I love the American Standard by Irving Berlin titled, "Blue Skies."  It's one of those songs whose melody just instantly lifts me up.  This morning when I awoke, that song came flooding into my mind and for obvious reasons.

 Sitting here at my office desk I have a truly glorious view through my window of a steep canyon wall speckled in white blossoms with a farm house on its ridge.  Above that jutting land mass is nothing but blue skies this morning.  But, I mean the blue, blue skies.  There is not a cloud in the sky and the color is not the sky blue from a crayon box, but the deep, rich cobalt blue that you are more likely to see in a James Cameron film ... almost unreal.

If you've been reading my daily posts, by now you've figured it out that I am a bit in love with nature.  I always have been from the time I was a little boy.  I grew up surrounded by big woods, orange groves, swamps, and pastures.  Almost everyday of my youth, I spent some amount of time in a tree or on a silent wooded path or trekking around in mud that surely only a young child could appreciate.  Now, as an adult, I find that one of my greatest passions is still the natural wonder that is all around me.  I am blessed to live in a Los Angeles canyon that is protected as state land on all sides.  It means that nature is right outside my door, literally.  So, even on the days that I don't feel at my best ("crunchy" as I like to call it), I can step outside of my home or look through my office window and see the immeasurable beauty of the blue, blue skies.