• blogging,  leaves

    More about the changes…

    September 24, 2025
    It’s the season of changes

    One of the changes I’m making to this blog is having it hosted by WordPress.com. I was having issues with my previous hosting service. At one time this past year I could not even log on to my dashboard. After a chat session they got me back up and running. I have no idea what they did.  Shortly after that more issues began appearing and in another chat session they claimed that I was running out of storage space. I was told my storage space was consuming 57Gb, so I upgraded. Yet, I continued to have troubles. So, I exported my entire blog and began to play around with the free WordPress.com. For the heck of it I imported that .xml file onto a free WordPress.com site that has a storage capacity of 1Gb. It all fit! At the present time all my posts and media from 2009 to the present, except for a few media files and I will explain that later, are on WordPress.com hosting service and I’m only using 790Mb of the 1Gb. So, I have purchased their personal plan which gives me 6Gb of storage and I’m transfering my domain over to WordPress.com. Hopefully you will read this after that transfer.

    Read More
  • clouds,  leaves,  natural areas,  nature,  quotes

    The Strength of a Touch

    September 23, 2025
    Cottonwood leaves
    Cattails and reflections
    Clouds over Big Bass Pond

    The healing of our present woundedness may lie in recognizing and reclaiming the capacity we all have to heal each other, the enormous power in the simplest of human relationships: the strength of a touch, a blessing of forgiveness, the grace of someone else taking you just as you are and finding in you an unsuspected goodness.

    Rachel Naomi Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom

    I sit on a rock bench looking out across Big Bass Pond at Arapaho Bend Natural Area. It’s about 1:57 pm. I feel the warmth of the 77 degree temperature but accepting the grace of relief provided by the cloudy skies. I notice the small world of life all around me that I so often overlook. Bees, butterflies, and beetles feasting on the nectar of the rabbitbrush. Ants, spiders, grasshoppers and unnamable bugs scurry or jump around me. Cottonwood leaves become intricate works of art as the autumn equinox arrives. And the cattails showing the golden tips of their swords. I am grateful to slow down and experience the healing given by being present to this world. It is a gift that has much to teach me. Now a rumble of thunder gives notice for me to move on. By the time I reach the car, raindrops have begun to fall. (Entry from my journal.) So here are three images from the afternoon.

    This morning a steady, gentle rain falls. It began just after I got up, around 4:30 am. My weather app predicts it will continue until mid afternoon. I have my front door open so I can hear and take in the fragrance of this refreshing rain. It’s a good day to journal, read and work on this blogs transformation. Thanks for being here and have a great day!

    Read More
  • bicycling,  musings,  nature,  reflections,  trees

    Without the Desire

    September 22, 2025
    From yesterday morning’s bicycle ride along Spring Creek Trail

    I recently read where Martin Luther King defined agape love as the willingness to serve without the desire for reciprocation, willingness to suffer without the desire for retaliation, and willingness to reconcile without the desire for domination. There are people in this country, and the world, who won’t agree with his definition. Many cling to the ideologies of supremacy and the delusion that violence is a solution. Those are not in alignment with his definition, nor have they ever brought peace. I also noticed he uses the phrase without the desire three times in his definition. After contemplating his definition I am in agreement with him. But until I can live his definition of agape love and nonviolence in my life, the words written in this blog post are just fluff. Many will doubt there can be such a change in people’s beliefs and thinking? However, I’ve seen such changes in people’s lives. And, then what would our world be like it people lived a life of agape love?💙 Going to post this and ride to the coffee shop. Enjoy your Monday!!

    Read More
  • blogging,  leaves,  Plants

    Changes

    September 21, 2025

    Changes are being made to this blog. First will be the look of this theme. Secondly, I am changing hosting services so there may be a period of silence from me. You even may see the Error 404 code. If I’m not back up and running in 5-7 days, send out a search party. I’ll probably be drifting somewhere in the World Wide Web.

