I guess you could harrumph about my photos and say, ‘Well, of course you can shoot beautiful pictures, you live in a friggin’ nature preserve.’

I could say in reply that many of my neighbors drive or walk right past some of the most amazing wildflowers on the planet, and never see them.

I could say that I can see beauty anywhere, even in a war zone.

But I don’t live in a war zone anymore. So when one of the houses nearby burned down, I ran right out and took photos of it.

Are they beautiful?