• leaves

    Perseverance

    August 17, 2026

    As I waited outside the coffee shop the other morning I noticed this small plant making its way up through the cracks in the sidewalk. When we pay attention we can watch nature as it perseveres to grow against what seems like great odds. I found this definition of perseverance: it is the continued effort to achieve something despite difficulties, failures, or opposition.  I believe this plant is living that definition and is a great teacher if we pay attention. It is another hot day here as well in the east coast. Stay cool!!

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  • Dewdrops,  leaves,  quotes

    Capable of Great Love

    August 10, 2026
    Edited with Lightroom then enhanced with Jetpack Image Editor

    We can make a difference when we draw on our courage and creativity to stand up for our beliefs. Our small actions carry a cumulative power that can shift the planet onto a more positive course. We only need to tap our innate creativity and connect with expression not only through a particular medium like paint or clay or words; the other medium we all have to express our creativity is our lives. As human beings, we’re innately creative, capable of great love, and creatures of community. When we draw on our natural gifts and act together, we have enormous power to ease suffering and invent new possibilities for a better world.

    Kim Ridley

    I post a lot of quotes here. I struggle sometimes to post long ones because too many words can confuse, distract and make a difference in how the reader understands what the author intended. The above quote is an example. What I was moved by in the quote was the fact that mankind is capable of great love, while knowing in my mind mankind is also capable of great hatred. But, I will keep my focus on hope and belief in great love! I hope you are having a great day!!!

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  • leaves,  Plants,  quotes

    Taking Care of My Soul

    July 28, 2026

    l have come to think that care of the soul requires a high degree of resistance to the culture around us, simply because that culture is dedicated to values that have no concern for the soul.

    Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander – 1966

    It is Tuesday and starting out as a much cooler day. They say it’s only going to reach 90 degrees. I’m okay with that. The cooler air made it another lovely morning for a ride to the coffee shop. I enjoy riding through the cool low lying areas along Spring Creek. The temperature changes perk me up. I am one of those bicyclists who meanders along the trails. My bicycle is considered a commuter/urban ride. Which means I’m not a rider racing to get somewhere as quickly as possible. There is too much to miss when speeding along. Nor, none of us are as safe at higher speeds. And that’s also true of our cars. The bicycle gets me around easily and economically, puts less stress on my lower back than walking does, allows me to get my cardio exercise, gets me closer to nature, and I have much less stress when I get to the coffee shop. And bicyclists who race along the trails seem to think a certain dress attire is required. I personally do not want to see what I’d look like in spandex tights. So, I meander along taking care of my soul and with the camera ready. Who knows when I may encounter dewdrops clinging to dogwood leaves and need to stop.

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  • bicycle rides,  bicycling,  leaves,  Plants,  quotes,  Spring Creek Trail

    Today Was the Day

    July 23, 2026
    Dogwood leaves along Spring Creek

    No one will protect what they don’t care about;
    and no one will care about what they have never experienced.

    David Attenborough

    When I rode to the coffee shop this morning it was 67 degrees and 91% humidity with a 30% chance of rain. There was a short moment of confusion as I felt like I woke up in Ohio or maybe North Carolina or Florida. Sure was not a normal Colorado morning. On my way home I took this image at one of the bridges that crosses over Spring Creek. I’ve wanted to stop here before and get a few images of the dogwood plants and those lovely leaves in this area, but never have. Well, today was the day. In these later years of my life I now enjoy making time to stop and experience, and not just take a photo, of what I normally just glance at. Everything is green along the creek which has plenty of shade and the constant flowing small creek. It is a much different scene than our open prairies where the sun has been bearing down on them for 3 weeks now. We need rain. I hope you are enjoying the day!!

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  • leaves,  Plants

    The sleeping elf

    July 20, 2026
    Sunlit oak leaves, fireflies dancing in the forest while a tiny elf sleeps
    Sunlit oak leaves and dancing fireflies in the forest while a tiny elf sleeps

    It’s a hot day, reaching 100 degrees at about 2:00 pm. I did however enjoy my ride to and from the coffee shop this morning. Always a great way to start my day. I took an image last Thursday morning of the sun bursting through oak leaves just outside the coffee shop. I like the original image but for the fun of it I asked Jetpack to enhance it and was amazed how it changed it. It removed the street and house from the background and created a fantasy forest, added dancing fireflies, something I did not expect! I then asked it to add the sleeping elf. I really like the way it turned out and maybe because it adds a cooling feel on this hot day. I must also admit this AI editing feels very strange to me. Again I hope everyone is staying cool.

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  • leaves,  quotes

    What we see…

    June 17, 2026

    “…drink in the beauty and wonder at the meaning of what you see.”

    Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder

    Since I began practicing a simple and slower life, which means being awake and present to the moment and spending less time in my head, it seems I experience much more awe and wonder in life. And it’s the simplest things that catch my attention. This morning it was hearing the robins singing outside my bedroom window gently urging me to get up. And a couple weeks ago it was noticing the life giving drops of moisture on a leaf outside the coffee shop. With life getting shorter there is a desire within me to see and experience more of the beauty and wonder of nature. 

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  • leaves,  quotes

    For the fun of it

    May 11, 2026
    Edited with WordPress AI

    Kindness in words creates confidence.
    Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
    Kindness in giving creates love.

    Lao Tzu

    Early Sunday morning we had a nice .25 inch of rain. Around 2:31 am the rain began beating on my window and waking me from much needed beauty sleep. It was cool and damp when I headed out the door for my ride to Mugs. Everything was wet. When sunlight touched any of the dewdrops there was a sparkle. Just outside the coffee shop I noticed the dewdrops clinging to leaves and sparkling. For the fun of it I used the WordPress AI for the first time to add enhancement and using their Anime theme. I hope everyone had a good Mother’s Day. And please spread some Kindness!

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  • Dewdrops,  leaves,  quotes

    Silent Song of Happiness

    May 5, 2026

    “Every form of insentient existence – plants, stones or utensils – has its individual feelings similar to those of men. When we observe calmly, we discover that all things have their fulfillment.”

    Basho, The Essential Haiku by Robert Hass

    We awoke to a dusting of snow. Since then it has switched between a constant drizzle and snow, sometimes rather large snowflakes. It is actually quite beautiful. It is moisture we desperately need, so bring it on. And, I want to believe every plant, including these leaves outside the coffee shop, is probably excitedly soaking it all up and singing its own silent song of happiness.

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  • leaves,  quotes,  sky,  trees

    A Summertime Truth

    April 15, 2026

    “Here is a summertime truth: abundance is a communal act, the joint creation of an incredibly complex ecology in which each part functions on behalf of the whole and, in return, is sustained by the whole. Community not only creates abundance – community is abundance. If we could learn that equation from the world of nature, the human world might be transformed”

    Parker J. Palmer

    I have enjoyed this summer-like day. I sat on my porch and journaled this afternoon. A cool breeze blew and enticed the trees to dance with it. I watched two small robins, who I think were juveniles, chasing one another around the old tree stump. I watched two baby squirrels jumping from branch to branch in their game of tag. These simple games most young ones play. A blackbird sang its song from the far edge of the pond. And the geese continue to practice in their attempt at a song, unsuccessfully I must add. As I look up I see the blue sky with puffs of clouds silently and slowly drifting by. For me it was a cool summertime day with an abundance of community around me. I feel my day has been full. I hope your day was a full.

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