Beauty is indescribable, of course. We all have an eye for it. We are looking for it. We eye it at unlikely places like garage sales, estate auctions, attics, basements, etc., and we see it in obvious places, galleries, stores, and such.

Beauty is not one of the first things we need. We have to have shelter, nurishment, clothing, and some caring relationships, but shortly after those things we go looking for beauty. [Cue image of a pioneer woman sweeping her dirt front yard with a straw broom]. Symmetry is a form of beauty. I've had nice places to live throughout my life. They were all warm enough, dry enough. We hung things on the painted walls to make them pretty. When I was young it was a painting of birds that my mother and father painted. It was paint by numbers, but you know what? I didn't know that until they told me as an adult. I just thought it was a painting they bought somewhere. I remember little ceramic things sitting around, and special dishes that were used about three times in the 20 years that I lived at home. I have accumulated beautiful things during my married life (32 years). We have paid extra to have beauty. We have done without to have beauty. The oriental carpet in the foyer--we bought it when we had nothing. The painted ceramic tiles, we bought two weeks ago. There is still room in the new house to add beautiful things, but there are so many beautiful things in it already that you must agree that we have beauty to look at in every direction. As I type this blog I look out my sunroom windows. One is 10 feet by 8 feet, the others are 10 by 6 and 8 by 6, all looking out into my backyard garden. The birds are there, and the wind blowing the leaves on the trees and myrtles and pomegranite. Everyday the picture changes. This is the first house that I have lived in that is just beautiful. Everyday.

Beauty changes you. It is calming and uplifting.