the big picture

It's autumn here in Colorado. just two days ago, I awoke in Durango to low clouds and misty rain, and began my journey across the state to Denver. I took the scenic route (well, there's really only a scenic route) via 160 and then up 285 to the crazy rotaries around the metropolis of the front range. But before hitting traffic, i spent 6 hours traversing mountains covered in golden aspens, dodging rainclouds and watching falcons, elk, and marmots cross the land and sky scapes. Every so often I'd come down into a valley, where farmers were cutting and bailing hay, or harvesting potatoes into story-high piles on the sides of their fields. I listened to entire albums on my ipod, and realized how much i default to shuffle, which has it's place, but also removes a song from its context, where often there's so much more to be gathered, understood, and felt in music. I lost myself for a while, in sights and sounds, and eventually bumped into myself there, too. it's all bigger and better, richer and brighter than we let ourselves experience sometimes.