An offering

Some TV advertisements should simply disappear these days. What's happening in Ukraine right now makes them obscene--dream vacations on vast, empty beaches, romance in crystalline waters, exotic eateries, hideaways for lovemaking. I'm 100% brow-furrowed Calvinist on mammoth luxury liners, too. Just clear the decks. No more. 

Saturday Night Live has a long history of irreverence, but last week's opening stopped the show when a chorus of Ukrainian singers began a doleful "Prayer for Ukraine" that was absolutely stunning.  That table in front of the singers, you may have noticed, is set with votive candles spelling out Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital; but on either side stand bouquets of sunflowers, the national flower. SNL had it right. First things first.

Last night, thumbing through old files, I stumbled on a Saturday morning catch along the Little Sioux River in September of 2015, a dawn when sunflowers overflowed in an abundance I didn't know how to capture, too many maybe.

This morning there cannot be too many. I wish I'd taken the time to capture the best images I could, but what stopped my meandering last night was the sudden abundance of sunflowers, a harvest of hope. There can't possibly be too many. 

The lines of good and evil are only rarely so stark and plain. Putin is evil. He is the aggressor, and his reasoning is insane. Millions of perfectly innocent women and children have left their homes, and their husbands and uncles and brothers who are staying behind to fight a vastly out-weaponed enemy with no right to invade. 

For Ukraine, to begin the week, I offer these sunflowers, fresh-cut this morning in sunshine and hope. In the free world, we're all on our knees. 

The Lord bless you and keep you, 

make his face to shine upon you, 

and give you peace.