Travel-Sparkles

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to find myself lying on a beach. Because I didn't have a lounge chair, I ended up lying on my side with my hat atop my ear to block the sun.

I never looked at the ocean from this vantage point before. The hat blocked the sky, leaving only a strip of blue stripes. Everything became abstract - a stripe of tan sand, bluish textured stripes of colored water, and a smooth blue stripe of sky.

But what was mesmerizing was the sparkles. I even had to sit up and look at the normal view to confirm what I was seeing. Of course the sun sparkles on the water. It does all the time.

But lying there, looking at my sideways abstract view, the sparkles on the water were incredible - blazing in the scene like diamonds. I found myself amazed that everyone at the ocean didn't just sit and stare at the sparkles.

I wonder what else I would marvel at if I just changed my vantage point now and then?

Las Vegas Skies

Lately I've gotten into a habit of taking photos of Las Vegas skies. And they can be pretty magnificent. Perhaps they intrigue me because so much of the summer here has cloudless skies, and the expanse of blue gets monotonous.

But when there are clouds, that when they call to me. I can't stop looking at them. I hold up my phone while I'm driving and click away, hoping to capture them.

The Vegas skies used to annoy me. Coming from the green Midwest, I was used to trees enveloping me, only allowing the sky to peek through. The desert skies seemed too wide-open, harsh. I missed my green home. When I traveled back there to visit, the green was almost overwhelming.

Brown used to be the color I chose to describe Las Vegas. It's not a lush desert like further south. It's a brown place to live. But after letting go to the skies, I find them taking over my impression of this land.

Now, this is a place of blue.