Happy Fourth of July!
Imagine you are on a bicycle riding up to the top of a mountain pass. Imagine that your bike is a tandem, a bicycle built for two. The person riding on the front of the bike is your true love, he’s working VERY hard. It’s not easy pedaling up to the top, and the very steep road goes on and on. Imagine that a nice man on another bicycle appears behind you and decides to slow down to ride at your pace. He strikes up a conversation, a welcome distraction.

Here you are riding across the Northern Cascade Mountain range. The beauty and grandeur of these mountains is just incredible. You are filled with amazement at the scene all around you. The view in every direction is awesome. Going 5 miles an hour, you really have time to gaze and take it all in, but I confess we did stop a time or two just to take pictures and catch our breath.

We were surrounded by God’s majesty. Our spirits were uplifted, and our conversations were not banal or mundane. How could it be otherwise?
We found ourselves talking to this man about a book we are reading together called “True Love.” It was written by a Vietnamese Buddhist Monk named Thich Nhat Hanh. It teaches some simple ideas to improve the way you love, so you can love mindfully. I learned about this book from an Italian American lawyer who lives in Calabria and writes a great blog, Bleeding Espresso. On the other side of the Atlantic, she too is learning about how to live mindfully. So our bicycling companion talked to us about true love and guitar lessons and about the power of song.

The serendipity of having this conversation in this very beautiful place continues to boggle my mind. It would be hard for anyone to not be inspired here. It was with this in my heart that I painted this landscape.

This painting is on heavy watercolor paper. It measures 11 x15″ and it is for sale.