Discovering the Beautiful

By Samuel Larson

This collection of writings on life and love came about through the encouragement of family and friends, and through the advantages of the internet and social media, a mechanism by which a writer may receive instant feedback from a vast audience. I have found the experience of sharing to be mostly uplifting, and I feel fortunate to have made a connection with so many great people who are willing to read and comment on my stories, and who are willing to share from their own experiences; the process has been very motivational.

In this book, I have compiled an array of writings on human relationships, on the adventure of life, the promise of love, the value of family and friendship, and on a few other matters of human concern. My hope is that you will find this collection of essays, short stories, poetry, and simple thoughts to be in good spirit, inspirational, thoughtful, and in good humor.

Thank you, dear readers.

Samuel Larson

• Language: English
• Publisher: Samuel Larson
• Release date: Aug 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463923825

Book preview

Discovering the Beautiful

A Collection of Thoughts on Life, Love, Family, Friendship, and Other Matters

By Samuel Larson

Discovering the Beautiful

Samuel Larson

A Collection of Thoughts on Life, Love, Family, Friendship, and Other Matters

Copyright 2014 by Samuel Larson

All rights reserved.

Cover art by Autumn Larson. Used with permission.

Photographic content by Samuel Larson. All others used with permission.

First Edition

Dedication

To my lovely wife, because a writer needs something to write about, and from the day we decided to make this journey together, I have been having the time of my life.

Preface

This collection of writings on life and love came about through the encouragement of family and friends, and through the advantages of the internet and social media, a mechanism by which a writer may receive instant feedback from a vast audience. I have found the experience of sharing to be mostly uplifting, and I feel fortunate to have made a connection with so many great people who are willing to read and comment on my stories, and who are willing to share from their own experiences; the process has been very motivational.

In this book, I have compiled an array of writings on human relationships, on the adventure of life, the promise of love, the value of family and friendship, and on a few other matters of human concern. My hope is that you will find this collection of essays, short stories, poetry, and simple thoughts to be in good spirit, inspirational, thoughtful, and in good humor.

Thank you, dear readers.

Samuel Larson

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Preface

Chapter 1 - The written word is a grand adventure...

Chapter 2 - Welcome to binary land...

Chapter 3 - The pen is not responsible for writing these words...

Chapter 4 - Show to others a glimpse of your appreciation...

Chapter 5 - Even our smallest choices affect our environment...

Chapter 6 - Live a beautiful life, and let the creativity come out...

Chapter 7 - The Cycle of Seasons...

Chapter 1

To celebrate our common right to communicate freely without censorship, and in appreciation for those moments when our search for a specific book, led us to a different book, near on the shelf, that we were meant to find,

I offer this poem:

The written word is a grand adventure,

And reading a wonderful gift,

And from time to time,

A hopeful reader discovers a book,

Changing the direction of their life.

---

Ring Around the Grocery

So I'm at the grocery store, and I look down, and my wedding ring is gone, so I stop and think of how I'm going to backtrack to each of the places I've been to find it, And what if someone picked it up?

So I leave the cart and walk back to the produce section:

Tomatoes, scrounge through the boxes, no ring,

Avocadoes, looking under them, through them, no ring,

Spinach, I pick up the bunches and notice that the bottom of produce boxes have holes in them; Oh no, what if the ring fell through?

Apples, throwing them side to side, great, more holes in the boxes, no ring.

Now the produce guy is looking at me like I'm a shoplifter; Who cares? Keep going.

So I backtrack to the bananas, and I lift up the first bunch, and there I see, 'The One Ring to Rule Them All'.

Actually, it’s just a plain white 10 carat gold band, and it's sitting in the plastic lining of the banana box, so it didn't fall through the holes. Yes!

The wonderful thing about this story is that my wife would have given me no grief over losing the ring, and that is why I was not going to leave that store until I had found it.

---

On December 23, my wife comes home from work and hits the kitchen for a baking extravaganza, and in four hours, she makes four loaves of pumpkin bread, four loaves of banana bread, and about fifty almond spritz cookies.

As I'm watching her zip around the kitchen, I say, Love, everything you do, you do it well.

And she says, That's why I don't sing.

So I say, You are also good at picking what to do.

And she says, Thanks baby. and gives me a kiss.

Compliments are better than mistletoe.

Sam & Heidi

---

Know well the difference, between belief and truth.

---

I hate election years, and I don't know which part is more intolerable, the time before the election, or the time after the election.

The 'GOD' people just visited our humble abode, with a message that started out with, you guessed it, politics. How did she know that religion and politics are my two favorite subjects?

Anyway, her message went like this:

In the Bible, God tells us that the most just form of government is a government of kings. Don't you think that sounds better than a government of imperfect humans?

Not only is this message illogical, it's archaic, so instead of getting into an actual discussion about the finer points of her message, I simply said:

In this household, we are devout followers of science and nature, and we have a deep respect for the natural laws of the universe, further, we follow a set of natural ethics which belong to the common man, and we are disheartened to see that so many religions have stolen these ethics and packaged them in a clever marketing scheme in order to control the people, and in order to make money. Thank you, and have a good day.

Just think, if the Mayan calendar is right, and the world actually ends in 2012, I won't have to experience another election year.

---

As I am rinsing my dishes in the sink after dinner, I hear my wife say, How do I look now? I'm ready to go to the barn.

And I turn to see that she has her hair pulled back in one long braid, and she's sporting a black baseball cap with a set of LED lights clipped to the bill, and she is wearing my oversized, dark blue, insulated flannel shirt, and her dark blue, baggy sweats, and black rubber boots.

And I say, You look like a shock trooper. You look like part of the SWAT team.

Then she turns on her LEDs, and crouches down in her oversized outfit, aiming her imaginary assault rifle at different angles as she clears the room, then she makes a comment about how girls with guns are hot.

How fortunate for a man, to have married the most adorable woman on earth.

---

Counter Garden

This is a picture of our counter garden.

If you take your greens, and cut back the stems, and store them in cold water like cut flowers, they will last on the counter for upwards of a week and a half. We change the water every day, and rinse off the leaves. If the cut ends start to brown, or the leaves start to look wilted, you can trim back the stems a second time.

On the counter is Green Leaf Lettuce, Cilantro, Italian Parsley, Kale, Water Cress, and Spinach.

You'll be surprised how good the greens will look after they have had a drink. We make salads everyday by just picking from the different greens, and throwing them in a bowl, then we add cucumber, carrot, tomato, avocado, and olives.

After adding heavier greens to our diet, we've found that we can't go two days without craving them.

If you juice with greens, you may find that the machine will yield more juice with the higher water content in the vegetables.

We like having plants in the house, especially ones you can eat.

Peace and good health Brothers &