My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
Met my friend, Diane, at Gardens on Spring Creek. The gardens are an impressive 18 acre facility. Great for us older kids to enjoy! We brought our own coffee and met in the parking lot. They have this set aside time for members to have the garden all to themselves on certain days from 8:00-10:00 am. Today was one of those days. What a wonderful world it is. They also have a butterfly pavilion but it did not open until 10:00 am. Another time.
Had this little one come right up to me as if I was suppose to feed them. Hope you are having a great day!
“Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That’s the problem.”
A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
A while back I had a cottontail approach me and instead of saying my normal welcome such as “hello” I kept silent. We just watched one another, remaining present to each other and the moment. This was unusual behavior as they do not stay still very long. I wonder, was it due to the fact I did not talk but kept quiet. Anyway, I’ll continue to practice remaining quiet, listening and see what happens. Pooh may be on to something here.
Storm clouds were on the eastern horizon enticing me to head out of town to find open areas for an image or two. Before I knew it I was on a course heading north to the Soapstone Natural Area. I did get a few cloud images but I also was gifted with a few unexpected images of this beautiful landscape and a few bison images.
This natural area is the biggest one the City of Fort Collins maintains. It is 48 square miles of wide open vistas, nearly pristine grasslands, miles of trails and cultural resources. The trails are a mix for hiking, biking and horses. Thankfully they have restricted access to some areas to keep them free of man’s destructive tendencies. During excavations in the 1930s by the Smithsonian and Colorado Museum of Natural History they conclusively dated human habitation in in this area to at least 10,000 years. You can go online and find many stories about the early homesteaders, mostly ranchers and sheepherders, in this area as well as the American Indians.
In November of 2015 they introduced a herd of bison on over 1,000 acres of pasture land which is inaccessible to the public. However, the main entrance road, Rawhide Flats Road, and Cheyenne Rim Trail, follow along the edge of this pasture which gives an opportunity to observe them and even get a few photographs, if they are close enough. I find these animals so intriguing.
And of course this area is a haven for my favorite bird the meadowlark. It is also a place for many other birds, such as red-tailed hawks. The Fort Collins Audubon has a bird checklist that’s two pages long. You will find coyotes, fox, rabbits, prairie dogs, deer, antelope, and elk and of course a few snakes. I don’t go there often enough and it is always an uplifting experience for my soul when I go. It’s nice to come home with a few images but just spending time there, listening to the silence, transforms me in some wonderful way. Experiencing nature’s touch.
ominous storm clouds in the east rain, hail and wind hidden within we watch in silence, the hawk and I
Seems this squirrel is greeting me at Mugs Coffee shop about 80% of the time. They usually are among some shrubs on my right then scamper across the sidewalk in front of me and shimmy up the same tree. So, I’ve started walking into the coffee shop with camera in hand hoping to get a photo. This morning was the first time I was able to get them to pose long enough to get a decent image. Happy Sunday!
morning visitor give one another distance keeping eye contact
ms
A cloudy and cold morning at Pineridge Natural Area. No wind, no bird songs, all was quiet. I was the only one there this morning. Seemed everyone else stayed in bed or had a second cup of coffee. There were several cottontails checking me out: Are you friend or foe? They have that alertness, always present to where they and you are. Where we seem to wander in thought, seldom staying present. I stayed more present this morning as I let them teach me.
Cattle grazing along the Poudre River after yesterday’s snowfall
I took my car in to have the tires rotated this morning. Walked across the street to a Starbucks and had a mocha. First time since the pandemic that I’ve sat inside of a Starbucks. Weird. They broke a lug nut on my car so now I need to have it fixed at their expense. I bought the tires two years ago and only have 17k miles on the tires. I have really cut down on my driving. It is cloudy and 36 degrees today. Great moisture for us and hoping it helps stifle the fires.
“Nothing in all creation is so like God as silence.”
Meister Eckhart
Started the morning with time in nature. The birds were singing. A Great Blue Heron surveyed the kingdom perched on a distant tree. A sunflower looked east greeting the morning sunrise. Cottontails wandered around in search for the best grass to nibble on. I come for the silence and the effect nature has on my soul. It can set me in a good place, clears my mind of irrelevant stuff. Yes, the silence.
Clouds and grazing cattle from yesterday afternoon
I was not in a good place yesterday. I felt frustration because of the state of our environmental crisis, loss of so much of our natural world, our political mess, economic mess, the entitlement mentality of individuals and corporations, the anger and violence in our world, and my own insecurities and fears along with my own feelings of entitlement. My journal is one of the tools I use when I become aware of these shadowy mental states. So, I took time in the afternoon to write about it. As words began to appear, I noticed a lot of wants and little gratitude for what I already have. Seems my appetite to want “more” crops up again, even in these troubled times, even when so many are struggling, even when I have all that I need.
Yet, through my writing I became aware the root of my frustration is: the noise. Silence has become a precious gift in my life. So, the noise of man’s machines that have grated against me for years, seemed to be even louder, more intense. Part of that has been the reduction of noise during this lockdown. I think I’ve mentioned this before but sometimes I just want to run away. So I did, even knowing there is no away.
The above image is as close to away as it got for me, about 7-8 miles east of town. I pulled over to watch and listen to nature, letting it all sink in, soothing, healing this troubled soul. The birds were singing and the grass eating cow machines were busily working. There is a twitter quote by Neil deGrasse Tyson that says a cow is a biological machine invented by humans to turn grass into steak. What’s really cool is it’s a quiet machine. Why can’t we have more quiet machines? I didn’t want to go back to town.
