“If you want to have a beautiful life, fill it with beauty.”
We spent last week in the Berkshires, MA. Our reason to travel there was to celebrate the 90th birthday of a man who we have known since we lived in Riga, Latvia over 40 years ago. We are very good friends with his daughter. She and her husband live in Pittsfield—which is the heart of Berkshires County. My wife managed to get a time-share exchange there, and we had a remarkable, though tiring, time exploring the area. While it is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, there are certain things in life that most people would agree are beautiful.
While we certainly have enough beautiful trees and flowers where we live, traveling to different places allows us the special opportunity not only to see nature’s beauty with our eyes but also to experience nature’s influence of the beauty with all of our senses. This is why we decided to visit The Berkshires in the prime time of Fall, when leaves are changing colors. This area is probably beautiful all year round. It is located about 2.5 hours drive from Boston and Manhattan. We spent a whole week driving around to experience yet another place where nature was showing off its diverse and all empowering beauty. Looking around, I asked myself, why is this beauty in nature only available for those who live in areas with real seasons, while us Californians have to go to places like the Berkshires to experience it?
I think that like anything else in life, we need to make an effort to gain any benefits and like the Fall, nature’s beauty changes quickly into something else (like Winter), and brings about a whole new beauty. We just have to learn to appreciate what is readily available to us, break our routines, and visit places that are eagerly waiting for us.
It was easy and at the same time challenging to photograph what I saw with my own eyes. It was like slicing a small piece of a beautiful cake that nature created for my enjoyment—which part of the cake should I cut? The cake was changing right before my eyes. The last red leaf hanging on a barren tree with a multicolor background of other trees, and then with a small break of wind, it would lift into the air and slowly join other leaves that created a beautiful carpet on the ground. No other people walked in the forest attached to the house where we stayed, and the carpet would slowly disintegrate into the brown surface, which served as a protective blanket and fertilizer for the seedlings on the ground, which will come out next Spring as a beautiful new tapestry that we call “nature”.
Our friend told us that this year was exceptional for the amount and the intensity of the coloration. Perhaps it was done specially for our visit, but we are planning to come back again just to check if it is true. Since we also change, as well as our sensitivity to the world and the beauty around us, this will be difficult to measure.
“A picture is worth a thousand words”.
There are at least 176 quotes about seeing beauty. One of them is from the famous Chinese thinker Confucius. “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it”. It was challenging to choose a few images to share my experience with you. Enjoy!
Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile And Please SHARE It With A Friend!