My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
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.
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.
This morning I wanted to check my oil and this is what I found when I opened the hood. The raccoon seemed stuck with his head down. Honking my horn did not cause him to leave, which supported my idea he was stuck. I called animal control who sent a woman out. When she geared up to pull the critter out the raccoon would have nothing to do with it and went down and out. He has tore up the insulation which is strewn all over the engine, chewed through one hose and one set of wires seems to have some copper showing. I will take it in on Monday. Strange morning!
As I was about to leave my daughters house on Christmas eve, I found Cricket asleep on their bed near the woodstove. I guess it was just too exhausting. Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays.
This is Sundance, my friend Alex’s newly adopted puppy. She is one the best behaved and laid back dogs ever.
This was taken in 2004. Is it me or is there a sadness in this animals face? Is it in their eyes? I took it early in the morning so they could have been half awake and no coffee, yet. We are at 44 degrees this morning so the bicycle ride was nippy. Will meet my oldest daughter for breakfast this morning. Hoping you have a great Friday!
Had this fat squirrel approach me at the bus stop asking for a bite of the donut I was eating. Yeah, I gave them a bite. They would have taken more.
As I arrive at Mugs coffee house there are about six large trees along the sidewalk. Some of the college students who live along here will put food out for the squirrels. I have seen as many as 4 and 5 chasing each other around the trees making it fun to watch. Needless to say they are more than comfortable with humans and will come quite close. This one paused long enough to make sure I kept my distance and did not cross the line they had drawn.
I’ve been a little lax in posting images. I’m still shooting but have just not had any desire to upload images or write. I have increased the number of galleries and number of images on this website. If you’ve got a few minutes to “waste”, feel free to head over there and give me any feedback. After uploading this image I wished I’d shot in color, it’s pretty busy.