what kind of beauty

just now the sky lightened to tawny from indigo deep along the eastern edge, behind the pines.
the last stars fading
it is *so still* that I can see each pine needle.
i can see shadows of footprints in the snow

today I am starting with some moments of meditation
some intentional breathing

gathering myselves to get into a warm shower, comfy clothes, the car for a long drive to a client site...

this drive takes me past dark wooly work horses, some lovely lakes and streams and swamp lands,
up north and then west into mountains
it is always beautiful

there are some drives we dread, and others, like this one, that feel more like gifts.  On a morning like this, I wonder
will the water be open or iced over?
will the mountains be in clouds?
and of all the things there are to wonder, these questions are gifts too.
since it is not a question of whether there will be beauty,

it is only a question of what kinds of beauty I will be lucky enough to notice.