Balance and Beauty

Yesterday, I received an unexpected and welcome phone call from a friend asking if I wanted to go hiking north of Carefree. With a blue sky and temps in the upper seventies, I set my work aside and put on my hiking shoes.

This time of year is especially beautiful and, because of winter rains, the wildflowers are blooming almost everywhere you look. Delicate orange poppies cover the desert mountains and butterflies and bees are out in force admiring and pollinating the lovely blossoms.

The hiking trail led us to the top of a mountain where Indian ruins remain. The view was spectacular and it is not hard to imagine these people from not so long ago enjoying the same scenery: the valley below, the distant mountain ranges, the unusual rock formations and the red tail hawks circling above. There is a particular stillness at this elevation that adds to the majesty.

I am so grateful to live in a place where I can put down my work and so quickly be in this environment. The balance between work and play, between activity and stillness, and between close up and far away is so easily created.