• flowers,  insects,  Plants,  poems

    …the world depends on it

    August 8, 2025

    Because

    So I can’t save the world—
    can’t save even myself,
    can’t wrap my arms around
    every frightened child, can’t
    foster peace among nations,
    can’t bring love to all who
    feel unlovable.
    So I practice opening my heart
    right here in this room and being gentle
    with my insufficiency. I practice
    walking down the street heart first.
    And if it is insufficient to share love,
    I will practice loving anyway.
    I want to converse about truth,
    about trust. I want to invite compassion
    into every interaction.
    One willing heart can’t stop a war.
    One willing heart can’t feed all the hungry.
    And sometimes, daunted by a task too big,
    I tell myself what’s the use of trying?
    But today, the invitation is clear:
    to be ridiculously courageous in love.
    To open the heart like a lilac in May,
    knowing freeze is possible
    and opening anyway.
    To take love seriously.
    To give love wildly.
    To race up to the world
    as if I were a puppy,
    adoring and unjaded,
    stumbling on my own exuberance.
    To feel the shock of indifference,
    of anger, of cruelty, of fear,
    and stay open. To love as if it matters,
    as if the world depends on it.

    Because from The Unfolding by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
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  • leaves,  nature,  Plants,  quotes

    … that catch my eye

    August 3, 2025

    Silence is the indispensable climate for all revelation;
    noise renders it absolutely impossible.

    Anonymous

    As I wandered around the ponds I found these cottonwood leaves just hanging around. I suspect the wind has probably torn them away from their branch and they now hang across the branch of another tree. Such is nature, continuously and silently creating new scenes that catch my eye. I hope you enjoy your Sunday!

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  • insects,  leaves,  Plants

    Japanese Beetle

    August 2, 2025
    Japanese Beetle feasting on a tree leaf

    I’ve been noticing these bugs a lot this year. They are stunning in color and vibrancy. A Google search tells me this is a Japanese beetle. It is not considered a pest in its native Japan, but in North America and some regions of Europe, it is a noted pest to roughly 300 species of plants. Some of these plants include roses, grapes, hops, canna, crape myrtles, birch trees, linden trees, and others. The adult beetles damage plants by skeletonizing the foliage, as you can see in this image, as well as, at times, feeding on a plant’s fruit. When I took my camera for a walk this morning I took a few photos of them. Interesting that if you enlarge the photo you can see my reflection in its head.

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  • musings,  Plants,  quotes

    …it’s the right choice

    July 31, 2025
    Two portraits in one

    There comes a time in the spiritual journey when you start making choices from a very different place . . .And if a choice lines up so that it supports truth, health, happiness, wisdom, and love, it’s the right choice.

    Angeles Arrien

    If you notice she does not include monetary wealth or anything that has a physical presence in her list. Everything she lists has an intangible value. And, in my world her list does not have a monetary value to them. I believe this is one of the reasons this quote resonates with me and one of the major reasons our world is in a state of decline. Which begs the question within me; What would our world be like if more people lived their spiritual journey?

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  • nature,  Plants,  quotes

    This is a simple fact

    July 28, 2025

    Many do not have enough
    Because a select few have far too much.

    The people are difficult to control
    Because there is someone trying to control them.

    The people are poor and starving
    So they have little to lose in revolting.

    The subjugation of the poor naturally
    leads to the overthrow of the rich.

    This is a simple fact.

    Tao Te Ching (75) By Lao Tzu Rendered by: Julian von Bargen, John Braun, Jr., David Warkentin

    Teasels are one of those plants the invasive human considers to be an invasive plant. Man considers them invasive because they are capable of crowding out native plant species. Which begs the question, “Who is the native plant?” Seems they are native from somewhere and long before man. They have a purpose in life just as everything. The roots and leaves are used to make medicine. People apply teazle to the skin for wound healing, arthritis, and scaly, itchy skin (psoriasis). Anyway, in my eyes they provide beauty, photo opportunities, and their seeds are an important winter food resource for some birds, notably the European goldfinch.

    As you can see I am slowly reading through a translation of the Tao Te Ching that is touching me at my core. It was written in the 4th century BC and the words are just as prevalent today. It is central to both philosophical and religious Taoism. I found that if I took the above refrain and substituted nature for people it rang just as true for me. Looks hot everywhere so I hope you are staying cool!!

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  • flowers,  Plants,  quotes

    I did return…

    July 26, 2025
    Venti Dahlia

    If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.

