Chasing After Wind

On another one of my excursions to Colorado and back, I had a chance to take these pictures in west Texas. There were few vehicles on the road and I had time to slow down. In the first picture, the windmills were actually moving, but the picture doesn’t show movement. In the second picture, the lone windmill is how you see it, with no motion. But it was part of the larger wind farm with all others moving.

I was thinking while I was driving – as I am wont to do. This wasn’t the first time this had happened. I was just able to get pictures. But I don’t understand why one or two windmills were not working.

Did they get the day off? Do they rotate they days off between windmills?

Did a windmill call in sick, but the “doctor” was busy? Did it fall asleep on the job, but no one had come to wake it up?

I’m being facetious, but the questions are valid. Don’t they have crews that would fix a still windmill? If it was a computer issue, the windmill would probably never have stopped in the first place.

On the other hand, would I want to go up inside the windmill and fix something at the top?

No way in hell!

_________________________

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

Paypal.me/danroark

The picture followed a flash of lightning, which I missed. Unfortunately, the thunder, which could be a signal to the photographer that lightning is coming, actually followed the lightning. Truth be told, I was just trying to get a picture of rain at night. The lightning flashed so fast I almost missed it entirely.

It had been raining lightly on and off all day. Naturally, the humidity sucked. But about 9 p.m., give or take, the sky opened up. That doesn’t bode well for letting the dogs out and having to wipe off their paws when they come in. But we need the freaking rain. As it turned out, I needed the rain a little more than I thought.

My mom passed away early Easter morning. The family graveside service was that Friday. The memorial service at their church was a week and a half later due to scheduling issues with the church. In between the two services and ongoing, I’ve been helping Dad make arrangements to move out of the house into a retirement community. As an only child – since my brother was killed in 1987 – it falls on me to inherit the family things and coordinate with our children as to what they want or need that Dad isn’t taking with him.

Around the time Mom passed away, I released a new album, the L.A. Sessions. Naturally, promotion took a back seat. And I haven’t posted even though the ideas don’t stop coming. It’s all been a little more overwhelming than I thought it would be. I came up with a line for a song while I was sitting at my desk in the dark after Dad called me when she died. That kind of personal song is one of the hardest to write. You have to reduce all the memories you want to include to a line or two. And keep the syrup from oozing off the page. Not to mention I’ve been seeing my life flash before me on a nearly daily basis.

But tonight, when the rain became hard and steady, I felt a sort of calm. The calm I imagine the ground feels after being parched for weeks. Which is when I went out to take the picture. The picture, as they often are, is more on point than intended even with the supposed flaws. Then I wrote this post with more enthusiasm than before Mom passed away.

I let the rain wash it all away.

_________________________________________________

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

Paypal.me/danroark