Ordinary versus Extraordinary

I first thought about naming this blog post “Taking Things for Granted”, but that just sounded too much like a cliche’. I got to thinking about the whole thing on my way to Jackson, TN this morning. I go to Jackson to get my hair cut. My hair is not easy to cut. In fact, one hair stylist described my neckline as a “Go to H--- (yep, you guessed it)” neckline. But Martha is an artist with the scissors.
On the 45 minute or so drive, I pass a Safari Park that I’ve never even stopped at. I always look to see what kinds of animals might be in the pastures along the highway and today it was the zebras. Sometimes it is giraffes, sometimes antelope, sometimes buffalo - you never know. My favorite are the zebras, though. I go to Jackson at least once every couple of weeks and I never give those exotic animals a second thought, although I do usually glance that way as I pass. I guess sometimes what separates the ordinary from the extraordinary is just a matter of your perspective. People come from all over the globe to visit Graceland, but even though I live only 75 miles from Memphis and go there regularly, I’ve never been to Graceland. The landscape and the wildlife out west were extraordinary to me, however. The food out west was extraordinary too, but not in a good way. I guess people from other parts of the country find our food extraordinary in a bad way, too. My precious friend, Gail Doane, just can’t bring herself to try our southern style pimento cheese. I don’t believe she is a bit interested in the fried catfish (which happen to be bottom feeders) that are a common sight on southern tables. And heaven only knows how people from other parts of the country would react to our incredibly aged and salty country ham, but it is a delicacy that the Harris family reserves for the holidays.
I stopped today and took a few pictures of the zebras. Yesterday I took pictures of the cotton; and in the days to come, I’ll probably take some pictures of the machinery in the fields, the modules (it used to be bales, but that has changed), and then I’ll probably make a trip to the Gin to get a few pictures. And to provide a little contrast, I’ll go ahead and show a few pictures of the landscape shots I got before I left Montana and Wyoming.



The cotton defoliated itself while I was on my trip. This is what I see on 3 sides of my house. When I look out my kitchen window I see the house my parents lived in and the pasture behind their house that sometimes has cows grazing in it.






Although there were several adult zebras in this pasture, I couldn't help but believe these little ones were twins. They sure did stay together and they stayed near this momma zebra.








There is no way to know what the momma zebra was thinking or how she was feeling, but as I stood and watched this scene unfold, I perceived her as being maternal and nurturing while this little fellow nursed.








This was taken near the west entrance to Yellowstone. There are no mountains in West Tennessee, but seeing snow on anything in August is extraordinary to a southern gal. The fact that the temperature was in the 40's and 50's in the daytime made this scene even more dramatic to me.





We drove out the southern Yellowstone entrance and right into Grand Teton National Park. This was Jenny Lake. If I'd had a wider angle lens, this shot would have shown more snow capped mountains. I chose to frame this shot in this way because of the reflection in the water. There was not a lot of color in most of these shots. It was so cloudy that the water, the mountains, and the sky were all pretty gray. There is a bit of blue sky peeking through the clouds and that is what helped this particular shot. The Grand Tetons were a stunning sight.


Just like Ray Stevens sang - Everything is beautiful in its own way.