• landscape,  natural areas,  nature,  quotes,  sunsets

    Time Well Spent!

    January 11, 2025
    A waxing crescent moon at sunset from the Cathy Fromme Nature Area – 1/3/2024

    “…some changes happen deep down inside of you. And the truth is, only you know about them. Maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

    Judy Blume

    I can find myself in a funk, or drifting into one, every once in a while. When that happens I need something to lift my spirits besides sitting at home reading a book or journaling so I opted for time at Cathy Fromme Prairie Nature Area and let the quiet touch my soul. Nature threw up a few clouds against the sky, offered a warm golden glow on the horizon and hung a thin waxing crescent moon above. Even though I felt the cold it was time well spent. For me, each time I enter into the presence of nature there can be a change within me: mind, body, heart and attitude. Some may notice a change in me while others will have no clue. The important thing is that I do. It’s time well spent! 

    Read More
  • clouds,  landscape,  sunsets

    Make ripples…

    January 9, 2025
    Yesterday’s sunset over Longs Peak from Arapaho Bend Natural Area

    “This is how you change the world, the smallest circles first… That humble energy, the kind that says, ‘I will do what I can do right now in my own small way,’ creates a ripple effect on the world.”

    Richard Wagamese

    I’m now at Mugs. It’s another wintery morning here, 31 degrees and a dusting of snow blows in the wind. Adrianna is my barista! She made me an extra hot Old Town mocha! Just writing that brings a smile to my face. 😀 It’s good to remind her the effect she has on my life. It’s the small things that change the world. So maybe the message today is to make some ripples!

    Read More
  • frost,  quotes,  winter scenes

    You are a living message

    January 8, 2025

    Here is one way to look at yourself through spiritual eyes: you are a message. When you wonder what existence is all about, when you ask about your purpose in life, or when you feel small in comparison to the troubles of the world: remember that you are a message sent by the Spirit into creation. What you say, what you do, how you think and feel: your whole life is a long and sustained message for others to encounter, experience and receive. You are a living message: sent to touch more lives than you can imagine.

    Steven Charleston

    My car’s dashboard showed 2° as it grumbled to start this morning. But I was bound and termined to make my way to Mugs and support my baristas. Could be one of my purposes in life. This morning Winter was my barista, and a name fitting for this wintery day. I needed to be there, to share the message of how awesome she is and that I’m one of the many lives she touches. I was surprised how many people were at the coffee shop. They gotta be nuts to be here on a morning like this!!!!

    By 7:30 the blue skies and sunshine were a welcome sight. I stayed a little longer than normal, leaving about 9:30 am. I drove to the Reservoir Ridge Natural Area to experience the beauty of the wintery scene and capture a photograph or two of the snow and frost. It was a magical time! I wish people offered more nurturing messages like our natural world does. Yes, magical!

    Read More
  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  sunrises

    Watching the Changes

    January 6, 2025
    Predawn at Pineridge Natural Area – 28 sec at f 22.0 and ISO 200

    It is not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they are not. We need to learn to appreciate the value of impermanence.

    Thich Nhat Hanh

    Nature is a good teacher of about impermanence. If we watch closely nature is always in flux. In this scene the movement of the clouds is blurred during a 28 second exposure. Yet, as we stand and observe this scene we are not necessarily aware of the subtle changes with them. I now enjoy taking the time to watch the changes as they happen. I took a total of eight images from this same spot and each one is subtly different. Photography has and is helping me learn to appreciate the value of impermanence. It looks like much of the nation is dealing with wintry weather. So stay warm, be safe!

    Read More
  • fog,  frost,  landscape,  winter scenes

    A Wintery Scene

    January 5, 2025

    It was 13 degrees when I left the condo at about 6:47 am. No wind. No bicycle! It was cold enough I could blow off the dusting of snow covering my car. I could feel the peaceful stillness and quiet on this winter morning. I moved on to my coffee life at Mugs where my barista, Dean, made me an extra hot Old Town Mocha. It hit the spot. The coffee shop was rather quiet because of the cold morning. Only a few brave souls would be out on a morning like this. I was able to chat with a two of the brave souls, Jeff and Chris, then had some journaling time. My POD (Pen of the Day) is a Pilot Custom 823 with Yama-guri ink. It is a good combo to find words on blank pages.

