This was going to be a post about lichen. Really, it was. And why shouldn’t it have been? This colonial organization of algae, fungus, and cyanobacteria living in mutually beneficial symbiosis, the first form of life to move into an environment denuded of vegetation and soil by natural disasters, and the initial agent of renewal in a devastated ecosystem: why shouldn’t we celebrate it as one of the more glorious inventions of our Creator?
But this is a post where the pictures took over. More particularly, it’s a post where the colors took over. First, it was the colors of the lichens that caught my attention, here in this little patch of Beaverhead Flats that has, on several evenings and mornings, served as my backyard. But then, as I kept exploring, my attention was additionally captured by the colors of the other inhabitants of the Flats, and then by those of the scene as a whole. It was still the dead of winter when I took these pictures. The dead of winter, but so much brilliant color. And that color has taken over this post. Glory to God who gives us such things to drink in with our eyes.
