view 18: random thoughts and shots taken on a short 15-minute walk to clear my head

One good reason to love winter: no need to get dressed properly, since a long jacket hides a multitude of sins.

It's so funny: I take these pictures of nature, and to an outsider, Houston looks wild, untamed and forested ...

... and yet right behind me, there rages this huge, nonstop, 8-lane highway -- the kind of thing Houston is really known for. It's all about framing and perspective, baby.

You know, now that I think about it, taking and framing these shots is sort of like meditation, or even just getting through life. It's all about focusing on the quiet and the calm and the beautiful, while the crazy and the ugly rages around you.

All these dead leaves and foliage -- everything is so inert. It's kind of cool. It also matches my mood: I'm just not in the frame of mind to write and to work. I just want to be still.

But maybe that's okay. Maybe that's the whole point of winter: for nature to lie still, inert, to get ready for the work of spring. Maybe I'm just in an inert phase right now, getting ready for the work of writing and creating again in the new year.