or even African Khat. It tends to depend on the light, the colours, and the angles, but really, it all just looks fantastic.

Don't want to wax too philosophical, but much like some great high quality wood or the coolest person you know, that LIFE box I mentioned before really is a very richly textured thing (something it shares with the eponymous breakfast food). And while that texture can been generally seen from any vantage point, I find that the deeper slash closer one goes slash gets, the more one can appreciate the details. Grass is not just green(s).

Trees are not just brown(s).

Water is not just blue(s) (whatever country, island, rock, or bit of reef it might frame). I mean, for crying out loud... they don't even make Crayolas in these colours!

Eyes are more than just ocular sense organs. Nothing is quite as lovely as seeing one's own reflection in the eyes of a horse. I highly recommend it if you ever get the chance. They just see so very much. More than they ever let on. I suppose that's for the best.




Finally, on the lighter side of the issue, when they get to take center stage and the whole photo, little things get rather bigger... And come to life! Check out this little visitor looking like a dinosaur (those little toenails made one helluva racket on my window...)

 For the love of Mike! Attack of the Giant Neapolitan Lozenge-Shaped Bugs!!! (he's about the size of the end of my thumb, but check out all the kit he's lugging about on those wee spindly legs)

Doesn't matter how cutesy you try to make him... Vader is still the Darthiest... (yeah this one is gratuitous...you can turn off the Nerd Alert klaxons...)

Tahoe in my Dreams

Big, grandiose views. Gorgeous panoramic vistas. No one will argue that Lake Tahoe is rather pretty; especially in the winter and spring. All that deep clean snow, and the springtime melty bits, make the place seem at once untouched and idyllic, and peacefully inhabited.

From my point of view, much like the devil, the beauty is in the details. Along any road, trail, or footpath, there are millions of small, seemingly insignificant background elements that are on their own far more brilliant than their credit would indicate. These elements do not seek the spotlight the way the postcard inspirational wall hanging scenic views do; they are happy to sneak past the sight of the gluttons for scenery, and observe from the sidelines. But they are so important for sake of the whole picture. Apologies in advance for the cliche, but no one really wants to ignore the trees to enjoy the forest. Without the trees, a forest is nothing but greeney browney lines, hardly the stuff of awe. Even the rather tiny and a bit out of place have a certain something:

Besides, it was not their decision to get plonked down six feet from the water. They don't even realise (or perhaps they do) that once the runoff hits the lake, they will find themselves becoming aquatic evergreens. A bit sad, really, if I'm being perfectly honest.

Birds have a slightly unfair advantage. They are as a rule naturally rather pretty and are quite good at perching in very photogenic manners.

All well and good, that, but I am more interested in their other, more stroppy side.

On a psychologically predictable level, I find it highly poetic that even something with plumage glinting in the dawn light can turn its backside on what it deems unimportant (i.e. me with my camera and lack of feathers and wings).

Continuing with observations that reveal more about me than they do the subject of the observing, the broken, disused, and general rubbish of the world strikes a chord.

Whatever the cause of the destruction or disuse, the fact that some poor object cannot do the job it was created so to do is sad. Not cry into my beer sad, but rather wish better for an inanimate object sad. Unlike people (or so we like to think), a boat is made with a singular function or purpose in mind: to float, and theoretically to carry cargo of some variety. Excepting for self destructive tendencies, boats want to be able to do their job; dirty great holes caused by outside forces make that impossible, and without additional ourside intervention to repair said holes, this spells certain abandonment to the elements or outright death.

Some disuse is not nearly so sad. At the moment of idleness, one may wax distraught, but there sometimes is a sort of end in sight.

Barrring disturbances to underground pipes, a rusted, calcified water faucet will see use again once the temperatures rise and jolly boat-goers have need of a place to attach a hose. The very lack of snow on the surounding ground is a bit of an optimistic sight; spring is trying to sprung.

Some of the devilish details have less to say beyond a somewhat self-effacing, "Hullo, there. Do you think I'm pretty? I bet in a certain light, I might be picturesque, too..."

Or perhaps a more contented, "Not much to see here, but the day is lovely and the sun is warm. How are you?"

In the immortal words of Satchmo..."Wooooah. What a wonderful world!"