Mount Rainier from Horizon Airlines Flight 2045, October 25, 2007

For Thanksgiving I wanted to say something a little bit weepy and sentimental regarding my sensitivities and feelings of gratitude about life. Other than the obvious things: friends; family; health; for which I am of course thankful - I also am thankful for the myriad and amazing moments of beauty that life offers up at every turn and in many unexpected ways.

On a recent flight from Walla Walla to Seattle we got this amazing view of Mount Rainier covered in powder-white snow and lit up in dramatic Alpenglow shades of pink and blue and gold by the setting sun. There were low-lying clouds and blazing fall colors dotting the thick green forest here and there like campfires. It was in a word breathtaking, and the mountain itself is eye-poppingly huge!

My view, however was obstructed by the top-mounted wings and engines of the Bombardier Q400, perhaps the least window-seat friendly fuselage ever designed and which you can see in the upper-right of the some of the photos. Determined to 'capture the moment,' I strained and squirmed and stretched in my seat, snaking my neck into chiropractically ill-advised positions and maneuvered my cameraphone up to the grimy, yellow-tinged acrylic and....















So there it is. Everyday, unexpected beauty right in the world we live in.

Unfortunately the 1.2 megapixel camera in the hated Motorola SLVR L7 is lousy at capturing it. And that I am not thankful for.