dewdrops adorn leaves
ms
including one dressed in violet
brightens the new day
Fall Colors
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Love the color of this leaf - clouds, Documentary/Street, John O'Donohue, Plants, poems, poetry, sunrises, Transportation, trees, writing/reading
The New Day
Pink sunrise from 2 days ago I give thanks for arriving
On Waking
Safely in a new dawn,
For the gift of eyes
To see the world,
The gift of mind
To feel at home
In my life,
The waves of possibility
Breaking on the shore of dawn,
The harvest of the past
That awaits my hunger,
And all the furtherings
This new day will bring.
by John O’Donohue -
The Beginning of Devotion
Upstream by Mary Oliver “Teach the children. We don’t matter so much, but the children do. Show them daisies and the pale hepatica. Teach them the taste of sassafras and wintergreen. The lives of the blue sailors, mallow, sunbursts, the moccasin flowers. And the frisky ones–inkberry, lamb’s quarters, blueberries. And the aromatic ones–rosemary, oregano. Give them peppermint to put in their pockets as they go to school. Give them the fields and the woods and the possibility of the world salvaged from the lords of profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms. Attention is the beginning of devotion.”
Mary OliverI bought a new used book which arrived on Saturday. It’s title is Upstream by Mary Oliver and a series of essays. So far I’m liking it and relate to her spiritual connectedness to nature. So, fair warning you may see a few quotes from the book.
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Misty Fall Day
a fallen oak leaf
ms
coated in water droplets
misty fall dayYesterday morning gave us freezing temperatures and a lite mist. I found beautiful dewdrops on my afternoon walk and wanted to share them. Have a great week.
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Still Burning
Taken yesterday evening at 8:00 pm The winds have been relentless the past 5 days causing the Cameron Peak fire to rage. Then yesterday afternoon another fire erupted west of Boulder. Because of the wind and dry conditions that fire has grown rapidly. It is called the Calwood fire and as of last night just over 7,000 acres in size. Thankfully, this morning it is 36 degrees and we have a slight drizzle falling. Hoping the fire is getting some of this. One of the facts many miss on these forest fires is that man does not put them out. We do our best to keep fuel away from the flames and rely on nature to do most of the work.
The image above of the Cameron Peak fire was taken less than a mile from my condo along Centre Avenue. The lights in the foreground are from patio homes belonging to a residential nursing facility. The ridge you see is Horsetooth Park, a favorite recreational area for hiking and mountain biking, while the the fire is burning on the second ridge beyond it. Lots of homes back in that area. I’m going to guess the fire perimeter is 5-7 miles away from me. My two favorite natural areas are now closed due to smoke, so I walk the neighborhood. The Cameron Peak Fire is now at 203,000 acres. Enjoy your Sunday!
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Being
Cottonwood trees along Overland Trail Road with layer of smoke across the nature area “To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight.” E. E. Cummings
I took this image about three days ago just before the cold front moved in and the Cameron Peak Fire began raging. Even though the smoke is not conducive to walking I still drive to the natural areas for the serenity and closeness to the natural world. Sometimes I will sit in my car to journal or read, yet staying aware of all that’s around me. Sunshine this morning but smoke sitting atop of the mountains. The fires still burn.
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…be yourself
“Within yourself is a stillness, a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” Hermann Hesse
A quick update on the Cameron Peak fire. On Tuesday night winds picked up gusting to 65 mph and caused the fire to make a 15-17 mile run in a easterly direction in about 12 hours. Several mandatory evacuations to the east and south were issued. The city of Fort Collins was socked in with smoke. It looked like 6:00 pm all day while smoke, ash and soot fell like snow. Everyone was wearing a mask due to the poor air quality. Had a friend over for lunch and made him smoked pasta with smoked marinara sauce and a smoked caesar salad. I have not heard but I’m pretty sure some homes were lost in that run yesterday. The fire now has become the largest in Colorado history with 167,000 acres. Not a record we want to boast about. The high winds brought in a cold front, dropping temperatures and we will have a good freeze tonight. Today has been much better with air quality and even given us some blue sky with sunshine to enjoy. We also have another fire that started yesterday afternoon, the East Troublesome Fire, west of Boulder. It has already grown to 3,700 acres due to the winds. We are so dry out here.
Many of us have had to look for that stillness, that sanctuary within because the external sanctuaries are not accessible and in some cases gone.
