[Smiling]

I took a long, meandering drive through the countryside beneath an impossibly blue sky that was lit up by a sun so brilliant it was almost incomprehensible.

As I cruised along, I noticed a small "not-quite-a-swamp-but-not-quite-a-pond-either" at the northern edge of a cow pasture. All the other cows were hanging around together in the meadow (catching up on the latest cow gossip and weighing in on all the pressing bovine social issues of the moment, in my mind) except for one that was standing alone, as still as a statue, knee-deep in the standing water. She had her face lifted to the sunlight and I could literally feel her contentment all the way out to the road.

She was probably just trying to cool off, but what I loved the most about the whole scene was that she was doing precisely what she wanted to do and for her, nothing else existed in all the world at that time save her, the cool water, and the sunlight.

I think cows are beautiful, peaceful creatures and this one brought me a lot of joy. She wore her serenity painted all over her face as a light that rivaled the radiance of the sun.