Beauty is not just in the eye of the beholder

I know that if we are alert to it, we find beautiful things every place we go.  California has so many beautiful places and there are delights to the eye on every walk I take, every day.  Pete and I love to vacation in Utah and there are things there that take my breath away.  I sometimes think that my opinion of Illinois' beauty is colored by my love for home and that, in reality, maybe it isn't as beautiful as it is in my mind.  But today convinced me once again that it isn't just my imagination - Illinois truly is a beautiful place.

I went for a walk with a friend at Hammel Woods Forest Preserve this morning.  Lovely winding asphalt trails through woods and along streams, carpets of wildflowers under the old trees, birds flitting and singing in the dappled sunshine.  And a different kind of beauty, also - Kelly and I walked the trails for an hour and a half and during that entire time we saw a total of four people.  The beauty of solitude.

This afternoon we had a "weeding bee" (sort of like a quilting bee except you are pulling weeds together instead of quilting) here at Mark and Janine's.  Weeding is a highly underrated form of therapy.  What equals the satisfaction of sitting back to survey a lovely bed of herbs or a border of flowers that are now weed-free due to your efforts?  If you can do this in fresh air and sunshine, chatting all the while about books and authors and apple tree varieties, well, I think it's a day well spent.

This evening I was driving back to the farm after dinner with friends.  In the east a full moon was rising - huge and white and icy looking, climbing up the deepening blue sky.  At the same time in the west the sun was sinking, a massive ball of orange, pink and red melting into the horizon.  Silhouetted against both were trees and barns, dark in relief against these heavenly lights.  A spectacular sight, put there for the enjoyment of anyone who cared to look.  I drove home slowly, letting the evening settle around me.  It's cold here tonight.  Cold but beautiful.

In the west...

In the east.