An Artful Mind

As I sit on the couch with my three (yes three) dachshunds, I look out the back window to see a beautiful picture of nature. It is a calm day and I really should be fishing but today chose to just stay home because it is so rare for me. I see the amazing colors of my (Yes, I said mine. They are on my property and where my people originate it is important and an honor to own property.) trees in the back yard. I see yellow and crimson and even some purples. Every once in a while a tiny, little wisp of a breeze allows a few leaves to float down to the ground where they join their friends. The grass is no longer green but is also fading to other shades of color. It is all a very artful view.

What allows me to see this? I am not sure but I am sure some would enjoy joining me as I sit quietly and take it all in. But I am also sure some would interpret it all as a waste of time. One time I came home from a race (NASCAR!) with the camera I had been given by Cindy and she downloaded the pictures (because I still don't know how) and she pointed out one picture of a small, yellow flower (I think it was a daisy) and she asked where I found that. I actually found it growing in a crack the concrete right next to the helicopter landing pad. Why did I take its picture? Not really sure but probably because I admired its will to be beautiful in a less than ideal situation. It succeeded. You see an artful mind can see and realize the small pieces of beauty all around. I am sure thousands of people walked over that flower that same day but maybe only a few noticed it and maybe only one of the 180,000 in attendance took its picture.

Back to the question above...what allows me to see these things? It is because throughout my life others have pointed out similar things. They made me stop and see things I might have otherwise walked past. I still meet these kind of people along the way. Sometimes they don't even know it but I do.

My wish for you as you read this is that in this time of Thanksgiving is simple. I wish you might slow down a bit and see the art around you. It is always there sometimes you just need to slow down and listen to it.