During those times when work takes over one’s life, it is vitally important to notice the beauty that quietly surrounds us each day. My commute to work takes me on a winding 2-hour journey through the bucolic, blissfully cell phone free Cougar Creek Canyon. The pine-filled air and steady rush of the passing river clears my mind and re-calibrates my purpose. It’s a much-needed respite in my otherwise crowded world.

At times, when I feel like stretching that fleeting bit of alone time just a bit longer, I’ll even stop to smell the roses growing on the side of the road………

…perhaps even pluck them….

…so that later I can plop them in the distiller…..

…and make some incredible rose cream with my mom.

Maybe I’ll even stop along the way to gaze at a train trestle…….

….try unsuccessfully to set my camera on a rock and get a “candid-contemplative” shot of myself (in a wicked coat by Core Concepts)……..

…which leads me to discover a magnificently delicate, pristinely preserved damselfly wing.

One more quick stop to fill my lungs with canyon air and wonder what it must be like to live along such a lonesome stretch of road……..

….and then just miles to go before I work.