    Rachel Carson

    I hope you are having an enjoyable Saturday morning. After my quiet time, I enjoyed a bowl of yogurt and granola then met Eric for coffee and conversation. It is a great way to start any day. This dahlia is from my return excursion yesterday evening at the CSU Flower Trial Gardens. Nature is such a creative artist. There is so much mystery, awe, and wonder to experience when we look closely as the child we are.

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  • flowers,  insects,  Plants,  quotes

    Making History

    July 25, 2025

    I rode the red steed to Mugs for coffee this morning. Adrianna was my barista and an Old Town Mocha was my drink. Jeff, Curtis, Adrianna, Joan and myself each gave of our time to one another through our presence, conversation and laughter. I choose to believe we all made some difference in one another’s lives. 

    Pollen laden bee on a Black-eyed Susan

    One little person giving all of her time to peace makes news.
    Many people giving some of their time to peace can make history.

    from Peace Pilgrim

    Jeff and I rode by the CSU Flower Gardens on the way home. When I got home, I felt I did not stay long enough or walk around enough. I think I’ll return later this evening in an effort to make another small ripple. The bees were busy giving their time and making their small ripples in life, fulfilling their role in creation. I watched while they indulged in the process of pollination. And, later as I journaled on my porch, I shared the arm of my chair with a ladybug. We also gave of our time to one another. I wrote while they watched. Then, I watched two young squirrels chase one another around the tree. Again, we gave of our time to each other. I let them entertain me while they played. The bees, the ladybug and the squirrels live a life so much differently than our world of consumerism and scarcity. Their role in life is about making history. So, my prayer today is that more people give some of their time to peace, sending out small ripples, and making history rather than the news.

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  • flowers,  Plants,  poems

    There is this Invitation

    July 22, 2025

    Toward Peace

    Clematis

    Perhaps some part of me still believes
    peace is a destination,
    a place we arrive, ideally together.
     
    I notice how shiny it is, this belief,
    like a flower made of crystal,
    beautiful, but lifeless,
     
    devoid of the dust and scuff
    that come from living a real day.
    Meanwhile, there is this invitation
     
    to grow into peace the way real flowers grow—
    in the dirt. With blight and drought,
    beetles and hail.
     
    Meanwhile this invitation
    to live in the tangle of fear and failure,
    to be humbled by my own inner wars
     
    and wonder how to find a living peace
    right here, the peace that arrives
    when we take just one step through the mess
     
    toward compassion and notice
    as our foot rises our heart also rises
    and in that lifted moment
     
    still scraping along in the dirt,
    there is a peace so real we become light,
    become the momentum that is the change.

    Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Toward Peace
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  • leaves,  Plants,  quotes

    Cottonwood Leaves

    July 20, 2025

    In this age of compulsive reverence for the written word… people… are missing what is before their eyes… Everywhere, if you keep your mind open, you will find the truth in words not written down. So never let the printed page be your master.

    Doris Lessing

    It is a hot day here and looks to be hot everywhere. I took the long-cut home from coffee this morning via Spring Creek Park on the bicycle and worked up a good sweat. It is already 85 degrees here. I am cooking spaghetti with shrimp and mushroom alfredo for my lunch as a treat today. It sounded good to me. Then I found out it was National Ice Cream Day! Sigh!

    We had some gusty winds a couple days ago so a few branches blew down from the cottonwood trees. I get a bit excited when this happens because I know the coloration of these leaves will turn from green to brown then to gray in just 2-3 days. Seems the details in the leaves pop more or maybe it’s their unspoken words I’m hearing. I thought I’d share it with you. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday and stay cool!!

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  • grass,  Humor,  Plants,  quotes

    We’ll call it barley…

    July 18, 2025

    It has been a laid back Friday for me. I rode the bicycle to coffee and then relaxed the rest of the day. Relaxing included: lots of reading, writing this short blog post, making tuna salad, took my monthly shower and even put on clean underwear.

    Foxtail barley, Bobtail barley, Squirreltail barley, and Intermediate barley

    Someone who is filled with ideas, concepts, opinions and convictions cannot be a good host. There is no inner space to listen, no openness to discover the gift of the other. It is not difficult to see how those “who know it all” can kill a conversation and prevent an interchange of ideas. The more mature we become the more we will be able to give up our inclination to grasp, catch, and comprehend the fullness of life and the more we will be ready to let life enter into us.

    Henri Nouwen

    I don’t know but there sure seems to be too many “who know it all” or worse yet, who “think they know it all.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if more people listened and were open to discover the gift of the other. Then we all could just call this grass barley. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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