On...Looking for Mountains

Today I went for a walk with our Scottie dog, Candy. I went to look for a view of the mountains near our house (moved to Bend, OR in November from Minnesota). 

On my drive to work, I see Mt. Bachelor, the Three Sisters and Mt. Washington. On a clear day....almost everyday, I can see Mt. Hood...90 miles away! Every morning the snow on the mountains is so bright and the sky so blue that my heart skips a beat...I can hardly breathe for all the beauty. I wonder if the people born here take this for granted, or does it stop them in their tracks too. You can play outside in the morning and ski in the afternoon.  I breathe deep, so to soak in the mountain air and the crispness of the edges of the mountains against that incredible sky.  


From our house, on the other hand, I see trees...tall, deep green pine trees that exhale pungent natural perfumes that I thought could only come from a deep forest..and, here they are in our backyard, draping our house like a quilt, blocking any sign of mountains.

Self-convinced that if I walk a mile in any direction from the house, I will see the mountains that loom under the crisp morning air every morning on my drive, Candy and I set out to the east, assuming we would see the mountains to the south. We walked and walked, her tail high and a prance in her step.

A mile or more down the road, I caught a glimpse of the foothills. But, no mountains to be sure.

At "work" today--I put work in quotes because there are days like today that work is just plain fun--I spent the entire day designing a new pattern, my favorite part of the job.  Liberty Crown is a new quilt pattern coming out this spring (along with some new bags and ZigZapps).  But, while I work on Liberty Crown, I am constantly reminded of things like "purple mountains majesty" and the "land of the free and the home of the brave".  As I went looking for mountains this very pleasant evening, I found that although I could not see the mountain from my house, there was liberty and majesty all around, from the daintiest flower, to the tallest tree, to those foothills in the distance.  And tomorrow, when I drive the 12 minutes to "work" I will turn the corner and Mt. Bachelor will come into view again...and my heart will skip a beat, and I will inhale all the splendor that comes for free. We are free to enjoy the smallest of pleasures that might surround us in any given day, and to hold tight the grandest of pleasures that we might be given at any moment.  And I came to realize that these joys have always been just around the corner.  We just need to define what the view is and keep "

on looking for mountains".