This Beautiful Place...

The morning dawned foggy and a cool sixty five degrees outside. As it is July 1st, that's a pretty nice treat! Looking out over the front yard gave me such a thrill it seemed others should know about this beautiful place.

I know I've written about it many times but this time comes after being here for three years. While it is no longer new to my eyes, nor will it ever be again, rest assured it hasn't lost what I saw in it three years ago. It is a pure delight to awaken to this each day of my life.

I still watch for every, little, changing detail of my surroundings. I still look at the birds and the butterflies and even the carpenter bees that insist on trying to make their nests in the walls of the cabin.

There are so many birds singing it's difficult for me to sort them out. The cardinal and the humming bird are two that I have down pat. I'm only able to hear the doves when they fly. If they make a sound other than at that time, it escapes me.

Butterflies are everywhere this time of year and though their life spans are short, they make up for it by putting on one heck of a colorful show! Monarchs are the only ones I can identify. More study time needed there... note to self. There are pretty, little, light blue butterflies about the size of a dime that fly all about, landing for just a second. They don't stay put long enough for me to even think about getting a picture but there's a picture in my head and I'm saving it for winter when they are long gone.

There are bright blue and black butterflies that, unfortunately, land on dog poop. Why in the world would something so beautiful be interested in something so, well, not beautiful??? lol That's nature for you.

There are grasshoppers and dragonflies and mosquitoes and gnats. Nothing you can do about any of them but they are a sure sign summer is here. When they're gone, winter is close, so don't wish them away too soon! A little bug spray should do the trick in the meantime :)

The grass grows crazy and while we enjoy a nice rainy day, it only makes it grow all the more faster. I have a self-propelled mower that I use up close to the cabin and I have a riding mower that I use for the big spaces like the front yard. Good thing I like mowing! Wally uses the tractor with the finish mower attached when the driveway needs mowing. A few more lessons and I'll be on the tractor myself - can't wait!

The trees are no longer in bloom but they are all different colors of green in this beautiful place. I've thought many times to create a coloring book of just trees. It would come with a box of just green crayons... with the many variations of green available. Maybe a brown here and there for pine cones and branches and bark. It would keep me happily busy for days just trying to color all the pages.

Flowers are blooming and their colors are wonderful to look at. They come of their own accord as most are wild flowers and were not planted by my hands. Those that were planted by me are blooming as well, but none so prolifically as the brown-eye Susans. Everywhere you look those flowers are smiling up at the sun even when the sun refuses to come out and shine on them. They are not to be deterred!

It is again what nature has to offer. What we take of it is our own lesson. So is what we don't. For me it's all of it. I want to breathe the fresh, mountain air, I want my clothes drying in the wind on the line and I want to know that much of what I eat, I grow.  One doesn't have to live in this beautiful place for all of that to happen, but it sure does make it much easier.

So when I look out now, I still feel the excitement like I did when I first moved here. The difference is that the reality of still being here has finally set in.  To wake up in this beautiful place every day makes my heart swell like the Grinch's did that sweet Christmas morning in "Who-ville."

Nature has once again stolen my heart and is determined to keep it. Just look outside, really look out there. Surely there is something you've seen but not really paid much attention to. I wonder what you'll find when you try.

Sometimes it's the little things we overlook that are the most important. Like the bird nest in my geranium plant... The nest was built in less than a day, the eggs were laid soon thereafter and just yesterday I checked and three baby birds are tucked neatly in that nest. They don't know to be afraid of me yet but they'll soon learn for their mother is quite diligent in their care. For now I get to look at them every day with their little beaks opening and closing, hoping for a bite to eat. Soon they'll get their flying lessons and the whole family will move on. If that plant hadn't needed water, I suppose I never would have noticed the nest.

Living in this beautiful place is more than just making a life for myself. It's taking care of it too for the next person and with any luck, writing about it so others will want to see what I see. It's there for the taking and few things are free. I'll just keep looking at the views in this beautiful place and smile thinking you might look someday too.


"The most beautiful view is the one I share with you."  ~Author Unknown