making life beautiful

Wow, I looked again....no, there is nothing on the yahoo groups I care to discuss.
So lacking my camera batteries....which were mis-filed during the Christmas holiday....I will just comment on life as I see it now.
OK, I am a little older than last year.....but we managed a "moderately rough hike" for a few miles in the mountains for Christmas. A lovely day with the young folks leading the way....Yes, I was slower than anyone. But I made it and stood on the edge of the tallest waterfall in Missouri.....with my son holding on to me, so I wouldn't fall off.
So, I can still do some interesting things....even at my extended "middle age".
I was making a list of resolutions....ha ha.....still optomistic about keeping some!
And....being a forward looking person, I started with where I want to be in ten years. Above the ground is a good one. Having fewer sheep to tie me down to the ranch is another.
For one reason....my husband did not choose to raise sheep. It didn't matter what I was doing on the farm in Wisconsin. We were tied to the house anyway....caring for our parents, in their later years. Children could always stay for a few days to feed sheep and chickens. But, out here in the middle of the woods....we can't expect to have family step in for us.
Did you know that we lived in the same house, on a 45 foot lot in the city for 25 years?
Moving to a farm in Wisconsin was part of my beautify-life moves.
What do you find to be beautiful? Right now, today.
Can you enjoy that beauty every day...once a week...once a month?
If not....how can you change your life to enjoy the beautiful things in life more this year?
One of the beautiful things here in Missouri is the blooming of the witch-hazel. Although I don't remember it happening this early last year....it has been blooming on warm sunny days for about a month. What a lovely smell....sometimes it stops me. Sometimes I actually walk around to get into an air-stream carrying the heavy perfume. More mild than roses...but kind of heady that way. I enjoy watching sunsets. When I was a child we lived about two blocks from a lake....Minnesota, you know.....and I would ride my bike to the lake in the evening...to catch the sunset over the water. In Wisconsin, we didn't have water....but the house stood on a hill, and I could see both sunrise and sunset from either side of the house. Here, we have a small pond by the house....I can sit by the pond or watch sunsets from the computer room....which has windows overlooking the same pond.
Here is a question....do some people just love being inside their homes....doing stuff? Like cooking, and spinning...and knitting....and reading, or family stuff?
I must have gotten tired of being inside our home when we lived in the city. I remember it as kind of a jail....it was hard to work in the yard without talking to neighbors....it was hard to take a walk without running into a neighbor. We spent a lot of time wandering around Fort Snelling. There were always chips of pottery washed up on the shore. Deer running on the island, birds reeling on the cliffs. I guess, even when we were first married....we liked to explore. I remember putting two dollars in the gas tank of the old 55 chevy and driving until the tank was half empty....then coming back. So when I think of making time for beautiful things....I am also thinking of jumping in the car and exploring.
There is a lot of joy in finding a beautiful new spot in the world. Sometimes, it is so pretty....you want to share it with someone else. I will say, that I enjoy having a good friend to share my life. It makes me look less silly when I find something dumb to do. Like buying a fixer-upper....or making a pasture in the middle of the woods.
Right now I am thinking about the ocean....are you drawn to places where your ancestors lived?
I have only seen the ocean five times. I think I should explore the ocean in the next ten years.
I know I had an ancestor who was a marine in the revolution. ...and another who traveled around the cape from new england to astoria.....so maybe that is why I am drawn to the sea?
Have you noticed your ewes getting fatter?
Mine seem to be....and they are also bottomless pits.
More hay coming today.
Hope your day is pretty!