    Read More
  • bicycling,  flowers

    My first flat tire

    September 1, 2025
    Common Globe Amaranth on campus

    Welp, when I started to leave the coffee shop this morning I experienced my first flat tire after just over 1800 miles of riding. I filled both tires early this morning before I left and hope I have not damaged anything. I was not able to find any nail, screw or thorn. Without panicking or throwing a hissy-fit I left the bike locked up and walked to the transit center and then took a bus to my condo. I drove my car back and brought the bike home. I did not want to walk the bicycle the 2 miles home. I will take it into the shop tomorrow and let them fix it. I do not want to mess with repairing the flat (front tire) because of the disc brakes. I will feel more comfortable with paying them to repair it. So, I got a good start to September.

    These are Common Globe Amaranth planted in the median when you turn into the parking lot of the Lory Student Center at CSU. Every year this flower garden in the median catches my attention. And, each year they seem to plant something different. This is the first time I’ve seen these flowers here. I hope you enjoy your day!!

    Read More
  • Plants,  quotes

    Wonders and Realities

    August 30, 2025

    The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us the less taste we shall have for the destruction of our race. Wonder and humility are wholesome emotions, and they do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction.

    Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder

    When you first look at this image you will see three mushrooms in the grass. But If you look closely (enlarge the image if you need to) you will see the wonders and realities of this world on many of the blades of grass where a tiny single dew drop clings to its tip. Yes, wonders and realities!

    Read More
  • Dewdrops,  leaves,  Plants,  poems,  quotes

    Exploring..

    August 26, 2025
    Hemp dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum) covered in dew

    We shall not cease from exploration,
    and the end of all our exploring
    will be to arrive where we started
    and know the place for the first time.

    T.S. Eliot

    It was a cool bicycle ride on this August morning. The temperature was at 56 degrees and the humidity was over 90% when I mounted the red steed and headed for the coffee shop. I could see the fog lazily drifting along the eastern horizon but we had none here. I had never thought of my bicycling as a form of exploration but I am coming to see that it is. It is not much different than walking the trails, at least at the meandering speed I pedal. I needed to stop on the way home and photograph these (Apocynum cannabinum) leaves covered in dew along Spring Creek Trail. The leaves and stems are quite lovely but probably not something to put in your salad ( see the link). I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!

    Read More
  • flowers,  insects,  Plants,  wasp

    Pollinators

    August 23, 2025
    This image is of a Xerochrysum bracteatum, commonly known as the golden everlasting or strawflower

    Bees are known to be good pollinators and they have the distinction of having a spelling contest named after them. However, not many people are aware that wasps are also pollinators but they do not have a spelling contest named after them. Wasps look much like bees, but are generally not covered with fuzzy hairs. As a result, they are much less efficient in pollinating flowers, because pollen is less likely to stick to their bodies and to be moved from flower to flower. Wasps are omnivores and eat other insects, invertebrates, and nectar. Wasps prey on other insects to give to their larvae. Adult wasps only eat sugars, though. Wasps get hydration and sugar from drinking the nectar from flowers or fruits. As they drink the nectar from flowers, they passively transfer pollen between flowers. The parasitic forms of wasps lay their eggs on or in other insects or invertebrates, and they become the hosts. Enough about pollinators. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

    Read More
  • flowers,  Plants,  quotes

    Emotional and Spiritual Heart Disease

    August 11, 2025

    The real epidemic in our culture is not just physical heart disease; it’s what I call emotional and spiritual heart disease; the sense of loneliness, isolation and alienation that is so prevalent in our culture because of the breakdown of the social networks that used to give us a sense of connection and community.

    Dean Ornish, March 1996

    I find it interesting that Ornish wrote the above quote over 20 years ago in the forward to a book titled Kitchen Table Wisdom, which is a wonderful book I’m presently reading. And, this epidemic he talks about has continued to grow. His quote has caused me to reflect on how my friend Jeff and I seem to be creating a community and a place for connection at the coffee shop without intentionally doing it. He and I sit in the small alcove that has four chairs and a small table. Without intending to, we have created an inviting, and I believe safe, environment for people. More and more people now walk by and say good morning while on their way to work, school or grabbing coffee while walking their dog. I’m happy to say some have begun to sit down and join us, which has created wonderful friendships. And when people see this it invites even more people to connect and a community forms. The circle grows. It’s letting me know people want a sense of connection and community and will step into it when given the chance and feel safe enough.

    Read More