• Black and White,  Candid Portraits,  People/Portraits,  quotes,  street photography

    A couple of questions to ponder…

    October 20, 2022
    New York City – 2008

    “I’m a child of God, and being a child of God, I’m essential, and no one has the right to limit, or the power to limit, my ability to be somebody.”

    Ruby Sales

    “What would our world look like if everyone believed and were given the ability to be somebody?” Please spend a bit of time with that question. Which then leads to the next question, “Does our inability to believe we are essential lead us to think of others as inessential and treat them as less than?” I find it important to ask myself those questions and then how do I live the answers to those questions? Sorry but I actually asked three questions. 😁

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  • fall season,  grass,  Plants,  seasons,  Uncategorized

    Fully into Fall

    October 19, 2022

    I needed to scrape frost off my car windshield in order to meet a friend for coffee yesterday. Even though it was cool the warm October sun allowed us to sit comfortably outside. When I returned home the red fescue grass along the edge of the ponds was glowing in the mid morning sunlight. Later I sat outside, watched that 2 1/2 foot tall grass dance for me in the afternoon light and journaled. Last night was our third frost warning in a row. Yes, we are fully into fall in Colorado.

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  • Avian,  fall season,  quotes,  seasons

    Enoughness

    October 18, 2022

    Someone used the word enoughness this past week and it has stayed with me. I am one of those people who always seem to want “more.” So, when she said enoughness, it struck something within me. After some research on it I found the most common definition was: “the state or condition of being enough; sufficiency; adequacy.” But maybe a better definition for me would require changing the word being to becoming, making it dynamic rather than passive. This makes enoughness a part of the journey in life, where I’m content with today, while trusting that tomorrow will also have its enoughness. Living in enoughness we can experience joy and true fulfillment with what we have. There is no need for more, just content in the very moment. Forgive me as I continue to play with words, what they mean to me at this time in life and how I can articulate them, or not.

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  • fall season,  leaves,  Mary Oliver,  Plants,  quotes,  seasons

    More

    October 17, 2022

    “I am one of those who has no trouble imagining the sentient lives of trees, of their leaves in some fashion communicating or of the massy trunks and heavy branches knowing it is I who have come, as I always come, each morning, to walk beneath them, glad to be alive and glad to be there.”

    Mary Oliver

    Good morning! It is a bright sunshiny morning. Awoke to frost on the car as winter draws closer. This image is from my walk yesterday afternoon and shows more of the colors nature is giving us this year in the city, which has been beautiful. However, it will not be long and these colors will be gone for this season. Winter will bring the greys and browns then followed by blankets of white. Already been to the coffee shop and indulged in a mocha and lemon cranberry scone. Happy Monday!

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  • fall season,  leaves,  Plants,  seasons

    A walk with my camera

    October 16, 2022

    Dew is the result of water changing from a vapor to a liquid. Dew forms as temperatures drop and objects cool down. If the object becomes cool enough, the air around the object will also cool. Colder air is less able to hold water vapor than warm air. This forces water vapor in the air around cooling objects to condense. When condensation happens, small water droplets form—dew.

    The colors in town have been vibrant this year or I’m more alive to them than previously. The sun was warm and bright yesterday morning making things look vibrant. So, I took my camera and the 35mm f2.0 for a walk. Only makes sense to photograph all this beauty.

    Wisdom for today: I need to walk away from food rather than around food.

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  • lake,  landscape,  mountains,  reflections

    Mary’s Lake

    October 14, 2022

    Our first stop on our Peak to Peak highway drive on Sunday was Mary’s Lake. Hardly any breeze so the lake was smooth as glass. Every plant still in the shade, had a coat of light frost on it. Marys Lake is part of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. There are 2 dikes on the shoreline of Mary’s Lake, located approximately 2 miles from Estes Park, Colorado. Mary’s Lake serves two primary purposes: it acts as an afterbay for the Mary’s Lake Power Plant, and it helps regulate Colorado-Big Thompson Project water on its way to the Estes Power Plant.  I guess another purpose is to provide beautiful reflections.

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  • landscape,  natural areas,  Plants,  Reservoir Ridge Natural Area,  sunsets,  trees

    Busy Day

    October 13, 2022

    It was a busy day yesterday. Started laundry about 7:00 am, made a quick trip to the grocery store then arrived at a coffee shop by 8:15 am. Had a zoom meeting at noon followed by a 2 1/2 hour lunch with my friend Duane. Finished off the day with a walk a Reservoir Ridge Natural Area for this image. I then curled up with a book and headed for bed.

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  • insects,  John O'Donohue,  natural areas,  quotes,  Reservoir Ridge Natural Area

    Dangerously free…

    October 12, 2022

    It is a strange and wonderful fact to be here, walking around in a body, to have a whole world within you and a world at your fingertips outside you. It is an immense privilege, and it is incredible that humans manage to forget the miracle of being here. Rilke said, ‘Being here is so much,’ and it is uncanny how social reality can deaden and numb us so that the mystical wonder of our lives goes totally unnoticed. We are here. We are wildly and dangerously free.

    John O’Donohue
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  • architecture,  Church

    St. Catherine of Siena Chapel

    October 11, 2022

    This past Sunday Joan and I were able to drive the Peak to Peak highway. We had planned on making the drive this past Friday but poor weather changed those plans. We chose Sunday even though it would be more crowded. Most of the fall colors were gone, missing them by about 2 weeks. Just outside of Estes Park is this lovely chapel along the Highway 7. It is known as the Chapel on the Rock or Saint Catherine of Siena Chapel. The chapel is located on the grounds of the Saint Malo Retreat, Conference, and Spiritual Center of the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver. We stopped to stretch and take a few photos.

    There were areas of trees with color but most of them were barren. We drove as far as Nederland and returned through Lyons rather than Boulder. We spent time at a coffee shop called New Moon Bakery and Cafe to enjoy a latte and a pastry on their patio.

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