• Candid Portraits,  coffee life,  coffee shops,  People/Portraits,  shadows

    Usual Morning Crowd

    October 31, 2022
    Adriana

    My weather app said 23 degrees this morning. So, I decided to take the bus for coffee because I didn’t wanna scrape frost off my windshield. Think I’ve done enough of that in my lifetime. Walked into the coffee shop and found this cute little devil peeking around the coffee carafes. She made a darn good mocha for me. I saw a few other coffee shop regulars all dressed up in their finest. Then caught the glimpse of a blue dragon and a black gorilla at the transit center. Just the usual morning crowd around campus. 😂

    Around midday I drove to Wolverine Farms to write and soak up the sun. Was thrilled to see tiny creature costumes all over Old Town, children hungry for candy. There were little firemen, princesses, dragons, super heroes, pumpkins, skeletons, bats and cats and more. Yea, for the businesses in Old Town to support the children. Just the usual morning crowd around Old Town. 😂

    Selfie at the bus stop

    Nature abhors uniformity.

    Nature not only produces species diversity but also individual diversity.

    Nature produces individuals. No two days are the same, no two snowflakes, no two flowers, trees, or any other of the infinite life-forms.

    Thomas Berry

    Interesting how I wanted to fit in when younger then later in life wanted to be different. Now I want to become my authentic/true self, wearing no masks or costumes, belonging in this world. Happy Halloween!

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  • fountain pens,  journal,  musings,  writing/reading

    A Shift in the Universe

    October 30, 2022

    I finished reading this book about a week ago. It took me several weeks to read it as I needed to verify a lot of the information they presented, which really turned out to be a good exercise. The authors describe themselves as urban mobility advocates, and they live such a life. What was provided was helpful in my understanding of how our country is so automobile centered in both how we live life and how we build our cities. This couple moved from Canada to the lowlands of South Holland, a country that has been in transition from automobile dependency to mass transit, bicycle and walking infrastructure since the 1970s. What they and Holland propose would require changes many in the US would resist. I’m not sure how I discovered their book, this is their second book, nor why I bought it. Maybe a major shift in the universe. Maybe it’s because I watch 75-100 cars pass while I wait at the bus-stop, each with one person in them, and this is during a 5 minute wait. I’ll write more about this later as I have a few thoughts that need formed and writing is a way for me to work them out. Hope you had a good weekend!

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  • coffee life,  coffee shops,  fall season,  fountain pens,  journal,  journaling,  musings,  Photography,  quotes,  seasons,  writing/reading

    A Reason to Journal

    October 29, 2022

    “With words at your disposal, you can see more clearly. Finding the words is another step in learning to see.”

    Robin Kimmerer

    I believe that each pen, or any writing instrument, is a tool filled with words and that it is the task of the writer to find them. And, I define a writer as everyone! We just don’t know it yet. Just pick up the pen and put it to paper. I also believe words are found in blank journals and it is the writer’s task to find them. If you don’t believe me then get a journal and pen and begin to write daily. The words may be just for you but they are there.

    This morning we had a light frost with the temperature around 30 degrees. By mid-morning the sun and bright blue sky had melted it away. It has been a quiet day for me. This afternoon I sat in my chair in the sunshine and let the sun warm me, inside and out. I watched the wind blow leaves across the yard, making that rustling sound as they danced in front of me. Now it is overcast and cooling down. My journals are my attempts to find words that describe such moments. and they also help me see such moments. It is a practice where progress not perfection is the task. I love what I see in this world so I use photography and my journals as ways to describe them. That’s my reason to journal and why I love my photography.

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  • clouds,  landscape,  musings,  natural areas,  Plants,  quotes,  Reservoir Ridge Natural Area,  sunrises,  trees,  writing/reading

    Happy Work

    October 28, 2022
    Trailhead at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area

    Never, in peace or war, commit your virtue or your happiness to the future. Happy work is best done by the man who takes his long-term plans somewhat lightly and works from moment to moment… The present is the only time in which any duty can be done or any grace received.

    Albert Camus

    There are moments that simply happen through no conscious intention or will on anyone’s part. These are spiritual moments for me because they reach some deeper part of my being. They’re like a shutter speed of time, set aside, which nourishes my soul and adds to my life. This image was taken at that perfect moment when the light was illuminating the trees for only a few seconds. With the sun setting, the clouds moving rapidly, it truly was a matter of seconds. I was not aware of the shortness of time when I pressed the shutter. Only while looking at it on my screen at home did its impact hit me. This scene and image was a short moment in time and will never be repeated exactly like this again. It was one of a kind moment and one of a kind image and I stayed present for it. For that I’m grateful.

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  • Annie Dillard,  fall season,  leaves,  Plants,  quotes,  seasons

    Concerning trees and leaves..

    October 27, 2022

    Concerning trees and leaves… there’s a real power here. It is amazing that trees can turn gravel and bitter salts into these soft-lipped lobes, as if I were to bite down on a granite slab and start to swell, bud and flower. Every year a given tree creates absolutely from scratch ninety-nine percent of its living parts. Water lifting up tree trunks can climb one hundred and fifty feet an hour; in full summer a tree can, and does, heave a ton of water every day. A big elm in a single season might make as many as six million leaves, wholly intricate, without budging an inch; I couldn’t make one. 

