My online journal sharing interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
angel blue sky
ms
sun kissing the horizon
gift of a new day
I’m hoping you are not getting tired of seeing these sunrise images from Pineridge Natural Area. Took this one a week ago. I shoot raw so all my images are in a 3:2 format. Almost everything I post is cropped to a 16:9 format, especially if it’s a landscape. I seem to be drawn to it. I therefore find myself framing my images with knowledge that I will probably crop the image when processing.
light dusting of snow
ms
white blanket on reservoir
cold winter morning
A bit warmer this morning at 25 degrees. With two consecutive days below freezing and a dusting of snow overnight Dixon Reservoir is all ice now and blanketed in white. Stands in stark contrast with the barren trees along waters edge. Stay warm.
“Only the blindness of habit convinces us that we continue to live in the same place, that we see the same landscape.”
John O’Donohue
Had an early meeting at Pineridge Natural Area with God, a few magpies, low clouds on the eastern horizon, silence and a cup of coffee to keep my hands warm. I watched nature put on a beautiful show of colors that helped keep me warm in the 15 degree cold. As O’Donohue suggests as long as I do not stay in a place of the blindness of my habits the landscape will provide something new for me to experience, and that is a gift. I stayed until the sun rose above the clouds and my hands and feet were cold. Have a great day and stay warm.
Cold morning, 9 degrees at 7:00 am. Clear blue skies, sunshine and long shadows. Happy Sunday!
I had Reservoir Ridge Natural Area all to myself this morning. It had warmed up to 20 degrees by the time I got there, which could have been the reason I had it to myself. Low clouds sat atop the mountains and some snow is falling in the higher elevations. We are expecting to have more snow this afternoon at the lower elevations and cold temperatures, mid-teens, again tonight. No wind. Stillness and quiet. It’s a good way to enjoy a coffee.
Have a question for all my wise friends out there. Is it acceptable, if they cancel the two-on-two basketball matchups at Rolland Moore Park because to a couple inches of snow and temperatures of 18 degrees, cop a resentment and eat Oreo cookies and drink chocolate milk for breakfast. Asking for a friend. 😁Stay warm!
“When your eyes are tired the world is tired also. When your vision has gone no part of the world can find you. Time to go into the dark where the night has eyes to recognize its own. There you can be sure you are not beyond love. The dark will be your womb tonight. The night will give you a horizon further than you can see. You must learn one thing. The world was made to be free in. Give up on all other worlds except the one to which you belong. Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you.”
David Whyte
I looked at my watch, it read 1:00 am. Looked again later, now 3:15 am. I really was not tired but knew my night was more of light sleep and little deep sleep. Weather forecast was for partly cloudy skies in the morning and snow this evening so I heard that voice inside whisper of the possibility that the eastern sunrise would have some red to it. I got up and dressed at 5:00 am. I felt the tiredness of my eyes from the lack of deep sleep. After quiet time I grabbed coffee and camera and drove to Pineridge Natural Area. I was not disappointed. Had the place to myself except for a couple of magpies and one of the park rangers. We all just watched this new day come alive and stayed present in this world we belong in. Probably need a nap later today. 😴
along the trail
ms
cattails aflame in sunlight
field of candles
John O’Donohue in his book Beauty asks a couple of questions about landscape that cause me to smile, to pause and wonder. He asks the following questions: “Could it be possible that landscape might have a deep friendship with us? That it could sense our presence and feel the care we extend it?” These questions may never enter the minds of some, especially for those who ravage the landscape for profit. To them landscape is an object to consume that has no reasoning, intelligence as we do. These questions may seem like a waste of time because our ego has convinced us into believing we are the ultimate of all creation, and for many are playing god themselves.
I have not always believed in having a friendship with the landscape as something more than an object. Maturity, drawing closer to the end of life, and experiencing the landscape with more than my physical senses has brought on this change. Sharing in this friendship with the landscape is the reason I have spent more time within it. I want to protect, respect and care for this friend of ours. I like how O’Donohue is asking us to be open, moving beyond our finite thinking. How different would our world be if we treated the landscape as our friend that wants to be our friend?