What is Beauty?

We often say "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". What do we mean by that? Simply put, each of us sees things differently and with our eyes and our feelings we record beauty in our own way - not necessarily as others see it. On the front page of our newspaper the other day was a gorgeous picture of Keene Valley, N.Y. For those of you who do not know what, or where, that is, I will explain.
Keene Valley is a tiny hamlet nestled among many mountain ranges on one of the few roads up into the Adirondack Mountain Preserve (Forever Wild). After you leave the main highway North (Rt.87 - called the Northway) you take a side Rt 73 and begin to climb steadily up into the mountains toward Lake Placid and Saranac Lake. It is breathtaking, steep and narrow - crawling along the sides of cliffs and clinging to the earth as best it can. There are the Cascade Lakes - deep and blue - and the danger of falling rocks. This is mountain climbers heaven. But Keene Valley nestles in the middle of nowhere and the ranges are green and awesome. In the picture it is just a tiny,little opening in the greenery and it marches uphill to Keene, the on to the Olympic Complex and Lake Placid and another 9 miles to my hometown of Saranac Lake. It is then that you see the beauty of a thousand little islands in a long, long string of lakes and rivers - all green, all plush, and forever wild. Without this road - this whole area of upstate N..Y. would be cut off from the rest of the world, as if it didn't exist.
You can visit or settle in - to the perfect , ideal place to be at peace and enjoy every day without the confusion of traffic or people. You may wonder why I ever left it. Well, that is another story, but I love my mountains, and I often drive up these roads to be among them again. It always refreshes me and my spirit and no matter how far away you go, once you have lived there, you will always come back. It doesn't change much and perhaps that is what draws us back. It is forever wild, and it is THERE.