small works in wool

  
When I was a kid, the scavenger hunt 

was a staple of party entertainment . . .  

We were given a list of things to find, and then we pestered neighbors (and complete strangers, actually) by ringing their doorbells and making our requests until we had everything on the list. It's only one of the things that responsible adults have surely thought better of in current child-rearing practices.  (However, it was great fun at the time...)

I was thinking about scavenger hunts while pondering beauty for the essay I recently intended to write, but ended up not writing.

Because I decided that I aspire to be 

 a scavenger of beauty.

 

And it gave me 

a weekend idea:

I propose a beauty scavenger hunt!

I'm not talking about knocking on people's doors, but something more like the auto-bingo game we also used to play, where you marked off a space if you saw a tow truck or a railroad crossing.

A beauty scavenger hunt might be just the thing for a humdrum January weekend in which you've just finished vacuuming up a full quart of pine needles, and you've exceeded your holiday going-to-movies budget.

So -- here's my challenge to you, Dear Reader -- 

I want you to find:

1.  A beautiful line 

(could be the curl of a wisp of smoke, the curve of a lover's smile, or the silhouette of a tree-branch against a January sky, for instance)

2.  A beautiful sound 

(maybe a laugh, a symphony, birdsong, or something you've never heard before)

3. A beautiful color
(even winter gray can be lovely, when adequately savored)

4. A beautiful turn-of-phrase 

(pay attention to the dance of words for a change, and notice the ones that create an immediate spark when they brush up against one another)

5.  A beautiful thought
(think one yourself, or look and listen -- people have them all the time)

6.  A beautiful movement 

(particularly expressive of grace, or energy, or emotion)

7.  A beautiful moment 

(the kind that makes you want to hit "pause" or perhaps even "rewind")

The "Art" of the world around us, naturally occurring and only waiting to be discovered . . . I think taking a moment to have a relationship with 7 items of beauty is a good start.  I'll take notes and bring you back my findings next week.  

(I really hope some of you might share yours as well...?)

Happy Hunting!