treat yourself to something beautiful
watch this all the way through and feel the beauty of her voice move the audience to tears
-15 year old emma kok sings ‘voila’ – with andre rieu, maastrict 2023
—
“after silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”
-aldous huxley
it was a beautiful day for a family wedding in sedona.
—
“the beauty in sedona is timeless.”
“despite knowing they won’t be here for long, they still choose to live their brightest lives – sunflowers.”
-rupi kaur
leaves in the rain
lovely homemade breakfast
pollinator hotel in the forest
fresh-picked peppercorns
cool water swimming pool at the rainforest hotel
local cat rests with la tortuga sculpture
shadow of a rainforest fern
rainforest hotel lounge
retro lighting and paneling
playing jazz standards and christmas music
the coatis and their families
often joined us for meals
a hut deep in the rainforest
offering a place for the workers to rest
a palm tree on the pacific ocean nods to the end of a day.
—
“i love to mix everything together. it’s really my way to see beauty.”
-alessandro michele
ethereal green wall in the alley of a small town
powerful monument in the capitol city
broken pottery mosaic on the sidewalk
tree trunk art in the rainforest
luscious dessert art
bottles create stained glass in the walls of the turtle sanctuary
heart becomes part of the path
where the fairies might live in the rain forest
small storefront in the rain
night setting at one of our rain forest stays
hanging rain forest bridge to ?
fisherman’s boat waits for him on the river
flowers growing wild on the caribbean beach
near where the sea turtle laid her eggs the night before
—
there was beauty of all kinds to be found in costa rica,
often in the most unlikely of places, in all its forms, as is beauty’s way.
—
“when you leave a beautiful place, you carry it with you wherever you go.”
-amanda stoddard
crossing the continental divide
 into the pacific region
for a visit to canto del rio and a hike into the cloud forest
one of the most unique environments in the world
surviving on costa rica’s mountaintops
incredibly quiet and powerful
the cloud forests are formed by a combination of wind and geography.
—
“in the cloud forest the fog is taken into the plants, thus ever clearing the air and feeding the streams. these forests are sacred, for they both bring flowing water to the ecosystem and hold the earth in place during the rains.”
-angela abraham
https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=787006252392996
 Reindeer under the aurora
—
“i always believe that the sky is the beginning of the limit.”
-MC Hammer
i had asked my daughter
to pick out a nice shampoo and conditioner for me
 was excited to get these
loved reading the labels
here are just some of the words/phrases on the packaging:
ResurrectionÂ
For weak, brittle hair that needs an intervention!
Damage Level – 3
Micro shields boost strength and stamina
Great results may cause your hair’s ego to inflate to astronomical proportions.
what?! ‘damage level -3’?!
i love the descriptors
who could resist even one of these?
and also there is so much little writing on the label
 the shampoo and conditioner bottles look exactly the same
 once i’m in the shower i have no idea which is which
and i always forget to look before i get in
and i’m not getting out to get my glasses on
so i have a 50/50 chance of getting it right, a roll of the dice
and sometimes i lose
this is what i call an ‘x-treme’ hair care experience.
—
“sorry I can’t hear you over the volume of my hair.”
-author unknown
“the significance of the cherry blossom tree in japanese culture goes back hundreds of years.
in japan, the cherry blossom represents the fragility and the beauty of life.
it’s a reminder that life is almost overwhelmingly beautiful but that is also tragically short.”
-homaro cantu
—
image credit: peak bloom, 1920’s. this lantern slide of the cherry blossoms along the tidal basin in washington, d.c., usa, is from smithsonian gardens’ archives of american gardens. the cherry trees arrived in 1912, when japan gave them to the city as a gift of friendship.
crystals shine and drape
making chandeliers
out of the ordinary.
—
“it is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam.
this crisp winter air is full of it.”
— John Burroughs
I didn't have my glasses on.... 