Completing the Picture

Last night I worked on a photo of the Hernandez house, combining two photos into one because it had  been hard for a photo to capture the range of bright sky and shaded house. I had taken two same-angle photos at two F-stop settings. Now I  electronically cut and pasted the sky and roof from one photo  to the lower half of another.

 I liked the results. And I saw for the first time how gracious and inviting the entrance of the Hernandez guest house is.

Then I remembered my walk to the backyard to photograph the water tank--past a blue-tarp-covered shack, a stack of roofing tiles, and miscellaneous trash delivered by the incessant Nicaragua wind.

“Why don’t they do something about this?” I had wondered, judging—again.

This morning I think about my Pella home with its gracious entrance. And I picture my backyard, graced by winter grasses and evergreens.

Then I complete the picture.

I remember the snow-and-dirt-filled pots still waiting sorting at the back entry, the basement workroom crammed with gardening tools and spilled potting soil, and the stacks of unsorted office supplies in another room.  My gracious Iowa front door still greets guests with  pots of shriveling gourds from last fall.

This morning, dual tolerance* is not needed.

The battle against entropy is global.

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*Yesterday's post includes a reference to dual tolerance.