Streaming in through the blinds, the early morning sunshine brings an almost blinding brightness to my office. Outside the windows, my view includes several different types of trees, shrubs (one of which is blooming right now), fallen leaves, squirrels chasing each other, birds picking up seeds, and the favorite resting place of a mama deer last spring. The beauty of this view continues to inspire me as I sit at my desk and write about the beauty around us in nature, the arts, and the unexpected.
If you’re new to Glimsen, you may wonder why I write about beauty. I will talk about that in a moment, but first I want to take a quick look at 2021 here on the blog.
In last week’s post, I talked about setting goals for the new year. I wrote about how gardeners work with nature to get a healthy harvest. They spend valuable time planning, preparing, planting, and nurturing in order to move that last phase of harvesting. (If you haven't read that post yet, I encourage you to do so here.)
Today, I want to talk briefly about what I planted and harvested at Glimsen in 2021 and mention a few new things I hope to harvest in 2022.
In 2021, we celebrated Glimsen’s fifth anniversary. Five years! It’s still hard to believe. Let me take another moment to smile and say thank you for your support and encouragement. I so appreciate you all.
Throughout last year, I planned and produced special things to mark the anniversary:
a reader survey for feedback and comments (thank you!)
a new free piece of art for new subscribers to print and frame
a redesign of my quarterly/occasional newsletter
was a guest on two podcasts
wrote guest posts that appeared on two websites
did a trial run of a new Glimsen podcast (more on that soon!)
produced two new notecards for the Shop (click here to see the whole Seasons series)
started writing a book about beauty based on Glimsen (more on that soon!)
held anniversary party in July with about 30 local readers in attendance (soooo much fun and a highlight of the year for me!)
continued writing and promoting weekly posts on Glimsen and social media
continued looking for beauty and taking photos wherever I found it.
I am happy with all that we accomplished. And while it was a lot of work, it was a joy, too.
If you are new to Glimsen, you may be wondering, why beauty? Why would I spend so much time writing about the beauty around us?
There are many reasons. First, as I said, beauty brings me joy. I can’t imagine life without it—I don’t even want to.
Whether it’s a symphony, or a painting, or the color of a newly-fallen leaf, beauty gives us a place to rest our senses and our minds.
It brings a stirring to our hearts, our imaginations, our minds. It brings delight and surprise, awe and wonder.
It reminds us that even in a world full of ugliness, beauty not only exists but we can find it anywhere if we look. In its variety, complexity, intricacy, majesty, even its very presence, it points to the transcendent. And because beauty points to something—Someone—bigger than ourselves, it often stirs our hearts with longing and with hope.
My goal with Glimsen is to point you to the beauty around you—the beauty that is already in your daily life—and to give you space to soak it in, to wonder, to be curious, to explore and discover on your own.
And now, as I look at my calendar and plan for this new year, I invite you to join me as I look for the beauty around us and then share it in words and images with you too.
And, my friends, I’m excited to see what we harvest together at the end of 2022.
Thank you for reading Glimsen, where I write about the beauty around us in nature, the arts, and the unexpected. If you like this post, sign up below by clicking the green button to get a free gift of beauty and you’ll also receive my weekly blog posts in your inbox. Add more beauty to your life by signing up today.
Today’s photos courtesy of the talented photographers at unsplash.com
Seedlings by Francesco Gallarotti
Hands planting by Jonathan Kemper
Seedlings in pots by Markus Spike
Watering can by Markus Spiske
Basket of vegetables by Nina Loung