Cold front -

"Not Far Enough Ahead of the Storm"
manipulated digital photographs by Mick Mather
- click image to view full size -

"... to be interested in the changing seasons
is a happier state of mind than to be
hopelessly in love with spring ..."
- George Santayana

Walking the far away hills -

"The Mountain Climber"
manipulated digital drawing by Mick Mather

There are any number of things that could be counted as influences for this post given the path I've been on lately. The work you see here was created in mid-July, a portentous prelude to the hike so beautifully documented at the end of July in this set of photographs by blogging pal Shani Thomas. It's a little bit spooky, but I firmly believe these are the real inspiration, unknown to me until, well, today if you must hear it! So, how does such a thing as an inspirational prequel work? Time travel. It has to be time travel ... has anyone else out there experienced one of those strangely baffling missing time events lately? :O