7.11.2007

bits of beauty

trees caught mid-dance Heavy with the day...the babes and I decided to head out on a "relaxation ride" after lunch, in hopes of catching some beauty around us. I like what that motive does for me. Looking for beauty makes everything a bit more beautiful. We ended up taking a jaunt out to lower salt river and came across a little picnic area near the water. By this time the babes were sound asleep...so I couldn't resist turning it into an opportunity to read my daily comfort from Simple Abundance...a book that my treasured friend Karyn gave to me for mother's day this year, while I sat and watched the beauty (and took a few pictures). I loved that the entry was about approaching things, such as making dinner, with great creative intent to help discover more authenticity in my life. mmmmm...you can bet I put that lesson to use while I made dinner this evening. I loved holding that in my heart while creating a meal. There was something very mindful about it...and fun. I think that kind of truth can be used in any aspect of life...with whatever one may be doing. Today it was the kind of truth that helped turn an ordinary drive into something quite spectacular, really.

a window to earth.air.water

5 comments:

Simplicity Wins said...

I am so thrilled that you are enjoying your book. I kind of thought it would be right up your alley. I think you should head out for more afternoon rides. It seems to have been a great escape for all of you. The pictures are wonderful. I head to that very spot once and while since its so close to my house....
Keep those creative juices flowing my friend! Love you!

Jamie said...

Jess, I too, think it's so important to view "life" looking for beauty in it. Our perspective makes so much of a difference in how we experience it. (and whether we experience it fully). Living in this desert I often felt angry at it ~ it's so hot and dry and "barren". I felt very stongly this way until a few years ago when I went to the Desert Botanical Gardens for an Environmental Biology class and got to experience all of the life behind what seemed like a world of dry nothingness. It helped give me so much more appreciation for this specific ecosystem in which we live. Granted, I still prefer the green trees, but I learned that if we open our minds and look beyond the facade and really see "what is", we can usually find beauty and at least appreciation. I find beauty in your photos that you took. It reminds me that there is still life in this desert, life to be lived in this desert and I needed that today.

Debbie said...

It sounds like such a wonderful day for you. A great combination of an experience with your children and taking a moment for yourself to enjoy your surroundings. I admire the way that you can find beauty in the simple things in life. Hope you are enjoying this day as well, which I know you are!

GG said...

The two photos you took in the Salt River area are absolutely beautiful. I have lived in Arizona for 79 years and I never fail to find beauty....in the sunsets, sunrises, in an approaching monsoon, in the rainbow after the storm, in the hummingbirds feeding at the feeders, in the redness of the aproaching dust storm,and around Christmas time when the grapefruit, tangelo and tangerine trees in my yard decorate themselves with the brilliant oranges and yellows of their fruit. Recently I was priviledged to take the dinner cruise on the Dolly Sternwheeler on Canyon Lake. The bluish-green of the lake water; the myriad of colors in the steep cliffs rising skyward from the water, the azure blue of the sky, all the different colors of the pleasure boats on the lake, the beauty and joy of sighting big horn sheep, and white tailed deer in the crags of the cliffs. And then in the darkness seeing the brilliant and numerous red lights glowing on Mormon Flat Dam....such a discovery! I remember photos of Mom and Dad and Uncle Button and Aunt Irene picknicking at Mormon Flats when I was just a child. I've always wondered where Mormon Flats was and never knew. On this trip I learned that since that picture was taken they built Mormon Flats Dam which in turn created Canyon Lake. It was a beautiful sight to see those red lights on the dam glowing in the darkness and then to discover the truth of a memory of my childhood that I had always wondered about. To think that after 79 years I found Mormon Flats and the damn that created the lake I was cruising on while enjoying a filet mignon on the deck of the Dolly Sternwheeler. In my youth I read a book titled "Gold Is Where You Find It". They made a movie of it back in the 30's and both the book and the movie were excellent. Somehow I relate that to beauty..."Beauty is where you find it". You don't necessarily have to go looking for it. More often than not we don't see the beauty right around us. What is more beautiful than watching a gloriously colored hummingbird getting nectar from a red rose.....and I can see that right from my front porch in the early morning dawn! GG

daisies said...

gorgeous bits of beauty ~ i adore the shadows lingering on the ground sharing the shade of that beautiful tree ... lovely