My online journal sharing interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
The land is the real teacher. All we need as students is mindfulness.
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Magpies do not sing as a robin or meadowlark, they chatter. Constantly. As soon as I arrive they will land on the fence in front of me while still in my car and jabber away, and sometimes making good eye contact. I’m going with the assumption they are happy to see me. Hope you had a wonderful 4th of July!
When I was younger we would always have homemade ice cream on July 4th. So, I decided it would be good to have a DQ Blizzard. Dang, they were closed. I immediately took tail spin into anxiety. In a moment of clarity I drove to Coldstones and bought the Founders Favorite. After a few minutes the anxiety receded, I got my ice cream fix, sanity returned and no one got hurt. Whew!
Heard someone say they wish we’d change this day from independence day to interdependence day. Seems we need more of that in the world. Menu today calls for jalapeño cheddar sausages and potatoe salad. Have a great day!
We had a wonderful rain on Friday evening. So yesterday morning I began the day by greeting the sunrise at Pineridge Natural Area. Song birds were happy campers and singing merrily. Everything was wet, covered in heavy dew. I stopped at Red Fox Meadows on the way home because there was a bit of fog along the low lying meadow. Everything is refreshed after the rain we had. Being in a drought makes it even more enjoyable. It was a wonderful way to start the new day.
The inner spirit is who I really am. My body is alive in this nature and exists in its frame. I do not need to be spiritual to find this. I only need to stop believing that the ego, the small self, is me. If I do, a different knowing emerges which has a largeness and a certain beauty. It is an expression of power and love beyond the usual definitions. To live in its knowledge is to know yourself to be free.
from A NEW SET OF EYES by Paula D’Arcy
This is fern-leaf yarrow, and is an upright, clump-forming yarrow that is native to the Caucasus, Iran and Afghanistan and is in the sunflower family. Interestingly one name listed for them is nosebleed. (?) It is considered an invasive species by some states in the US. And, man is still not on that list. I find these plants in almost every natural area I visit. I really like how they look and the pollinators seem to like them also, as you can see with the heavily laden bee in this image.
I’m in a place in life where I resonate with the above quote. This process of uncovering who I really am, this knowing who I am, is exciting and freeing. Interesting that this bee does not consider what political party to belong to, what church to attend, what it’s favorite band is this week, and the other stuff we place in our lives. It lives in the knowledge of what it is and the life it is meant to live. It is free!
It’s interesting that I have used the word interesting three times in this post. Now four. 😂
“Wander where you will over all the world, from every valley seeing forever new hills calling you to climb them, from every mountain top farther peaks enticing you… until you stand one day on the last peak on the border of the interminable sea, stopped by the finality of that.”
Rockwell Kent
Happy Friday and hope you have a wonderful July.