"You can knock on my door anytime you're passing by. You don't need an invitation, step inside..."
~ The Hollies "Step Inside"
http://youtu.be/OX-GV30V_AM

"al het mooie" is Dutch for "everything beautiful".
A very special young Dutch girl suggested that name and she has inspired me with her beauty; the beauty of tenacity through her gymnastics, the beauty of song through her talented voice, the beauty of the human spirit though her determination, and the beauty of friendship through her loyal, caring and loving heart. Karlijn Verhagen, you are such a beautiful, tender, gentle girl and you are such a kind, sweet, wonderful friend. You are so beautiful in so many ways, Karlijn, "I won't forget about us..."

Beauty makes life worthwhile and those who appreciate it and seek it out will find it everywhere they look. To be able to appreciate beauty, one must have a heart; but those without compassion, a heart for others, have no heart at all.

It's easy to see and appreciate obvious beauty, but equal beauty exists in equal measure for those who care enough to search for it.
Beautiful majestic mountains and colored forests are before us everywhere; but equal beauty is found only by crawling through earth's fissures to witness the massive cathedral caverns of the great caves.
Black stallions in green pastures behind whitewashed fences are striking and beautiful, but equally beautiful is the elusive nocturnal glossy black and red of a black widow spider caught in the glint of a flashlight beam as she sits in her messy tangled web.
Anyone can see outward beauty, but one must go beyond the easy and obvious and seek out the inner hidden beauty.

If you refuse to see the good, the beauty, in people and instead take greater delight in rummaging through the discarded ugly garbage of their lives, you are no friend of mine. To anyone who is a true friend, who can accept others as they are and strive to be, and who is willing to give them a helping hand to build them up as they pass by the way, welcome. You are a true friend indeed. I am fortunate to have found some of these true friends in my life and I value them greatly. True friendship is a rare and precious and beautiful gift.

Beauty is everywhere, it's both physical and spiritual, but often you must search and discern and appreciate it in order to find it.

Beauty is found in the voice of a young teen or tween princess who can sing like an angel.
And beauty is found in the voice of a timeless silver-haired country queen who can croon as no other.
Beauty is in the carefree delight of a barefoot little girl as she dances her own happy improv to the beat of a catchy song.
And beauty is in the spirit of a woman who strides joyously onward through life whose once beautiful breast is now a scarred and radiation tattooed chest, but cancer free.
Beauty is in the talent and person of a writer, pianist, percussionist, guitarist, and singer so accomplished yet so sensitive to the human spirit and so kind it takes your breath away.
And beauty is in the face of contentment, the expression of a job well done, of a task accomplished, of a song well sung.
Beauty is in the free and lively spirit of a former soviet bloc country tween exuberantly dancing to western pop.
And beauty is in the reciprocal appreciation of cultures on opposite sides of the globe for things different yet common to their own.
Beauty is in the old black and white craggy-faced portraits of the pioneers of American music.
And beauty is in the colorful, whimsical, pleasant smile of an American from long before America ever was.

Beauty is a very special blessing to those who seek it out. It is up to each of us to seek out the beauty and potential in others and seek to do what we can to build and develop that. Be the one who introspects about the good in life and in others, not the one eager to cast the first stone.

The default icon for this page is from the 700 year old Five Faces pictograph in Davis Canyon, Utah. We were last there over 20 years ago when free access was allowed and there were no other people in the isolated maze of colorful convoluted canyons. As with the faces and rock art in the three adjacent canyons; these were secluded, isolated and elusive. It required driving miles of wash sand, standing water, skirting quicksand and crawling over rock. They are guarded and hidden by thorny bramble thickets and narrow ledges. It took effort and determination to find them, but beauty is worth seeking out. Davis Canyon itself is beautiful, but at one time it was seriously considered for a nuclear waste repository. As with all beauty, it must be valued, appreciated and protected. The following link will take you to a pleasant photo tour of Davis Canyon thanks to Jamie who has posted a number of interesting travel blogs. http://windsourceii.blogspo...

From the time I was young I have appreciated the motto in the front of one of my favorite books, Two Little Savages by Ernest Thompson Seton. I have strived to live by my paraphrase of it, "Having known the pangs of thirst, I would dig a well that others may drink." It is up to each of us to seek out the beauty and potential in others and seek to do what we can to build and develop that.