The lights are beautiful, their reflection in the water mesmerizing while dotting the buildings like thousands of stars lowered from the sky. Seeing a picture of a big city at night can conjure up all kinds of thoughts. In addition to the aesthetics, mine go to all the people living there. Where are they? What are they doing? Of course, the diversity of people, activities--good and wonderful, bad and horrific, beautiful and ugly--abound. Though we know they are teeming with humanity, cities hide them from view when the sun goes down. Photos such as this one taken from atop a skyscraper leaves everything to our immagination. From the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich and everyone in-between (where most of us reside), life is happening in every nook and cranny, around every corner, behind every door, across each bridge, in every dwelling, on the streets, in the parks, in the underground and on top of the penthouse. Every kind of food imaginable from Bangkok to Monterrey is being prepared and eaten, every language spoken; babies are being born and people are dying. The side of life we'd rather not think about too much is being played out across the city both day and night but even more so under cover of darkness. There are those who love the city and those who don't, who see it as a wonder to explore or a fearful, chaotic place to avoid. The busy-ness of the city makes us anxious or excited, insecure or alive with possibility. It illicites not only many thoughts but feelings. The sights and sounds are endless. Just coming across this picture in my iphoto album began to overload my imagination. Living in a small town on a quiet street in an "urban forest" (as my friend who knows about these things tells me) affords me little contact with the big cities that sprawl in several directions of me. It is my choice to travel a fairly short distance to reach one of them. I would say I frequent them often, grew up in one (Dallas) and absolutely love one of the biggest ones in the world (London). (You may have guessed by now how I feel about cities!) How are architects and engineers and all those involved in planning, creating and producing all these tall buildings able to do it perfectly? How are all these lights powered, systems run and timed accordingly, transportation, maintenance, traffic, sanitation, and on and on it goes? Wonder abounds. I see absolute beauty, abject squalor. My thoughts go back and forth (as you can tell) between the inanimate objects, the physical and material, the natural and created and human life. And since I'm not too happy with this writing, I will end now. This time I tried starting with a photo instead of a thought. Don't think I'll do that again. Oh, by the way, does anyone know what city this is? (One clue- for those of you who know me well- I have never been there.)