“We are surrounded by beauty,” I read somewhere recently (I think it was Rumi, but I can’t find substantiation for that), “Sometimes we just have to be in a garden to see it.”
I thought of this as I sat, tea in hand, cats on either side, looking out my front door at a concrete courtyard, the urban desert; a hateful sky; and three desolate palm trees just higher than the roof. “Not a great view,” I thought, “I wish I had a garden to gaze at, so that I could be surrounded by beauty when I take my morning tea.” Which of course reminded me of the quote above & made me feel guilty. I have beautiful cats, a sunny day, and friend’s houses to look upon.
What’s the beauty that surrounds you?
5 responses so far ↓
1 nee // Jul 11, 2007 at 4:35 pm
“And that’s the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and… this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever… But it helps me remember… and I need to remember… Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in.”
-Ricky Fitts, American Beauty
2 nee // Jul 11, 2007 at 7:09 pm
For the lds here, they’ll be amused to know that one of my old roomies who came from a highly dysfunctional family used to piss her mother off because she’d alter a hymn and sing it around the house, “There is beauty all around when I’m not at home…not at home… not at home… oh how peaceful life can be… when I’m not at home.”
3 Elaine Frei // Jul 11, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Even though I live right in the middle of a city with a population of nearly half a million people, when I sit at my desk and look out the window, I see a number beautiful trees, a nice slice of the sky, and power or phone lines that provide perches for several species of birds…not to mention a place for the occasional highwire act by random squirrels.
4 Chili Pepper // Jul 13, 2007 at 9:56 am
I have a view of the ocean from my office window. I sometimes head to the beach and surf with my coworkers. My wife and I have a great townhouse with a small garden on our patio. Wow, saying all this makes me think I sometimes take the beauty that surrounds me for granted. Thanks for the reminder Miko!
5 Miko // Jul 14, 2007 at 8:47 am
CP: we aim for just that reminder around here
I, too, have random squirrels (which are almost as good as italic ones) which make our cats jittery. I’m convinced that the squirrels know that there are two cats who would just love to rip them limb from limb but are stopped by glass and/or screens; this would explain why they decide to be random where the cats can see.
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