There’s no great pleasure . . .

. . . without some small pain!

Below you’ll see a slideshow of some of the wonderful pictures Jim took this past week on our traditional visit to the Denver Botanic Gardens “Blossoms of Light” tour which they have during December.  (This post was originally written in December 2014. Please note that because this site was moved to a new platform some images were lost, among them, sadly, the pictures for this post.) 

Last year we missed it, for some reason.  This year they had absolutely outdone themselves.  There’s one small drawback to this outing:  It’s usually pretty COLD.  I’ve gone before wearing a totally inadequate jacket and shivered my way through it.  More of an endurance test than a pleasurable outing.  This year I made sure to wear my heavy-duty parka and did much better, but 23 degrees is still 23 degrees.  I found myself alternately being distracted from the cold by the lovely displays and distracted from the lovely displays by the cold.  I’m so glad we made the effort, though.  What a great memory, and how little the discomfort really mattered.  Don’t we often switch those priorities, though, and concentrate on the small inconveniences and difficulties?   I think back to my father’s funeral, for example, which was on the whole a wonderful service.  What stands out in my mind the most?  The fact that their sound system picks up police scanner transmissions in the area, so periodically the testimonies and the Gospel-filled sermon were interrupted.  Later my brother said to me, “Why were you sitting there making faces at me while I was giving my testimony?”  I was so irritated and distracted by the sound system’s defects that I irritated and distracted him.  I do try any more not to let myself dwell on the imperfections inherent in any human event, but it’s a struggle for me.  I’m sure there will be more posts on this topic.