Three years ago I planted some oriental lily bulbs at the edge of our yard. The lily bed interfaces with the creek bed. Also a large boulder with a natural notch impressed me as the ideal resting place for a carved stone heart. The stone heart is about the size of a bowling ball. Another boulder a few feet away seemed a fine backdrop for placing a statue of a female Buddha, Kannon, the goddess of mercy. The boulders and statuary lend a note of beauty to the spot in the grey months of the year, while nature rests. But now summer reigns!

Join me and absorb the radiance of the blossoms, which materialized a few weeks ago. 

A recognition of beauty is habit, becomes habit especially through exposure to nature, which is our mother. This is fact needing no justification or further explanation. 

Habits are the acquired structures that make possible the experience of the immediate. Informed by good habits, what feels good is good.   – Dao De Jing, A Philosophical Translation, by Roger T. Ames and David L. Hall