    Annie Dillard

    Annie Dillard’s quote caused me to rethink my perspective on the world of these trees around me. It’s that thing where I look at them, see their beauty, see them as a passive object, while failing to see the innate and active power within them. And, I couldn’t make a leaf either. However, I love to see them swirling in the wind, whether the leaf is clinging to a branch or free-falling to the ground, or lying peacefully on the ground. Always intrigued by their shapes, patterns, colors and how nature seemingly and randomly scatters them to and fro, making beautiful art, just for me. And, I love to photograph them. ❤️

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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  sunrises

    The Gifts Creation Offers

    October 26, 2022

    It seemed like a long time since I had been to Pineridge Natural Area to photograph and experience the pre dawn light and silence. I looked in my archives and the last sunrise image I took was in July. Well that needed to come to halt. So, I’ve been throwing off the warm covers and making my way out to the natural area this past week. Silence. Solitude. Beauty. Cold toes. I need to receive these gifts creation offers. Most songbirds are gone while a lone owl lets me know with a “Who hoo” that they are glad for the new day. Or maybe they are glad I finally showed up again. It was 30 degrees yesterday morning when I took this image. After taking a few images I headed to a coffee shop to warm my hands around a mocha latte. It is cloudy this morning and we are expecting a slight chance of rain today. Hope you have a great day!

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  • leaves,  musings,  Plants,  quotes,  writing/reading

    … free of hatred and despair

    October 25, 2022

    The mind does not find peace, nor does it enjoy pleasure and joy, nor does it find sleep or fortitude when the thorn of hatred dwells in the heart.

    A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, Chapter VI: 3

    As I walk around the yard I’m aware of how many different shapes, patterns, and colors of leaves there are. Cottonwoods, elms, locust, birch. What many people don’t realize is that scientists have determined that in all the world, no two leaves of any plants are identical. Each is one of a kind—unique.

    We can say the same with humans, no two are identical. We share our humanity through our various colors, shapes and sizes. Hatred is an unnecessary thorn of an ideology, a false belief, planted within us, that separates and destroys lives. Gandhi says, “No two leaves are alike, and yet there is no antagonism between them.” I pray today that the world be free of hatred and despair and fully embrace the uniqueness and beauty that each of us brings to the world.

    It began to seem that one would have to hold in the mind forever two ideas which seemed to be in opposition. The first idea was acceptance, the acceptance, totally without rancor, of life as it is, and men as they are: in the light of this idea, it goes without saying that injustice is a commonplace. But this did not mean that one could be complacent, for the second idea was of equal power: that one must never, in one’s own life, accept these injustices as commonplace but must fight them with all one’s strength. This fight begins, however, in the heart and it now had been laid to my charge to keep my own heart free of hatred and despair.

    James Baldwin
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  • clouds,  horizons,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  sunrises

    Then things changed…

    October 24, 2022

    The day began as I watched the predawn colors on the eastern horizon then the sunrise from the ridge above the reservoir. I sat on the bench watched and listened. An owl, perched on the dead cottonwood tree, sharing with the world their joy for this new day. I enjoyed the warm sunshine and a light breeze we had all morning, drinking coffee and reading on the porch. It is what’s known as a perfect Colorado fall day. Then things changed… 

    By mid afternoon dark clouds had moved in, temperatures began to drop and the cold wind brought its power and authority to our attention. I put on a coat rather than a jacket and stepped outside for my walk. The cold wind stung my face and my nose began to run. The wind blew the still clinging leaves from their branches and sent them sailing in every direction. Some danced around me as if I was that important. My body knows this feeling as we move more into the later stages of fall and the promise of the colder season that quickly approaches, winter. Did I mention it’s cold?

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  • clouds,  fall season,  landscape,  Plants,  seasons,  trees

    Healing Music to My Soul

    October 22, 2022

    I’ve been in a funk for 4-5 days. Realized I have not taken a photo in 4 days nor been to any of the Natural Areas to greet the sun in weeks. So unlike me. To solve that I made my way to Reservoir Ridge Natural Area for some writing and just sitting there listening. A robin began singing to me and the wind was blowing through the elm and cottonwood trees. It’s healing music to my soul. As I’ve mentioned before the fall colors are splendid this year.

    I have also talked to the nurse at the doctors office about the effects the blood pressure meds are having on me and the doctor is supposed to get back with me. I don’t like how I feel with this medication. I’m tired and lightheaded and even have some shortness of breath. My blood pressure numbers are good but we are expecting more than that.

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  • coffee life,  coffee shops,  fountain pens,  journaling,  writing/reading

    Huskee Cup Review

    October 21, 2022

    This past summer I received an unexpected package from Amazon. It had my name on the package but I did not order anything and thus it was unexpected. It turned out to be a Huskee Cup from the coffee gods. I did find out later who the specific coffee god was. They had seen my post about these cups. So, after a bit time using it this is my Huskee Cup review.

    First, I will say I like the cup. It is appealing to me in its looks. I also like how it feels in my hand. It is light as a feather. But, I am not in agreement with their claims on their website. They chose polypropylene for at least half of the cup material for reasons they specify on their website. Their reasons are the following: It produces a durable product that can withstand the rigours of the café environment. It produces a cup whose materiality complement and highlight the innovative design features. It creates a material that can be recycled, reused and re-purposed at the end of its life in an environmentally friendly and efficient way.

    They claim the cups materiality increases the cup’s thermal retention properties, while it’s fins protect your hands from the heat of the drink by minimising the surface area your hands come into contact with! In my experience so far I have found that with no insulation properties in the polypropylene it is not capable of keeping my drink hotter longer nor keeping my hands from getting hot, as their websites states. Their claims do not seem valid from my experience. I have since read other reviews with the same claim.

    Having said that, I like the cup and use it. It’s kinda Kool. The coffee shop Lima Coffee Roasters serves their coffees in them and the customers all seem to like them. It is also a conversation starter when I take it to other coffee shops. I offer a thank you to the coffee gods for the gift.

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