My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
I would say that 80-90% of the leaves have let go of the mother tree and moved on to the next phase of life. And, every year I’m intrigued from a photographer’s perspective to see the few leaves who seem to want to hold on. Maybe it’s because they remind me of me. They remind me of my tendency to hang on when letting go of my unhealthy habits, traits, and thinking was a better option. Hard lessons have taught me that letting go allows us to experience new adventures in life. I would say that at this Fall Season of my life I am learning to let go and live the next phase of life. Truly, it has become an adventure!
We are cold at 23 degrees. Took the bus to campus and now sipping on a mocha at the Lory Student Center. Have a wonderful Friday!
“The fact that religions through the ages have spoken in images, parables, and paradoxes means simply that there are no other ways of grasping the reality to which they refer.”
Niels Bohr
Seems my feeble attempt at finding the words and images of what I see regularly falls short of expressing the reality of what I experience. I saw this leaf outside the coffee shop this morning and was taken by its simplicity and beauty. I excitedly took a few images but was not satisfied with what I saw on my LCD or my monitor. Primarily because the image cannot express or grasp what I experienced. It reminds me of that idiom, “Ya had to be there to actually experience it (reality).” And yet, I will continue to try with both images and words…
Yes, this is my second posting today since it is my blog! 😁
A small part of our amazing winter wonderland this morning
I stand in the midst of creation’s wheel And watch in wonder the quiet majesty of its turning. We are in the care of a love without limit or definition Under the protection of a love that never looks away.
Steven Charleston
It is Monday morning and we have fresh snow on the ground, clear blue skies and sunshine. I am grateful to be a witness to this beautiful winter wonderland. Today I am missing my mother who would have been 92 today. I also can say I miss her with a love that is without limits. Not sure I would have said that as a teenager which makes me grateful for my growing maturity. I’m also grateful for the belief that there is a caring love (and I speak of love as an action word, not a noun) that never looks away. I have experienced such love in family, friends and nature. So, I pray today for the gift of sharing with a love I’ve experienced which is without limits and never looks away.
“Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.”
Vincent Van Gogh
Every fall, the leaves of deciduous trees undergo a dramatic color change before forfeiting their newfound hues, fading to brown and dying. It’s a process all of nature takes on. Needles and leaves that fall decompose and restock the soil with nutrients and make up part of the spongy humus layer of the forest floor that absorbs and holds rainfall. Fallen leaves also become food for numerous soil organisms vital to the forest ecosystem. That is some of the science of why leaves fall but as a photographer I am drawn to the shapes and colors of fallen leaves. They offer a promise for more life. What a gift of love these leaves offer.
It is our coldest morning this fall at 24 degrees. It is still dark and with the cold I have that thought of going back to bed. Yet there is day ahead with possible adventures. What will it bring? I’ll start by seeing what I can find at a coffee shop.
I find myself referring to this site as a blog rather more often than a website, whether in conversations or writing. I began to wonder what the difference was. Seems the only real difference between a blog and a website is that blogs are updated on a regular basis with new content, which is displayed in reverse chronological order. While typical websites are static in nature where content is organized in pages, and they are not updated frequently. I place myself in the blog category. Some people have blogs that are just a part of a larger website. Some photographers I know have blogs within their website. And some have a separate website and a separate blog.
A bit of research on Dr. Google shows that blogs evolved primarily from personal online diaries and journals in the mid-90s. Then someone built a couple of blogging platforms, Blogger.com and later WordPress.com. Now there are a multitude of platforms that can be used to create both a website and a blog.
I knew almost nothing about a blog until a friend suggested I start one when I began working as a flight attendant. I laughed him off. Then something happened in October 2008 and now look at me some 15 years later! I can easily spend an hour or two a day writing and reading blogs. Much more over the past few weeks while “remodeling” this site. Anyway, I am quite comfortable referring to this website as a blog. 😂
Got my COVID vaccination yesterday and feel achy and tired this morning. No morning sunrise or visit to a coffee shop. Slept in late. Today will be a rest and recovery day.
If we seek the mystery instead of the answer, we’ll always be seeking. I’ve never seen anybody really find the answer, but they think they have. So they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.
Ken Kesey
Experience has taught me, and is still teaching me, that what I think may be the answer is really a key to another door, some insight leading me to ask the next question. Or as the quote suggests, seek the mystery.
I’m enjoying a mocha latte at the Bean Cycle then will meet Mark for breakfast. I have an open schedule after that, one of the perks in my life of retirement. Enjoy your day! 🤗
What fills the heart with happiness, ironically enough, is not what we get out of the world; it’s what we put into it. Being about something worthwhile, spending our lives on something worth spending a life on is what, in the end, makes us happy.
Joan Chittister
My barista this morning was Stephen. I hadn’t seen him for a while and discovered he’d taken some time off while his father was out here visiting. It sounds like their time together made them happy. 😊
I consider myself a happy person. My greeting by Stephen this morning enriched my happiness. Having said that it seems to take more to upset me than in the past. However, I must admit that drivers can test my peace, serenity and happiness. At this stage in my life happiness does not come so much from what I do as when I was pursuing a career, gathering the things the world told me I needed and so on. For me happiness comes from the lifestyle I attempt to live, a spiritual lifestyle which includes starting my day with prayer and meditation. I call this quiet time, center myself for the day. Happiness comes from how I treat and respect all of life that shares this world with me. Happiness comes from what creative acts I offer as a gift, such as photography or my blogging. Happiness comes from listening and being present to a friend or stranger. Happiness comes from times in nature, watching the sunrise or sunset or the changing colors of the fall season. Happiness comes from building relationships with my family, friends, strangers and the natural world around me. I could go on but instead I invite you to share with us some things that bring happiness in your life and the life of those around you. I told you there would be more leaves! 😂
