Writing Challenge #6- Landscapes I Love

Landscapes are just so visual!

I have been struggling with this prompt for weeks. For one thing, I don't have many pictures of my own; I'm building a collection as I begin to blog more and develop an online presence for myself but there's not much too it yet. For another thing, I feel like I ALMOST live in my dream landscape, yet the 'not quite' is a constant reminder of of how much work I have to do yet, how far I have to go, so I've been avoiding facing that a little.

Today, I read in a newsletter that "We keep thinking that once we get to that next place, we'll be able to exhale. But the truth is, We never really arrive. We just get where we want to go, and then there's another place to go. And as the Buddhists say: there is no there, only here." This is both reassuring and frustrating! I want to get to live in my dream landscape, but will I every actually be satisfied?

For me, the physical world where I live is very, very important to my daily happiness and satisfaction. Right now I am a renter, and will be for the foreseeable future. I have very little control over the landscape around my house- there's a golf course, and a maintenance crew. This definitely has advantages, like getting a new roof without even asking! But I also can't grow much of anything outside- between the groundhogs and the maintenance guys, everything I've planted has disappeared.

However, it is pretty at my house. It's not too formal, yet the grounds are well cared for and there are trees everywhere. In considering this writing prompt, I realized trees are an absolute must have. So is grass, and hills, and water, and rather untouched nature. Rocks, deserts, extremes of height or sharpness or distance don't draw me as much as wondering what's around that bend, what's the story with that old barn or house, how can all those shades of green exist in the same patch of forest?

So I put together a Pinterest board to showcase what draws me, what I love to see no matter how many times it's been painted and displayed in small town art galleries. My favorite landscapes are pretty, at least to my eye, and working on this prompt has shown me how much I crave pretty in my world. Eventually I'll have my own home where I can make all my own decisions, but even now I wake up most days and just let the beauty around my home soothe my soul, and I will have to find a way to continue that in my future.

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