Surprise!

Sometimes, I am astounded by what my camera discovers!  I'd love to claim credit, but the equipment just seems to have a mind of its own.  In Africa, the beauty was of the non-traditional kind.  Zambia is not noted for it's overly gardenesque landscape.  The beauty lies in the people, the wildlife, and the tenacity of the existing flora to survive.    The giraffes amazed me.  The lions astounded me.  I even found a primal beauty in the hyena.  But the "flowers"?  Not so much.  On one of our "walks", I stopped to look at a set of tracks, and my camera jumped into my hand screaming, "Look up!  Look up".  There in front of me was the most unique blossom I had ever seen.  Naturally, I took the picture and moved on, never giving it another thought.  It was when we were culling the 3000+ photos of giraffes, lions, hyenas, hippos, elephants (well you get the idea) when this picture appeared.  There in the middle of a seemingly desolate area was a thing of uniquity and beauty.
So, why you might ask, is he just now writing about this?  The answer is simple.  It's two below zero.  The wind is howling.  The snow is falling.  I'm cold.  I'm crabby.  And it sucks to be in South Dakota at this very minute.  So I went back to Africa and found once again, this picture.  It reminded me that in the middle of nothing, beauty exists.  We simply have to look for it.  The same is true with people.  May you discover an internal camera that finds and reminds you of this fact.  And may you always know you are loved!