    As I left the coffee shop the sun was beginning to break through the clouds, offering blue skies and sunshine on the frost covered trees of the foothills. So I drove home along Horsetooth Reservoir. Nature offered its wintery gifts of low lying clouds, mist rising and floating across the open water, frost covered trees and a touch of blue sky over the foothills. And more quiet! Back home I started laundry and will have a bowl of chili soup later today. May you have a wonderful Sunday! Stay warm!

    Read More
  • landscape,  Poudre River,  winter scenes

    A Morning Walk

    January 3, 2025
    Winter colors along the Poudre River at the Environmental Learning Center

    I had an invigorating ride in the fog this morning to meet Jeff for coffee. About 10:00 am I drove to the Arapaho Bend Natural Area and then over to the Environmental Learning Center. I needed to take my camera for a walk and did that at the ELC. I had not been to the ELC in a while and was shocked. Everything seemed so bleak to me, dead trees were down everywhere. It’s usually lush, green and vibrant. The last time I was there was there in June of 2023. I settled in for a walk of the Wilcox Trail, about 1.5 mile loop. By the time I headed home for lunch, I had seen seven eagles, two hawks, and a dozen whitetail deer. So I enjoyed my bicycle ride, my mocha, my conversation with Jeff and my walk in nature.

    A pair of Bald Eagles near Arapaho Bend Natural Area
    Blue sky and fog over Beaver Pond at Arapaho Bend Natural Area
    The bleakness of the Environmental Learning Center
    A whitetail doe framed and staring me down at the Environmental Learning Center
    Read More
  • desert,  landscape,  quotes,  silence,  sunsets

    Silence

    January 2, 2025
    Sunset along Peralta Trail, Arizona – November 2003

    Not sure about you but so far the year has run rather smoothly. We’ll see what day two brings. This morning we had clear blue skies, sunshine and cold. Pretty much what a January day is in Colorado. I rode my bicycle to coffee this morning and took the long cut home. Good start to my day! I have a crockpot of cabbage and sausage cooking. This afternoon we have had soft white clouds floating across an azure blue sky.

    My whole silence is full of prayer.

    Thomas Merton

    Silence has become a gift in my life over the past 10 years. I have adjusted to living a single life and its freedom. Living alone allows silence to become a prominent part of my day. Because of the silence in my life I find the noise of the world disturbing and annoying. There are few places, if any, where there is not some impact of sound by man’s machines. I am learning in my practice of prayer and meditation to allow them to become a distant hum. I like to believe it’s at those moments that I am in prayer. When I can do the same in a coffee shop I also consider that silence to be prayer.

    This image was taken along the Peralta Trail east of Phoenix with a Nikon D100 and Nikon 24-85mm f2.8-4.0, at 1/6 second, f16, ISO 200.

    Read More
  • Arapaho Bend Natural Area,  fog,  landscape,  natural areas

    Happy New Year

    January 1, 2025

    I wanted to spend my first morning of 2025 in nature so I decided to visit the Arapaho Bend Natural Area. In the dim light I could see we had clear skies and the thermometer said it was brisk 13 degrees. This natural area sits along the low lying area of the Poudre River. The closer I got the natural area the more evident of the dense fog I would have. I spent a few minutes walking along the edge of the frozen ponds taking a photo here and there. I had not ventured into this area around the ponds before so it became exciting. There was very little open water. The ice only thick enough to support the geese and ducks. I only took 15 images, but that was enough.

    After loading them on my laptop I found the images to be a metaphor for the first day of this new year. Just as we cannot see through the fog to the other shore, or the path along the edges, we cannot see into the future of the coming year. To reach the other shore requires us to travel towards it facing each challenge along the way. So, I enter into this coming year with both pessimistic and optimistic feelings. May I not struggle with wanting to change people, institutions and principles to fit my desires but make choices that are best for myself and all of creation, not from self interest but the good of all. I guess that counts as a simple prayer but not a resolution! May you have a wonderful year!!!

    Read More