Soak it up

I took the time to take a little walk today, exploring a small meadow near camp. It's a little late in the season for many wildflowers, but there were some.

There was also lots of grass. Have you ever thought about grass? How many different kinds there are? So many colors, so many different shapes on top, some of them so delicate and lacy. Have you noticed how it bends in the wind and changes color as it shifts? Have you noticed how verdant the world looks with a rich layer of grass covering the ground and how barren it looks in the absence of grass? Even brown grass is better than no grass. Do you ever hear the wind sighing through the grass and feel a sharp pang of longing and loneliness? Have you ever noticed how grass is the first thing to come back after a fire, restoring loveliness to a burned and barren land? Have you ever seen grass covering an old ruin, concealing the places where people once lived, loved, worshipped? I love wildflowers, but I'm coming to love grass more and more. Its beauty is more subtle, but can also be more poignant.

It also is incredibly difficult to photograph well.

In addition to the grass I saw numerous bugs, including thousands of mosquitoes with single-minded desire to suck out all my blood. They failed. I also saw this cute little bug. I didn't manage to get a very good picture of him, but he was pretty cool.

Time here is short, both time at camp and time in Montana. I am excited to have a break from camp, and I'm excited to go back to Israel, but I know I will miss so many things here when I leave. Things like flowers, grass, and bugs; mountains, rivers and rain. And of course the people. So for now I'll try to soak up all that I can from my beautiful Montana, and enjoy as much time as I can with my dear friends and family before heading back to beautiful Israel and my other friends there.