• landscape,  mountains,  quotes

    Another one… wait make that two

    July 31, 2024

    I took this image on a ridge that looks out over an open space and a large farmland area that has not been scrapped and “developed” into housing. It shows we have two fires burning near us. The Alexander Mountain fire is on the left and the new one, Stone Canyon fire, is on the right. As of last night the Alexander fire was at 5080 acres and 0% contained. The Stone Canyon fire started yesterday and is about 1300 acres and 0% contained. Sadly there has been one death in the Stone Canyon fire. Neither fire grew during the night but today is going to be hot and dry. Then this morning I find out a third fire ignited last night in Jefferson County called the Quarry fire. Sheesh!! Stay safe.

    Evolution means that nature does not operate according to fixed laws but by the dynamic interplay of law, chance, and deep time; that is, one cannot understand natural processes apart from developmental categories. The interaction of forces creates a dynamic process of unfolding life, pointing to the fact that nature is incomplete; there are no fixed essences. Instead, nature is consistently oriented toward new and complex life.

    Ilia Delio
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  • Arapaho Bend Natural Area,  clouds,  landscape,  natural areas

    Alexander Mountain Fire

    July 30, 2024
    Alexander Mountain Fire – 7/29/2024 @ 7:22 pm

    Good morning! We have our first forest fire of the season burning called the Alexander Mountain Fire. It is burning just west of Loveland and was estimated at 1,820 acres with 0% containment as of 10:00 a.m. this morning. I took this image around 7:00 pm yesterday evening from Arapaho Bend Natural Area. 

    This morning I was awake and up by 4:00 am. After my quiet time I drove up to Pineridge to watch the sunrise. What a gift with a cloudless sky. I could see the smoke from the fire drifting gently out to the east but not smell it. On my way back into town, I came across a house on West Mulberry with a large fire burning in the backyard of the home. I pulled over as the four fire trucks and ambulance pulled up and just cried, and cried hard. Think I’m feeling too much of the pain of this world with natural disasters and man’s incessant need for killing, so the dam burst. Hope you have a good day! 

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  • architecture,  quotes

    Willingness

    July 29, 2024
    Savannah’s Waterfront, Georgia – 2009

    “.. the spiritual life is a natural human activity that requires not special powers but the willingness to open doors.”

    Elizabeth O’Connor

    My history is marked with moments when I hesitated to open a closed door or enter a partially open one. Fear was my nemesis, filling my head with voices telling me of projected danger on the other side, and seldom of those gems of new possibilities that may exist there. I’ve come to see the gift of my willingness and discernment to open doors of opportunities. I’ve read that once we place the key of willingness into the lock and have the door ever so slightly opened, we can always open it some more. And if need be, close it to open another. And if fear and self-will slam it shut again, I can again open that door with willingness.

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  • natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes

    The Beauty and Mystery

    July 27, 2024
    Storm clouds over Dixon Reservoir

    To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again. The heavens change every moment, and reflect their glory or gloom on the plains beneath.

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    No matter how often I come here, each photograph is one that has never been seen before. That is the beauty and mystery of nature. That is the beauty and mystery of our photography. What an amazing gift! Enjoy your weekend!

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  • flowers,  Plants,  quotes

    A Great Poem

    July 26, 2024

    “Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul and your very flesh shall be a great poem.” 

    Walt Whitman

    And why not? How many of us will or have said I’m an engineer, a doctor, a salesman, a photographer, a Buddhist, a poet. Or worse yet? How many of us are told that we’re a sinner, or stupid, or too short, or worthless, and believed it. Maybe Whitman’s right, we will be a great poem or even prayer or maybe a saint, when we listen to the voice of our own soul.

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  • Plants,  quotes

    The Sadness of the Zoo

    July 24, 2024

    “We are moving into a period of bewilderment, a curious moment in which people find light in the midst of despair, and vertigo at the summit of their hopes. It is a religious moment also, and here is the danger. People will want to obey the voice of Authority, and many strange constructs of just what Authority is will arise in every mind… The public yearning for Order will invite many stubborn uncompromising persons to impose it. The sadness of the zoo will fall upon society.”

    Leonard Cohen
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  • landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  sunrises

    This Colorful Display

    July 23, 2024

    “Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.”

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    For three days now we have had unusual colors in the sky because the smoke and ash from forest fires in Wyoming and Montana are drifting our way. The colors are eerie. I got up early this morning and headed to Pineridge Natural Area. I was hoping that after the sun had risen I could expect some reflection of the sun in Dixon Reservoir. Geese and ducks fed along the waters edges. In between the cross talking magpies, I could hear the robins and meadowlarks singing. And, I was not the only one out with their cameras for this colorful display by nature. The tables outside the coffee shop had a light dusting of ash on them. Air quality warnings are out for today. And, I pray for world peace!

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