Beautiful Day

It has taken me most of the day, but I finally figured out a way to download and then post pictures.  It's a mystery to me why my computer decided to behave so differently, and I'm not sure I can repeat the process, but I will enjoy the fact that I finally accomplished what I wanted to do.  I took these pictures from the window.  I was so impressed by the clouds.  The day is very sunny even though the fog has settled over the islands.  I presume that it is very foggy out on the water, but I've seen a few motor boats speeding by close to the land. 

The memory of last winter is still fresh in my mind.  It is disconcerting that the summer is already coming to the end.  Fall is looming, and then winter again.  Meteorologists are predicting another winter like the one we had last year, which is very disconcerting.  It seems as if this wonderful weather should last at least long enough to erase it from our minds.  We have not yet adjusted to feeling warm and comfortable, looking at the spectacular scenery we live with.  We've yet to be able to relegate last winter to a dim memory.

Of course the good weather is not over yet, and we have the pretty Fall to look forward.  Still, while there are huge portions of the United States that are dry and very hot, our summer has been relatively cool.  Extremes are everywhere. Global warming is changing the weather.  We have been in the process of using up our environment for a long time, and while some are championing the cause to stem the tide, it's my belief that we are really on the road to extinction as a species.  We are following the natural course of nature.  We have evolved to dominate other species, to become so successful that we have over-bred and over-used the place where we live.  It's happened to so many other species.  It's the way of the world, the ebb and flow of life forms that flourish as we have.  Like them, we are trying to figure out how to survive.  Of course we are using our best tool, our brain, to diagnose and solve the problems we face. But like all the extinct species that have gone before, we will fail.

How do I know this will happen?  I don't.  I expect things to go on as they are and always have been (as far as we know).  Even that is just a function of the human brain working to understand based on observation.  This is not a gloomy thought to me, but a comfortable idea that we are far from alone, far from special.  We are not outsiders.