Knowing when to bloom

Well, with Larry Craig’s escapades, we have more than fires burning in Idaho. A "cloud over Idaho" indeed…

At least firefighters are making progress with some of the big burns, including the Castle Rock Fire that’s been threatening Ketchum. Because of the number of million-dollar + homes in the Ketchum area, at least one insurance company sent a private firefighting force to protect the property of their customers (and their own bottom line). So far, no person has been injured or killed, and no structures have burned. Some of those folks are serious art collectors; Gail Severn, one of the local gallery owners, has been assisting people with moving their expensive art collections out of harm’s way. Artwork by such artists as Picasso, Renoir, and Georgia O’Keeffe. One homeowner she was working with has a $10 million collection.

And today was the sad anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Katrina. Although there has been some progress and rebuilding, it sounds like those hard-hit Gulf Coast areas still have a long way to go. If another hurricane was on its way, I wonder if an insurance company would send a private crew down to shore up levees to protect their clients’ homes?

In other news, scientists have discovered through new-found fossil evidence that orchids existed during the days of dinosaurs. And when the dinosaurs were killed, possibly by an asteroid hit, the orchids "bloomed" and spread all across the earth. Imagine the earth after an asteroid hit; uncontrolled fires, upheaval, destruction, chaos, dense smoke. Conditions that apparently lasted for many years. And here, in the devastation, delicate orchids bloom and grow. Like the new growth that pushes through the charred ground after a forest fire. Or new life arising after a flood.

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When the emotions are strong one should paint bamboo; in a light mood one should paint the orchid.
~ Chueh Yin