Chocolate and beauty

A friend posted a picture she'd captured on one of her walks with the Facebook caption, "Sometimes I think I live on the lid of a chocolate box ...."

The friend, a courageous, creative, caring woman (all words that start with C like chocolate) got me thinking, once again. She has been known to make think over and over and . . .

At Christmas time the grocery stores in France and Switzerland, and other places for all I know, usually have an entire aisle with chocolate boxes containing luxury chocolate. Many of those boxes are works of art. I would say it is as much fun to look at the boxes as it is to eat the chocolate, but I am too much of a chocolate lover to believe that. I can do both: enjoy the box, enjoy the chocolate.

As a child, periodically we would be given a Whitman sampler. The gift was a cause for celebration. At the time I hadn't been introduced to the glories of Swiss dark chocolate. My grandmother would bring out a knife and let us cut them all the pieces in half, so when we chose one (and they were rationed), we would know what we were getting.

To the other part of my friend's caption. She swallows beauty and adds it to her soul. It is easy to do here between the mountains, flowers, sky, clouds, woods, rocks, etc. If one wants to add music, bird song fills the air. One would have to walk with their eyes closed and ears blocked to miss it all especially if you add in sunrises and sunsets.

There are stores in Geneva where the chocolate is hand made such as Auer's. One will carefully select maybe six. At bedtime, I will take one, swallow it a bit at a time. It has the quality that even after the bite has long melted the taste remains.

The beauty in the world, the fields of flowers, can be savored longer than a piece of fine chocolate. It too is fleeting. The petals fall. The sun rises taking the pinks with it or the sunset hides in dark. The mountains play peek- a-boo with clouds which change shape and tones of white and gray.

Our senses are alive with what we see, feel, taste, hear. The lid of chocolate box is our world and every day gives us a gift of feeling, seeing, smelling, tasting.