I love the outdoors. Love mother nature, specially anything to do with water.

I love the sea, rivers, lakes & Rain. If i had my way i would just camp out near water.

The most beautiful place i have ever been to is Naran - Kaghan in Pakistan it is absolutly breathtaking & pretty much wild. Specially the Lake Saif ul Muluk is so beautiful.

I do not know what's it like now after the disastrous Earthquake in the year 2005.

The whole area is surrounded by mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and forest.
And pretty much untouched by human meddling.

I will describe the view from our hotel bedroom window. In the day one could see a meadow with wild daisies & Iris flowers and a little old mud & wood cottage with a huge mountain at the back........loads of trees scattered around. The sky was a beautiful Sky blue colour so clear and unpolluted. One could also see the clouds moving past, so near.

In the night at the same spot i use to stay up as long as i could just to grasp the moment.
The sky was a deep dark midnight blue with a full Moon & Stars shining so brilliantly they seemed so near as if i could just reach out & touch them.

The Lake Saif ul Muluk is at a height of 10,500 ( 3200.40 metres). It is surrounded by mountains. We went there in June and a few of the peaks were covered in Snow and one could see the reflection of the mountains all around in the lake water which is a beautiful clear Turquoise blue green.

Here too one finds wild flowers specially Iris.
From one side the lake has a water fall its heavenly.
One can walk around the lake or horse ride around.

In summers one can see glaciers all around this region.

Though i have been to many places around the world but never experienced such beauty.
Specially i had heard so much about Banff in Canada & Kyoto in Japan but nothing compares to the beauty of Kaghan Valley .

I wish i could go back to Naran one day.

What a beautiful post, dear Maheen. After reading your lively words, I felt like I visited Naran myself.

I was listening Ambient music and the serenity of your words flown beautifully together. Lovely! Thank you humbly.

with love and respect,

A.Pinski.

Thank you for the beautiful post, Maheen. I live in the Northwestern part of the U.S. and we have a lot of daily beautyy surrounding us. I try not to take it fo granted. we always have view of the mountains. Lakes and rivers are nearby. We also have the beautiful evergreen trees.

However, last night we had a very powerful windstorm and the evergreens have caused a lot of damage. we have a major power outage in the Seattle area and I'm using battery power on my computer. We don't know how long the elctricity will be off.

Everyone, please keep an eye on the forum for me.

__________________
InterfaithForums.com-Where your ideas and beliefs count.

I hope you are safe, we have power breakdowns in the HOT, HUMID summer months nearly all day & night. AGggghhh its frustrating.

We have a generator, most rich people are using a generator as its murder in the heat.

Make the most of it & have a candle lit evening. But oh my gosh must be really cold your part of the world.
Take care & be safe.

Much love,
Maheen

Our power was out almost three days and some people wont have power for several days. Our parking areas were literally blanketed in fir boughs. We had 15 trees down on our apartment property. Most of them were on roofs. Some of the wind gusts were 90 MPH. I wasn't aware until I went outside and drove around how devastating it was. There were over 1 million people who lost power. There have been 700 crews working around the clock to get the power back on. Night time temperatures are in the 30's F and daytime temperatures are in the 40's F. I left and went to my daughters apartment for almost three days. She had power.

Our power came back on today. I have had the heat on for almost 8 hours and the temperatue in my apt. is still only 69 degrees F. I have a high ceiling in the livingroom. I had to clean out the refrigerator and restock. I shopped in my daughter's neighborhood because the stores in my neighborhood had been out of power for 3 day.

The problem was that such a large area was effected. Now there is a gas shortage. Stores and gas stations were closed for a few days. If a gas station was open there was a mile long line.

My place of business and my boss still don't have power.

__________________
InterfaithForums.com-Where your ideas and beliefs count.

My God what Mayhem !

You must be stressed out. I wish things get back to normal soon.

Do take care to rest & relax, if there is any thing i can do to comfort you let me know, i am always here....

Much love,

My prayers are always with you !

Maheen

Thank you, Maheen. I really appreciate it.

__________________
InterfaithForums.com-Where your ideas and beliefs count.

The pleasure is all mine , but you take care.

Much love,
Maheen

I also love the outdoors, and camp whenever possible. Everywhere we camp, it is near water, either flowing water, or near a lake. We can fish, walk in nature, observe wildlife (I have a wonderful picture at one place, taken of a large bull elk [aka: Wapiti] from about 35 feet away...totally unconcerned with my presence), swim, or just enjoy the day.

Food always seems to taste so much better out in camp, too, though it just might be the fresh air.

Camping is my way of releasing all the tensions and stresses of day to day living, and it is the one time that I'm truly at peace. I love being able to close my eyes and feel the life around me, from trees and bushes and wild animals.

In about 4 months, I hope to go camping again, and I'm already looking forward to it!

I do not know why but water has a strange wonderful effect on me.
I want to live & die near water i love it too much.
I love water in every form.
I wish i can find a job on a ship someday it will be wonderful.

I too love the out doors.
I am sure you must have had many wonderful experiences camping.
Do you camp out for the whole night too?

Much love,
Maheen