Finding Beauty

The voices and words of Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Neil Young lulled me into a sense of peace today. Day to day life here has simplicity to it which I rarely find. The feeling of cutting an onion or running my hands along the cutting board, of doing dishes under a thin stream of water or washing a shirt by hand. I find such pleasure in these moments because I am not rushing onto the next thing. I’ve started cooking for myself and love the challenge of discovering places to buy food, using my Spanish in the fruit and vegetable market and creating meals for myself. I have chickpeas in the crock-pot as I write that I am going to make into a coconut curry. My time is filled with the basics. Cook, clean, study and just be. It’s a wonderful thing which I haven’t had for awhile. It’s been a pretty transient summer moving from place to place since July and I’m enjoying the sense of settlement I have now. Every morning I take Tucker for a walk, the golden retriever that belongs to Anna and Andy the couple that I am house sitting for over the next two weeks. This morning as I followed the winding, muddy, garbage strewn trails with Tucker I paused to look around me and to absorb the scenery. A thick leafy green sky above my head, the hills a rolling canopy of jungle. The calls of roosters, dogs, bugs and birds providing a constant background of noise. I often catch myself walking through life with my eyes focused down being careful to watch my step and not trip instead of taking a chance and looking up. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I’m doing, instead of enjoying what I am experiencing.