Yesterday was unusual because it was noticeably beautiful. The world is often beautiful, but it’s not always noticeably so.
Georgia was particularly and peculiarly moody yesterday. As I was unraveling a complicated knot of electric fencing wire, she seemed to view it as her special duty to stand directly in front of me, stretch her neck out, and bellow in my ear. I do not mean once. Over and over again. I was not pleased.
And then suddenly I noticed that her hide was beautiful. She’s just lost her winter coat, and her new hair is smooth and clean. Its mild caramel-coffee color stands in vivid contrast to the brilliant green grass. She’s beautiful!
Later I went back to check on the beef cows. We have a new little calf, a sweet girl. She’s two days old, and much smaller than any other calves we’ve had before. Her mother, though, is rather protective and so I hadn’t gotten close to the calf yet. But there she was – curled up in the grass alone. I put my arms around her and breathed in the distinct new-born calf smell. Her tiny body was easy to lift into my lap and I held with joy.
She soon grew restless and wobbled away. Mama-cow had sighted our rendezvous and thundered over to investigate. I galloped back to the safety of the trees.
And lastly, I was on blueberry hill, engaged in a one-woman fast-and-furious harvesting party. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Slowly the lowering sun was muffled. The fronds of the black-walnut whispered restlessly.
I saw sheets of rain in the distance, muting the mountains as the storm passed over the Blue Ridge from the valley to the piedmont. Soon the mountains, like the sun, were masked in rain and cloud. Meanwhile, the lightning was starting to flash all around. Zeus, it seemed, was having quite a chariot race. Finally I decided that I had enough blueberries and scuttled back down to the house.
Why does it seem that my favorite moments of beauty are fraught with danger? Sizzled by lightening, trampled by an angry cow, and deafened by a hormonal cow. Beautiful.
I was just thinking of the earth’s beauty today, actually. I was standing on a hill overlooking where the gas line company cut down all of our trees on the south slope. It’s so….GREEN. That view was worth living a lot for. “Beautiful” is just how I would describe VA. Great post!