a fallen oak leaf
mws
coated in water droplets
misty fall day
Yesterday 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.
Misty Fall Day
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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 HesseA 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.
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Diversity
“Pick a leader who is strong and confident, yet humble. Intelligent, but not sly. A leader who encourages diversity, not racism. One who understands the needs of the farmer, the teacher, the welder, the doctor, and the environmentalist — not only the banker, the oil tycoon, the weapons developer, or the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbyist.”
Suzy Kassem -
Happy Birthday Marcee
Sun setting at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area Love is not just something that
Thomas Merton
happens to you… it is a certain
special way of being alive. Love
is, in fact, an intensification of
life, a completeness, a fullness,
a wholeness of life.Today is my sister’s birthday! Don’t let her know how I see her as a gift to us because it will go to her head! Have a super Awesome day! I ❤ you, Marcee!
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I Voted
Longs Peak in the distance 
Not all leaves ended up in Kansas Took the bus this morning to coffee and also to drop off my ballot at the drop box located on campus. Taking the bus is much easier than driving and finding a place to pay to park. I also need the walking. I took this image as I stepped off the bus. It has been several weeks since we have been able to see Longs Peak due to the smoke from the fires. A cold front brought in high winds yesterday that cleared the air, blew leaves into Kansas and also brought much needed moisture to the Cameron Peak fire. More wind is predicted for today, both a curse and a blessing. It was nice to not smell smoke this morning.
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Coffeehouse Writing
Morning sunlight, journal, fountain pen and new ink half blank pages
mws
find new words in brown ink
coffeehouse writingHad a friend give me a new bottle of ink yesterday appropriately named, Coffee Break. 😃 It is a soft subtle brown that shades well, one of my favorite traits in inks, and works well with my cream colored journal pages. Using it in my white Pelikan M205 fountain pen. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!
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Orange and red
Each morning we awake to smoke settling upon us like fog. We do have periods when blue skies can be seen but there is that gray filter between us and the sun.
On a walk to the drug store i had one of those moments. Out of the corner of my eye I watched a leaf falling near me and then another and another. I stopped and just watched them descend. It was a waterfall of bright colored leaves. It was one of those spiritual experiences life offers us. After a while I decided to go back and get the camera. The fall colors are peaking in town. This is a tree in my complex with the sun bursting through and a closer view of the leaves. Happy Friday!
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Changing of Seasons
Fall colors this morning and a spiderweb to boot Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.
Lao Tzu
Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow.
Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
