Weekend Assignment #220: Beautiful!

This one is a blatant excuse to show you some of the pictures I took today, while still giving you a topic worth thinking about (I hope!):

Weekend Assignment #220: Tell us about one person, place, concept or thing you find particularly beautiful, and why it affects you in this way. If you can demonstrate its beauty with photos, great, but as always, the primary emphasis for the Weekend Assignment is words. Extra Credit:Does something threaten to disturb or destroy that beauty?

Well, in the 22 years I've lived in Tucson, I've seldom thought about Oro Valley, the outlying town at the northwest edge of the valley, just south of Pusch Ridge. But having commuted into the area for the last two days, I have to say that the view from Oracle Road and vicinity, looking north, is truly beautiful:


This was taken behind the building where I work, at lunchtime today. Mesquite trees, cactus and succulents there prove that a desert can be green.

Landscaping behind the building leads us along a garden path toward more mountains.
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Mountains and flowers and trees, oh my! It isn't even as hot here as in the city. It was over 100 in Tucson today, but not behind the IM office building. But what's that clumb of garish structures in the middle there? Is that a Porto-o-Let I see? Unfortunately, yes.


Yes, there's building going on in the Pusch Ridge foothills, and not just the half-hidden ones in desert colors. If you zoom in, you may see the bulldozer.

I can't quite explain why mountains and desert and blue sky press my "Oh, how beautiful!" button. I think it has something to do with nature, and getting out of my own head long enough to notice the world around me. Land like this also gives me hope that the Harris' squirrels and jackrabbits and even the bighorn sheep are still out there, somewhere, even if I didn't see them today. But oh, those houses! I can't really blame someone for wanting to be close to such beauty, but can't they be close to it from a little farther away?



Okay, so I've totally failed to explain myself, but I tried. Can you do better? Tell of something beautiful in your blog or journal, and please remember to leave your links from there to here, from here to there. I'll be back in a week to share the beauty!

Karen