Where we live it’s considered a very big deal to have a home with a view. The Cascade Mountains--snow-covered and make-you-cry beautiful-- rise up to the east of Seattle. The Olympic Mountains--a more-than-worthy backdrop for a summer sunset-- are to the west. The region is surrounded by sparkling, way-too-blue Puget Sound, and there are picturesque islands, covered with evergreen trees. Put simply, it’s pretty here, and I guess it’s understandable that people want to sit indoors and look out.VIEW HOME!!! the real estate signs proclaim. WATER AND MOUNTAIN VIEWS!
I had to kind of laugh at myself recently as I worked in the little second-story office I‘ve set up in a secluded corner of our home. The window above my desk faces out on trees--huge, towering cedar trees, the kind of trees Tolkein called “Ents”-- and birds nest in the trees and sing to me while I work. My laughing came from a kind of self-mocking realization that the trees blocked the “view” of the surrounding countryside, yet there I sat, a goofy, blissy grin on my face, a kid in the best treehouse ever.
Views? Hey, I’m a photographer and a visual guy. If I want to see mountain views, I’ve got imagery in my head. My brain can play a cerebral slide show anytime I want, and my office-mates the birds are always willing to supply the soundtrack.
And then there’s my stone. It sits on my windowsill and, truth be told, probably looks like any stone you’d find in a typical gravel driveway, but I’m pretty sure my stone holds Big Magic. A friend, traveling in Nepal, brought me the stone from high in the Himalayas. I can hold the stone in my hand, picture my friend picking it up, putting it in her pocket, thinking “Kurt will get a kick out of this.” I would sooner give up one of my cameras than give up my Himalayan stone.
In another window, in another room, there is a rock cairn, also a gift from friends. Mountain ramblers pile rocks in this way to indicate back-country routes of travel, and the makings of this particular cairn were picked up on the banks a wild, high country river in Eastern Washington. In a state full-to-overflowing with over-the-top scenery, that river is by far one of our favorite places.
We feel fortunate to live here in the trees, and to have friends who give us rocks as gifts.
