Sunday, October 08, 2006

The View

My house is built on a hill. There is a treeline at my back boundary. Beyond the treeline is, what most people consider, a beautiful view of the mountains. This view is visible from mid-fall until early spring because of the leaves falling off of the trees.

Every guest we've had here comments on the view. They all love it. I think it's O.K. but I am not overly impressed. That's because I've been to the mountain in question. It is a blasted, decimated, barren, slag-heap where only scrub brush will grow. This area was once big in zinc mining or something and I guess, back then, they didn't have a policy of putting things back. To make matters worse, the mountain in question has a double turnpike tunnel going through it and all of the displaced dirt and rocks are scattered over the mountainside, as well.

Up close it is one of the ugliest views I've ever seen. From a distance (say my back deck) it is really quite lovely. Apparently, enough distance will make anything look presentable.

My wife has excellent distance vision but up close she can't see anything. I figure this makes my similarities to the mountains more tolerable to her.

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