All around me I see something beautiful, I can’t stop being taken aback by it.  I catch very few of these moments with my camera, they usually come when I am busy making breakfast or sorting the chickens, any one of the tasks that pepper my day.  I’ll suddenly look up and notice a sky full of snow, the sun making his glorious entry and exit from the world, the boys all lit up from the fresh air and sunshine.  It’s not that each day is worry or irritation free, it’s not, but when I am caught suddenly by the extraordinary beauty of what is around me I can’t help but be lifted up by it.

 

The sunrise, the sunset, the stars and the moon; these are all things I’ve seen every day of my life.  I’ve always marvelled at them, found them beautiful, but here there are no distractions, nothing to interrupt their parade of glory.   On a clear night the stars are like torches, beaming so brightly that a 2 year old boy is frustrated because he can’t reach out and touch them.  When the moon beams brightly her light is more than enough to see by, the snow outside lit up purple and silver, promising magic.  As evening falls and I perform the mundane act of putting the chickens to bed, I am transfixed by the soft colours painted ever changing across the forest as the sun seeks his rest too; I return home with a double handful of eggs feeling like I hold a miracle in these small, fragile globes.  As I tuck them in my pockets I think of how many years I dreamed of a country life, I would wonder if I were still dreaming but the cold eggs in my pocket, small yet weighty, help me know that this is real.  I can’t help but laugh.