America the Beautiful

We just returned from a 2-week trip across the country.  Well, to Missouri and back, anyway.  We saw snow, rain, slush, and a little sunshine now and then.

We Americans were certainly blessed with beautiful views and places to build our homes.  Williams, AZ has stately conifers covering mountains short enough to climb on a day hike.  Tucumcari, NM is in the middle of vast plains and prairies.  They've been broken up with barbed wire fences, but the view is still amazing.  The Missouri Ozarks -- a place I know well -- has gorgeous rolling hills, secluded glades, and the dense woods I grew up playing in.  In southern Oklahoma, a series of lakes reflect the setting sun.

I feel privileged to see these places.  Let us appreciate them, and others like them.  

Green. And why I need it.

I grew up in a very green place.  Well, except for in August when the grass has all died.  I didn't understand when visitors, often from the West, would exclaim "It's so green here!"  Now, I live in the west and I have come to understand not only their amazement, but my need for this color.

I LOVE the outdoors.  Mountains, oceans, lakes, rivers, prairies, all of it is beautiful to me.  As I sit on beautiful Catalina Island, surrounded by a glassy ocean, it has finally occurred to me why green is so important.  I need to know that there is undeveloped land.  The ocean is beautiful, but as of yet, we haven't figured out a way to exploit its real estate.  Everything else about the ocean, well that's a different story.  So, living in the mountains around Los Angeles has meant that I am surrounded by millions of people.  And where there is green, there aren't any houses.  This is refreshing to me.

It is so important, in fact, that when we were looking to move about 18 months ago, I knew that I needed a house with a view of the mountains.  As lovely as an ocean view would be, I need the mountain view.  I need to know that we have not yet claimed every square inch of ground for ourselves.  I need to see it.

My favorite color is blue.  But I need green.