dreamlike blue sky
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cottonwoods in fall colors
gift of a starburst
My Ride Home
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Curiosity
A chai latte, blank pages and fountain pen full of ink The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
Albert EinsteinI like the Arboretum coffee shop because it is quiet. Its ambiance seems to be more directed towards students who study and reminds me of the Lory Student Center on campus. They do play music, but it’s very low in volume and easy listening music. It is also an enjoyable two mile bicycle ride for me along Spring Creek Trail. Even though I am not a college student, I still consider myself to be a student of life. Hopefully, I will always have curiosity, inviting me to keep asking the questions.
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The Day’s Starburst
“What gift might I bring to this day?”
Brother David Steindl-RastThis was taken earlier in the week. It is a very different scene today as we are overcast where gray clouds block the sun and it’s cold. When I left this morning for coffee around 8:45 it was 43 degrees. on my ride home an hour and a half later it had warmed to 46 degrees. The question in this quote would be a good way to start each/any/all day. The gift may be a poem, painting, photograph, giving someone a hug or compliment, just being present and awake, or the gift of who we truly are, not a shadow self or the persona self but the true essence of who we are. It could even be a good question to ask before going to bed. Stay warm and enjoy your weekend!
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More than eye candy
It’s called a change of colors for a reason. This time of the year the leaves become eye candy for me. On my walk I knelt down to see what compositions I could find. While kneeling the wind would blow, bringing down more leaves, and moving those already on the ground. It becomes a continuous creation of new compositions. And there seems to be an infinite number of leaves of different shapes, sizes and colors for nature to work with. However, they are more than eye candy because their life cycle includes decomposing, restocking the soil with nutrients and making up part of the spongy humus layer of the ground that absorbs and holds rainfall. They also become food for numerous soil organisms vital to the ecosystem. Yes, they are more than eye candy. How beautiful life is!
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… tears
while standing as a witness to the arrival of a new day
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and the gifts of nature reflecting in Dixon Reservoir
while a full moon sets over the mountains behind me
and nature’s predawn colors shifting from pink to orange
… tears run down my cheek! -
Nature’s Tapestry
In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.
John MuirI can just as easily replace the word walk in this quote with bicycle ride. As I rode through this one area I noticed a scene that I noticed a scene I wanted to photograph. I took several images but was not satisfied with any of them. I turned to get back on the bike and noticed this scene. It is a busy image but the colors, eclectic shapes and patterns caused me to squat down beside the water and accept the image. Because I took the time to stop and squat a woman walking by also stopped to see what I was seeing. She thanked me and we both smiled as we received nature’s tapestry. Taken on my bicycle ride yesterday along Spring Creek Trail.
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Favorite cannot be singular
Someone asked me today what my two favorite fountain pens were. After several years of using fountain pens I am still unable to answer this question. The best answer is that favorite cannot be singular or limited to two. I will share with you some of the pens I enjoy writing with and my experiences with fountain pens .
The three pens I’m carrying today I began using Pilot Metropolitan fountain pens. They are reasonably priced and have a good selection of colors and nib sizes to select from. Then for many years, I journaled with Pelikan M200 and M205 series pens. Not sure how I discovered these but I found they are a perfect size for my hands. I have 8 of them. However, the past two years I’ve been using 14 carat gold nibbed pens made by Pilot. I would not recommend any of these as first pens for beginners because of their cost. The pens I primarily use now, and ones I consider favorites, are a brown marbled Pelikan M200, a blue marbled Pelikan M205, three Pilot Custom Heritage 92, two Pilot Custom 74 and two of Pilot Custom 823. Again, these pens are rather expensive, especially for beginners. It’s also important to find a nib size and style that works for you. There are several nib sizes and styles, calligraphy for instance, depending on the manufacturer. So, the fountain pen’s style, its shape, nib, and ink filling systems are all about personal taste. The world of fountain pens is a world of its own, it’s a science and can (has) easily become an obsession. If you’re a photographer you’ll relate. We also need to make sure we have the right type of paper for fountain pens because fountain pen ink flows through capillary action. And the multitude of ink colors is just mind boggling. Enough from me. May you have a wonderful day!
