• landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  sunrises

    Merry Christmas

    December 25, 2024

    Well, the cookies and milk I left out for Santa were gone when I woke up this morning, always a good sign. However, there was no XF8mm lens under the tree so there must have been a screw up somewhere. They must have not gotten my letter. I didn’t think I was that naughty this past year. However, I’ve lived without that lens so far and will continue to live without it.

    Overcast skies spurred me to drive to Pineridge Natural Area for possible Christmas morning predawn colors. A mix of rain and snow began and added to the feel of the morning’s cold. I showed up and was not disappointed in nature’s gift of colors. The reflection off Dixon Reservoir was breathtaking and almost caused me to miss the Great Horned Owl perched on the tree. I asked if they were watching the predawn colors or looking for prey or both, but only silence? And, silly me forgot to bring the tripod so this is a handheld image taken at 23mm, 1/10 sec at f8.0 and ISO 12800. I have cropped this image and used denoise in Lightroom to clean up the noise. It works well enough for this blog. I started a crockpot of chili soup after my quiet time and its aroma is filling the house. It’s making me hungry. I hope everyone has a wonderful day in whatever way you celebrate it. Thank you to all who regularly stop by for a visit. I love this world!!! ❤️

    “The biggest gift you can give is to be absolutely present, and when you’re worrying about whether you’re hopeful or hopeless or pessimistic or optimistic, who cares? The main thing is that you’re showing up, that you’re here and that you’re finding ever more capacity to love this world because it will not be healed without that. That was what is going to unleash our intelligence and our ingenuity and our solidarity for the healing of our world.”

    Joanna Macy
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  • landscape,  mountains,  natural areas,  quotes,  sunsets

    December Sunset

    December 24, 2024
    A winter sunset at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area – 12/20/2024

    The Great Work is spiritual at the core. Gus Speth, an environmental attorney, ecologist, and climate advocate, has summarized the problem brilliantly: “I used to think that top global environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and climate change. . . . But I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed, and apathy, and to deal with these we need a spiritual and cultural transformation. And we scientists don’t know how to do that.

    Victoria Loorz
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  • Arapaho Bend Natural Area,  landscape,  natural areas,  sunrises

    What is possible between us…

    December 23, 2024

    I can disagree with your opinion, it turns out, but I can’t disagree with your experience. And once I have a sense of your experience, you and I are in relationship, acknowledging the complexity in each other’s position, listening less guardedly. The difference in our opinions will probably remain intact, but it no longer defines what is possible between us.

    Krista Tippett

    I’m finding my task is not to argue or attempt to change another who has a difference of opinion. Nothing builds a wall faster in a conversation than where someone interrupts and tells another they are wrong or rolls their eyes. We miss out on a wonderful opportunity of a relationship. I am learning what is possible between us when we become listeners sharing our experiences. I believe Krista is correct!

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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  quotes,  sunrises

    To Love Life…

    December 13, 2024
    Predawn at Pineridge Natural Area

    Life is everything. Life is God. Everything changes and moves and that movement is God. And while there is life there is a joy in consciousness of the divine. To love life is to love God. Harder and more blessed than all else is to love this life in one’s suffering, in innocent suffering.

    Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

    After my quiet time and a bowl of Irish Oats I made a trip to Pineridge Natural Area to enjoy the predawn and sunrise on this Friday the 13th. It has been a while since I’ve ventured up there for sunrise. Instead, I’ve been spending more time riding the bicycle and at the coffee shops. I made a good choice as the clouds to the south were glowing pink and red. And, it was quiet and calm which quiets and calms my soul. I realized how much I missed these moments with nature.  Who knows, maybe nature missed my presence also. Our cold days have left most of Dixon Reservoir with a layer of ice. I then met Jeff for coffee and conversation and will meet Don and Elizabeth for lunch later today. Yes, to love life while we still have time!

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  • Arapaho Bend Natural Area,  quotes,  reflections

    Transformed by the Journey

    December 6, 2024
    Setting sun at Arapaho Bend Natural Area – Nov. 2023

    To journey without being changed, is to be a nomad.
    To change without journeying is to be a chameleon.
    To journey and be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim.

    Mark Nepo, The Exquisite Risk

    I love the idea of transformation by the journey. And the journey I am referring to is an inward journey. I tried the geographical change but that didn’t work. I spent way too much of my life being a chameleon and that didn’t work. It has only been in the last few years that looking inward has become a door into an accurate self-awareness. Who I thought I thought I was, was not accurate because the glasses I was using to see myself needed to be replaced. My inward journey has included self-examination, prayer and meditation which have become an unshakable foundation in my life. It’s a regular part of my daily practice and I enjoy being a pilgrim!!

    Hope you enjoy your weekend!

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  • Avian,  natural areas,  quotes

    The Literature of the Spirit

    December 5, 2024
    Pelican in early morning fog at Arapaho Bend Natural Area – May 2023

    One of our problems today is that we are not well acquainted with the literature of the spirit. We’re interested in the news of the day and the problems of the hour.

    Joseph Campbell

    My wife and I separated in 1991 and sold the house that fall. I drove away with everything I owned in the back of a small Ford Ranger pickup and with a feeling I was not familiar with. Her and I were closing one chapter of our lives and moving forward into another. It was a time of letting go. One thing that I have fully embraced from that day to the present was the letting go of television. I have not owned one since then. I came to a place where I’m not interested in the news of the day, the problems of the hour or what society considers entertainment. I focus my attention on the reality of life, one-on-one time with family and friends, the gift of time in nature, reaching out to the needs of those who are suffering, time in solitude, silence, prayer and meditation, journaling, photography and listening to the spirit that pervades everything. I guess you can say that’s being acquainted with the literature of the spirit.

    Six years ago today I had open heart surgery. That valve lasted about four years when it failed and they needed to replace it in a TAVR procedure, March 2023. So today I am grateful and living life as full as I can. Thank you to all who have been reading these ramblings over the years!!

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  • landscape,  natural areas,  poems,  reflections,  sunrises

    Quiet Sunrise

    November 14, 2024
    Sunrise at Arapaho Bend Natural Area – 2021

    It is a wonderful day in our life
    when one is finally able to stand
    before the long, deep mirror of one’s own reflection
    and view oneself
    with appreciation, acceptance and forgiveness.

    On that day
    one breaks through the falsity of images and expectations
    which have blinded one’s spirit.

    One can only learn to see who one is
    when one learns to view oneself
    with the most intimate and forgiving
    compassion.

    John O’Donohue
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  • landscape,  natural areas,  poems,  snow

    Miracles Everywhere

    November 9, 2024
    Snow covered foothills at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area

    I was sad
    Mad
    Big things going wrong
    Big
    Asked for a miracle
    Nope
    Screamed for it
    Nope
    Then looked around
    Miracles everywhere
    Just not the one I so badly wanted

    Joyce Wilson-Sanford, I Pray Anyway

    It has been overcast and cold all day. The snow stopped around mid-morning. I made a drive to Reservoir Ridge Natural Area this morning knowing it was closed due to wet conditions but hoping to get a photo of the snow sitting atop the foothills from the gate. What a miracle it is to be alive and live in this beautiful world. In my quiet this morning I took a book down from my shelf called I Pray Anyway and thumbed through a few of her poems until I came across this one. Sometimes a poet will just say what I need to read. Her poem speaks to me because so many miracles that didn’t/don’t/won’t happen the way I want them to. She reminds me to look around at all the other miracles in my life and let go of what I think outcomes need to be. And then I can make a gratitude list of miracles everywhere in my life!!

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