Discovering Beauty in Everyday Life

Organizing beauty within a beautiful city

The first crop of tulips is in the ground; happy anthropomorphic bulbs, crouching in the earth to brew their blossoms over the winter months. We planted during the intersect between the dying and the growing moon. The best of each world. Ah Balance! The daffodils are sleeping under bushes where they have thrived before, and the tulips are breaking new ground, down the hill past the lawn next to the yellow trees. One bulb lies next to the smallest tree! It’s practically invisible without the summer leaves. Each tulip patch has a daffodil as well this time, to add dash and color and company. Seven daffodils and six burgundy lace tulips. Whee!   Volunteer  not planting a tulip (next to a tiny, leafless tree)  

A year ago I broke my arm on a wet and beautiful day with golden leaves.  I came home with a foam rubber sling—awkward, blue, and huge and with small breathing holes. Finally, after tribulations, we obtained a prescription, and I brought it home looking forward to a nice pain pill. They put it into a childproof bottle. One handed, I considered a hammer and tried a wrench. Finally, I stood outside and waited for a child, who opened it for me.   To show you what it was like to walk that morning, just look. This time of year it’s just that way. Wherever we look there’s beauty.

Those crafty leaves are falling willy-nilly, and very few have actually been caught.  We have found it necessary, therefore, to  recruite a team of professionals

Higher, Higher! 

Innocent citizen captured by falling leaf

Ordinary citizen caught in the act of catching a leaf

There’s something about a mud-puddle. They fascinate me, since they appear to be immortal. People pile on the dirt and sod, the gravel and the asphalt. Laying in wait, however, is the soul of a puddle. Who could resist a swim in a puddle? Not a sparrow, not a puppy, not a leaf.

There is nothing in this world more exhilarating. It looks easy, say they! It looks dull! It will be boring, and there will be no PBS special! Oh, but these sooth-sayers haven’t tried it lately. Your mission for today: To chase a leaf. 1. Locate a place of falling leaves, preferably with an occasional breeze. 2. Begin the chase. Your goal is to chase, not to catch! Those dainty leaves are wiley.

There are times when I cannot maneuver anymore and can’t think what to do. It comes and goes, thank goodness. I have an old friend. Time goes by without a word, then bang! There we are, back in the youth of memory. So what I do is pause. Fall is a time for the beauty of transition.  It flares and sparks and smolders away-- quietly, slowly, leaf by leaf.

Sometimes I cannot believe my luck. I was walking down this messy and disheveled street, and there it was: a tantric figure dancing in the sunlight. Who planted it? How did it survive the upheavals? How gracious that so many must have worked around  this mythic dancer nourishing it  across the years.

There isn’t anything like a New England fall, even a small piece of it. Look at the colors. There’s something about taking a bus. Have you noticed? It’s hard to describe, but the key is not to take a bus in rush hour or when in a hurry. Just hop on when you are feeling giddy. Pretend you are on a tour, and simply hop off! Near here, there’s a dusty antique shop that opens on the owner’s whim. I hadn’t been in there for several years, since I purchased an old coal bucket. Today it had a collection of lamps made from plumbing pipes. Lots of joins, lots of elbows, lots of pipe! I got out without them, but barely.