Strange, somber view that I watched as I heard the news on BBC this morning (B&W PHOTO)

[DemoTex]

I was up early (first light, as usual) in the fire lookout tower. I tuned in BBC World News as I scanned the lightning areas for fires (we have had a few lightning fires in the past couple of days). As the BBC read the news - on and on - about Aurora, Colorado, I was scanning through the Crater Buttes to my west. By that time, I was sick at my stomach at the hints of another - yet another - gun massacre. I haven't even gotten over Gabby Giffords, and that has been almost eighteen months.

I watched low clouds spill in from ultra-flat Ft. Rock Valley, and break - like waves at the beach - over the Crater Buttes of the Newberry Volcano. On-and-on it went as on-and-on I listened. It could not have been more metaphorical in a Hieronymus Bosch nightmare-scape.

The waves of "breaking" clouds became the unending assault (pardon the well-chosen word) of gun massacres in our culture. What a hell-of-a-scene on such an apocalyptic morning.


About 0600 PDT on Friday 7/20/12

[rufus dog]

1. nice post dude

Beautiful picture, some days we (humans) just figure out how to be ugly to counteract natures beauty.

[lapfog_1]

2. If I had your living situation

I think I would not check the BBC every day. Or any other news outlet.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. It's a beautiful picture, my dear DemoTex...

I greatly respect how you wove the picture together with today's events...

[Sedona]

4. Again

your words match the beauty of your photos.

Be well Demotex

[calimary]

5. Stunning.

Amazing photo and even more astonishing that it IS a photo and not some fanciful art rendering.

I also appreciate your musings about it in light of this overwhelming Aurora CO nightmare. Makes me surf towards that prayer for Divine guidance or protection or something or other: "...for the sea is so vast, and my boat is so small."

Thanks for posting this, DemoTex.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

6. That's an amazing photo, even....

...if what you were hearing while you witnessed this landscape was horrendous. I had no idea clouds would do that.

[freshwest]

7. Well done. We had similar clouds yesterday afternoon and that seemed to portend something.

We have so many strange and beautiful days here on Earth.

At times I feel that they are tellng us something we cannot understand, maybe we never will.

But what happened this morniung was solely mankind's doing.

[ZenLefty]

8. Wow. Reminds me of Hokusai Japanese woodblock prints

Beautiful and terrible at the same time.

Great photo, Mr. Tex. Thanks for sharing but don't lose your job doing so, k?

[xxqqqzme]

9. Your words paint

an amazing picture. Then your photo - wow! I live a the beach. I have seen angry waves rolling & churning, cresting & breaking full of sand and bits of flotsom. The photo is almost other worldly.
Thank you

[Fawke Em]

10. Thank you.

BTW, can you recommend a job? I want to move to Britain. The US is dead, especially my Southern part of it.

[DCKit]

11. Drop some rain, motherfuckers! nt