Unexpected Beauty

My favorite kind of deliberate beauty is the kind that has no point, like an architectural flourish on a government building, an old lady dressed up for the grocery store or an elaborately decorated dumpster. Since I've been feeling cheesy-corny lately, I'll just say it: It gives me hope.

I'm a news junkie, always have been. Though my habit is not at its peak level of a few years ago (NPR every morning, followed by two actual newspapers, 10 magazine subscriptions and countless online sources), my habit is to take in gobs of information. This has not helped my feelings toward the human race as a species. (We cause an awful lot of damage.) My writing gig at BlogHer, covering animals and wildlife, has only intensified these feelings.

So, when I see humans do something completely spontaneous and wonderful, I cling to it. I read about it, read it again, write about it, spread the link and try to throw it into conversations. Y'see, I've finally learned to use my communication skills for good instead of evil. Humans, fumbling hairless meatballs that we are, need all the good press we can handle.

Thus, I am sharing these awwww-inspiring photos from downtown Denver, where a massive construction project next to Union Station has been underway for quite some time. Naturally, a chain link fence surrounds the plot - just a typical urban site.

Until a few ladies came along and attacked the fence with some crochet hooks. The result is a 'flower garden' that decorates an otherwise drab scene. Better yet, it is located on a walkway that leads to a viewing platform that leads to shops, restaurants, biking trails and a skate park.

 Evidently, the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs reached out to a group called the Ladies Fancywork Society and requested their handiwork. In all, 30 12-foot panels are covered with their happy creations of flowers, bugs and plants. That somebody somewhere in that bureaucratic machine actually thought this up and made it happen, makes the yarn garden even more amazing. I notice that others have added their own creations to the fence; art begets art.

Sometimes no reason is the best reason of all.