Blossoms Around Town

When I came home from teaching today, I put together a salad of sprouted lentils, celery, spring onions, and walnuts, dressed with walnut oil and aged, organic balsamic vinegar. What made the salad special was freshness of the lentil sprouts, the subtlety of newly ground pink himalayan salt and the little luxury, the balsamic vinegar. In the summer, it would be great with a new cucumber from the garden on a bed of fresh mixed greens.
Today, when I was thinking about that for which I am most grateful and taking a lunchtime walk through the neighborhood, I decided that my persistent appreciation for beauty is worthy of the highest gratitude. The ability always to be entranced by beauty has gotten me through many a moment of potential suffering.
Though many of the trees have lost their leaves, the spectacular color show continues. Some of the trees are still sporting green leaves, so there is more to come. And then will come the time to enjoy the exquisite architecture and shape of the branches themselves against the winter sky–it’s own kind of beauty.