It’s the driest Spring on record in the Denver area and we’ve been having these incredibly dangerous windstorms. It seems like every other day the National Weather Service is telling me there’s a Fire Weather Advisory for my locale. Fire Weather.
I’m a big fan of climate fiction and I just started a booked called Greenwood, partially set in a future where most of the world is uninhabitable because of dust storms, and I had to set the book aside. It felt too real and too present. I’m struggling a little right now with thoughts about the future because our present seems so fragile right now. My mind is jumbled up with war, climate, politics and mental and physical health. I jump ahead of myself in time. I think it’s a hazard of being human and also related to what I do for a living. As a designer, it’s all about planning and thinking about things months in advance and I’m always looking ahead in the calendar. I think I’ve trained my brain to live ahead of me as well. And the me, that’s ahead of the real me, is letting me know there’s trouble ahead.
Here are a few favorite, current images that I’ve saved on Instagram – because why obsess over the world ending when you can stare at pretty things online? Not really, but I hope they bring you some inspiration or, at the least, they take your mind off what troubles you for a moment.
Did this take your mind off future dust storms or whatever bothers you in the quiet moments? As a designer, I’m working on encouraging my clients to buy more vintage, more local and to re-use and re-purpose what they have. Almost all new furniture starts to depreciate as soon as you get it home. Personally, I’ve taken it as a challenge and have filled my home with almost 100% vintage, antique and used furniture and art.
“Take heart, she seems to say. The world has been on the brink of ending before. The dust has always been waiting to swallow us. People have always struggled and suffered. Your poverty is not shameful. It is not a failure of your character. Life, by its very nature, is precarious. And your struggles are never for nothing.”
― Michael Christie, Greenwood
The Colorado Nest 
yes, yes and yes. Our country and the world is scary and disheartening. It is 2022, not 1960 and I feel angry all the time. But I appreciate distractions and looking at pretty things too. It doesn’t mean we don’t care. Loved the mustard cabinets!
You’re right – it is not 1960. When we go backwards like that it’s really disheartening. But, social change does come with three steps forward and sometimes two steps back….that’s the hope I hold onto…but it’s incredibly sad for young people in particular.
Hello from the UK.
Beautiful photos, thank you.