My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
Jeff said this morning that water at Arapaho Bend Natural Area was just like glass this morning when he drove by. About 11am I drove out there to find some journaling time and the water was still just like glass. As you can see we have blue sky and a few clouds. I hope you are having a good Friday! And for all who didn’t know today is National Fountain Pen Day.
“Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph;
Edward Weston
not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual.”
My schedule this morning was discombobulated because they sent me a message saying they were not opening the coffee shop until later due to maintenance. I forwarded that message to Jeff so he would not drive from Windsor and find it closed. I grabbed my camera and headed to Arapaho Bend Natural Area. As I drove over there I watched the sky turn from red to pink then settle into its gold warm glow of the new day. My eyes were excited by the clouds so I wanted to share the beauty I saw in them. I set up my camera and tripod and hung around for a while. This was the one I chose to post today out of the 15 I took. After a half hour or so I went to a small coffee shop called Lima Coffee Roasters and paid way too much for a mocha.
The quote by Edward Weston reminds me of how often we do not see the usual subject matter of life that the mystic, the contemplative, the poet, the creative, the photographer, seems to see. And each of them must be awake, aware and open to the moment we are experiencing. I believe he nailed it! I hope you have a wonderful day!!
It is in the quiet times that we build our strengths and know we have something to rely on. Solitude is not withdrawal into a place where no one and no sound can penetrate. It is a sweet moment of peace with or without other people that lets us re-center and reset the rhythm of the mind, body and spirit. It is wisdom to stay close to the solitude of nature to keep us young and pliable.
from A CHEROKEE FEAST OF DAYS by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
It was a brisk ride to the coffee shop this morning but it took very little time to warm up. About mid morning I made a trip to Arapaho Bend Natural Area for some journaling time, finding quiet and hoping to find a photo of clouds. I found all three. I hope you are having a wonderful day and doing your best to keep cool.
There’s always a story. It’s all stories, really.
Terry Pratchett
The sun coming up every day is a story. Everything’s got a story in it.
Change the story, change the world.
As photographers and creatives, I imagine we all hope that our images tell a story. On many of my blog posts, I also add content to express my experience of that moment, that morning, that evening, that day. In other words, I am telling a story. Was I cold? In a place of gratitude, or wonder? What birds were singing to me? What was I thinking or feeling? And hopefully the photograph, the content, or both have the potential to be a story capable of changing the world in some small way, including myself.
I fear that future generations will judge us harshly for our failure to place proper value on wildness, diversity, open space, spirit, solitude, and other treasures of the natural world still available to us today. May they at least know that some of us tried.
Guy Tal
I am grateful this community I live in has placed value on the wildness of nature and have established several Natural Areas that are set aside as treasures. I am thankful no wealthy developer will be able to destroy the beauty of this morning sunrise scene. My prayer today is that everyone, including rich developers, will come to see the beauty and priceless value of this sunrise as a gift for all of us without a monetary value. And, I need to know I was one of those who tried.
“But dawn – dawn is a gift. Much is revealed about a person by his or her passion, or indifference, to this opening of the door of day. No one who loves dawn, and is abroad to see it, could be a stranger to me.”
Mary Oliver, Upstream: Selected Essays
Accept what comes from silence.
Wendell Berry
Make the best you can of it.
Of little words that come
out of silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.
“Our work, rather, is to help reawaken the sense of the sacred that is already deep in the human soul,
John Philip Newell
our primordial relationship with nature, our ancient mother love of the earth.
We can be part of its rising again.”
My recovery is moving along, slowly but surely. I am sleeping in later but I am sleeping restless. They have me sleeping with an oxygen concentrator at night which could be the culprit. I also do take naps throughout the day but I will rest when my body lets me know. I am going to venture out to the coffee shop in the morning. Since I can’t drive yet Jeff will pick me up and we will make a frontal attack on Mugs on Laurel. We are not giving them any warnings, either. We have had intermittent clouds and sunshine today and reached 60 degrees. The sun has set and I am enjoying an Earl Gray Tea. I hope you had a good day!
“The land is the real teacher. All we need as students is mindfulness.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Since I’m no longer a party guy, I celebrated New Year’s Eve by spending time at Arapaho Bend Natural Area to soak into my memory the gift of the sunset. I was back home and in bed by 8pm, reading. My post today is an image of that sunset along with a wish and pray that the coming year be a wonderful adventure, full of awe and wonder, filled with lessons learned, moments of creativity, more time in nature, quality time with family, good health, and the discovery of your true and authentic self. I am grateful for the gift you are. Happy New Year and hope you enjoyed your day!