What do we find exotically beautiful and why? I suppose if I were a rice farmer, I would see a view like this and think, “gonna rain again pretty soon. Better get that lower paddy fixed to handle the runoff.” For me, a lot of what I like about living here is that none of this reminds me of work. For a while I lived on an acreage in the middle of vast corn and soy fields in Iowa, and I found myself both discounting the local beauty and taking the weather personally. Frequent rain meant I had to mow, and heavy snow could mean being stuck at home for three days. Maybe this is why beauty is often so fleeting.