When I was out driving yesterday, I was suddenly engulfed in a blizzard.

A pollen blizzard.

The sun lit up the millions of pollen bits and dandelion fluffs floating through the air.

It was the Dance of the Allergens.

And I just laughed. Because those awful things reap havoc on me… and yet they were so beautiful.

Which makes me think about other things that are terrible and lovely at the same time.

When I was a kid, I lived near a very big factory, and I used to love the puddles in the parking lots after a summer rain. Not only was there a rainbow in the sky. There were rainbows in the puddles. Oh sure, you may call them oil slicks. But they were so pretty. The blues and purples and golds. Those beat-up cars left these portraits just for me.

photo by Yair Haklai

Then there’s food…