The beauty of weeds (?)

Weeds in my backyard
Originally uploaded by gwilmore

This picture, which I took shortly before sunset yesterday, might reveal more about me than I really want it to. Specifically, it's proof that I don't spend quite as much time out working in the yard as I probably need to, although that is something I freely admit anyway; moreover, we are going to be moving within a matter of days, so this little failing of mine won't matter for much longer. (Our new digs will be about a mile from where we are now, and we will continue living in our same LDS ward. I do plan to enlist some help and come back in a couple of weeks to spiff up the yard; but with Sheila's health issues and my own limitations being what they are, it is simply more than we are able to handle ourselves.) But on the flipside of this coin, perhaps it is good that I am able to recognize beauty in the most ordinary, everyday, and mundane of things -- in this case, a group of backyard weeds. That's right -- WEEDS! What's more, this picture has already been featured on Flickr's Explore page, which is a sort of showcase of a given day's 500 best images. (In a typical minute, between 2500 and 3000 new images are uploaded to the site, so making Explore is quite an honor -- sort of Flickr's equivalent of making Law Review.)

This one came about as I was swimming laps in our backyard pool. During a pause at the pool's east end, I noticed the light effect presented here by the setting sun, as well as the contrast to the dark background. I ran inside, got my camera, and stepped back into the pool, then took this picture while I was standing chest-deep in water. In some ways, the result may be among the most personally satisfying images I've ever captured.