Beautiful Oddities

Many say there isn't much beauty in a city. Especially if you are in an industrial area. I say it depends on how you look at it.

I was walking along Clark Drive and happened to see these discarded on the side. I snapped a photo and started wondering about these boots. Where have they been and what have they have seen? Were these boots worn by a hard working person who toiled for hours? Or were they more of a fashion item for someone who wanted to project a certain look? And what will happen to them now? Will they be thrown in the garbage and deposited at the city dump? Or will some needy person happen upon them and take the boots - giving them another chance to be useful? The stories a person could come up with about a pair of well worn boots.

Today I am feeling a bit fanciful and I am looking at things around me in a different way. The other day when I went to Trout Lake I took a photo of something. I wasn't sure how I was going to use it but I took it anyway.

Amid the hardy, green rushes that dominate the foliage of the area around Trout Lake, a small blue flower blooms. It looks frail and delicate and one wonders how it can survive without being strangled by the reeds. But it does. And it is all the more beautiful because it is different and seems to be beating the odds.

I have heard country loving people state that what they don't like about the city is the lack of nature and the abundance of asphalt. Well the asphalt observation may be true - and I am not knocking asphalt, it makes some things in life a whole lot easier - the city does have its green sides.

What do you see here? Some would say a vacant lot filled with weeds but that isn't what I see. I see lots of green life adorned with little yellow flowers. I also see a feast of wild blackberries for anyone who is brave enough to risk getting pricked by the thorns.

And further along Clark Drive there are more edible delights.

This is true beauty because these are all oddities. These are things that have been discarded, forgotten, left to survive or perish. And they survive and in some cases flourish. These are all survivors that, if left alone, will continue on. Except maybe the boots. Only time will tell what will happen to them.

Until the next time I hope you see the beauty around you.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, Clark Drive,
Wild Blackberries,Trout Lake,sturdy,Walk,Boots,