Whimsy & Tea | Handwoven Tea Towels

weaving beauty into your everyday

  • HOME
  • ABOUT MARILYN
    • Meet Marilyn
    • In the media
    • Environmental stewardship
  • HANDWOVEN GOODS
    • Kitchen towels
    • Table napkins
    • About colorgrown cotton
    • Laundering
    • A word about color
    • My guarantee
  • EVENTS
  • BLOG
    • Making cloth
    • Thoughts on beauty
    • Life’s lessons at the loom
    • More than a dog walk
    • Customer stories
    • Recent posts
  • CONTACT
  • ONLINE STORE

Ordinary and extraordinary beauty

July 2, 2011 By Marilyn Webster Leave a Comment

Several years ago I traveled back to India, to the foothills of the Himalayas where I grew up. My class was having a reunion in conjunction with our school’s 150th anniversary celebration.

On the last morning our seventh grade homeroom teacher invited us to a sunrise breakfast. A handful of us arrived on time and walked with our teacher along a narrow path to a bench. We listened as he described the path the light would take and told us where and when the sun would appear. The yellow light on the snow of these high mountains was stunning.

What sticks in my memory more than the details of this gorgeous sunrise though is that two other white-haired men joined us. At least one of them wore his pajamas and robe and they both carried cups of tea. As I recall, they didn’t stay long. Once the sun was up, they turned and walked back to their homes.

I was very moved to learn that these three white-haired men regularly watched the sunrise together. I knew each of them from the classroom, school functions, church services, hikes, potlucks, and meals at my family’s home and/or theirs. Now, years later, I was catching a glimpse of them in a different context and was honored to witness this.

I got the sense that this sunrise was both extraordinary and ordinary for them. Extraordinary because of the incredible beauty, something they each valued enough to leave their warm beds to witness. Ordinary because this was an everyday occurrence and this is how they started the day.

From my daily walks along a rural road in northern California, I understand the power of starting the day with the beauty of the natural world. After my morning cup of tea, the dogs and I walk up a hill to a vineyard, down the other side and back. I take these walks as much for me as for the dogs.

We walk at roughly the same time every morning and I love noticing the changes in the light, in the weather, in what’s blooming and growing, and in what’s dying. I often ask myself, “What’s beautiful today?” This morning it was the cool crisp air, the stillness beneath the birdsong, and the waxing moon in the clear light blue sky. Yesterday it was an unexpected warm breeze and a hummingbird sipping nectar from the purple Bear’s Breech flowers.

I cannot speak for the three men watching the sun rise over the Himalayas. I can say that paying attention to the beauty I experience as I walk this road every morning helps me be more present to the ordinary and extraordinary beauty of being alive.

In memory of Rev. Robert C. Alter (1926-2011)

My invitation to you: How do you experience ordinary and extraordinary beauty? I’d love to hear.

Share this:

  • Email

Read more stories about Beauty, Everyday, Natural World

Join the conversation Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Get my ebook — The Power of Beauty in Everyday Life: Five Stories

The power of beauty in everyday life: Five stories

Please accept this gift that celebrates and explores the power of beauty in everyday life.

Get your free copy

Save

More writing: Shining a light on the ordinary that’s not so ordinary

circle of beech leaves and flowers on a mossy rock

Although the store is closed, the philosophical heartbeat of Whimsy & Tea – shining a light on the ordinary that’s not so ordinary – is now expressed more fully and a little bit differently in stories and notes at WalksWithAsha.com.

Read and listen

Save

Popular blog posts

  • In praise of slow weaving
  • But it’s too beautiful to use!
  • The sound before the sound
  • Enough
  • Weaving the Gulf Shores towels
  • Replenishing a tired spirit
  • Honoring the ordinary

Copyright © 2023 Marilyn Webster | Whimsy & Tea | Contact | All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy

  • HOME
  • ABOUT MARILYN
    ▼
    • Meet Marilyn
    • In the media
    • Environmental stewardship
  • HANDWOVEN GOODS
    ▼
    • Kitchen towels
    • Table napkins
    • About colorgrown cotton
    • Laundering
    • A word about color
    • My guarantee
  • EVENTS
  • BLOG
    ▼
    • Making cloth
    • Thoughts on beauty
    • Life’s lessons at the loom
    • More than a dog walk
    • Customer stories
    • Recent posts
  • CONTACT
  • ONLINE STORE