Gratitude is founded on the deep knowing that our very existence relies on the gifts of other beings.
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Latest news this morning shows the Alexander Mountain FIre to be held at 9,668 acres and is 74% contained. The Stone Canyon Fire is 100% contained. Grateful the skies are returning to their blue color! I found this bee enjoying their time on a sunflower the other afternoon at the CSU Experiment Garden. I really need to thank them more often for being the gift they are and not just as a photographer’s subject.
We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it. We have had enough of immorality and the mockery of ethics, goodness, faith and honesty. It is time to acknowledge that light-hearted superficiality has done us no good. When the foundations of social life are corroded, what ensues are battles over conflicting interests, new forms of violence and brutality, and obstacles to the growth of a genuine culture of care for the environment.
Pope Francis, Laudato Si: On care for our common home
Wandered about the CSU Flower Trial Garden. Even though it’s near the end of the season for them it was a good way to spend a warm sunny fall afternoon.
The pink rose displayings beauty and accepting a very tiny visitor
How I go to the woods
Ordinarily, I go to the woods alone, with not a single friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore unsuitable.
I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds or hugging the old black oak tree. I have my way of praying, as you no doubt have yours.
Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds, until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost unhearable sound of the roses singing.
If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love you very much.”
Another flower and bee from the CSU Trial Gardens.
there will be moments when you will bloom fully and then wilt, only to bloom again. if we can learn anything from flowers it is resilience is born even when we feel like we are dying.
A bee enjoying the nectar from a cosmos at the CSU Trial Gardens
“When you have a moment, just listen to the beauty of silence. It has so much to say.”
Armin Ganguly
I found this article from the Sierra Club interesting. Some of you may have already read it or at least seen the headlines about it. The Sierra Club is apologizeing for some of the early directions the organization took and the views of some of their founders. I found it very revealing and helping me see my role of my privileged life.
I chased some early morning fog then headed out to one of the natural areas to write and get in a morning walk. It’s about a 5 mile drive to Reservoir Ridge and then found the sun shining brightly there and eerily quiet. I watched the sun burn off the fog along the foothills to the south, nature at work. Everything was wet from the humidity and dew; the split rail fence, the grass, and a spiderweb. The sun and wind will quickly dry things out. Thus begins a morning in the meadow. Makes me smile somewhere inside of me as I experience it.
Backlit sunflowers at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area
The birds now begin to sing as if they were waiting for me. They dart so quickly in the aire and must in order to catch all the quick and nimble flying insects. I watch as the wind slowly moves the fog to my east in a southerly direction. While small clouds along the foothills are moved south by the same wind. I watch a blue-jay perched on the fence hop to the ground in hot pursuit of some insect. He misses on the first couple tries then finds success. Such a beautiful bird dressed in blue, a work of art.
Busy bees enjoying the nectar from a common chicory
Now a bit of information about common chicory from Wikipedia. I see these all over the place and finally looked them up. The bees love them. The plant was adopted as a coffee substitute by Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War, and become common in the United States. It was also used in the United Kingdom during the Second World War, where Camp Coffee, a coffee and chicory essence, has been on sale since 1885.
