Rising Mists

This morning as I watch the mists rising from the pond my mind twists with two forces pulling my thoughts; one is the scientific explanation that the water is warmer than the air this morning and the second is the simple, poetic beauty of rising mists.  The mists become a curtain hiding the surface where unknown dangers might lurk.

I sometimes think there is a war between reason and fantasy being fought within our minds.  Reason is based in our desire to understand and control where fantasy is rooted in our understanding that we are not in control but ride the currents of a reality that is beyond comprehension.  In the world of reason, we are limited to what we deem to be real.  The world of fantasy is unlimited -- unbounded by what we know or can imagine.  In it the unexpected is expected.

What is it that drives our tendency to fantasize?  Is it disappointment or disillusionment with reality or is it something calling us to reach beyond the circumstances that bind us to place and time?  

I think reality and fantasy are linked.  Fantasy -- imagination -- is what allows us to discover and understand the amazing and marvelous reality that surrounds us.  Our mind asks, "what if?" before it seeks new paths of understanding.  We are wired to crave knowledge and that wiring creates pathways to exploration of the unknown.

Yesterday we took a short walk simply to look at the various plants we could find growing around our property.  Our focus is on identifying those foreign to our soil and those which are native.  We identify and decide whether to remove or retain and encourage.

Growing in the ditch along our county road we encountered a small cluster of Pink Ladies (Oenothera speciosa).  They are also known as the Evening Primrose.  They are native to Texas and often seen along roadsides.  Identifying these plants is part of our quest for knowledge but it also provides fodder for the imagination.  Perhaps they are really fairies in pink skirts dancing in the wind.