• Arapaho Bend Natural Area,  clouds,  fall season,  landscape,  quotes,  reflections,  trees

    Respect

    November 6, 2025

    Respect for the environment, and respect for what was naturally occurring in nature:
    that was the bedrock of all original peoples. Harmony, coexistence, not conquest and conquer.

    L.A. Banks

    The wind has been blowing since early this morning bringing a snowfall of yellow and gold leaves. It is a bad hair day and not suited for bicycling or photography. I met my friend Nancy for coffee and an enjoyable conversation. I’ve been inside the rest of the day doing things such as laundry, a shower and cleaning. Therefore this image was taken in November of 2017 at Arapaho Bend Natural Area. I have had several people compliment me on the gift of the natural areas near me. I must say I am lucky to have these areas and support them with my money and vote which I hope keeps the conquest and conquering fans at bay. May we respect natures ways and enjoy time with her!

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  • 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!!

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  • bicycle rides,  coffee life,  grass,  Plants,  trees

    But I’m tempted…

    July 12, 2025

    As I rode through the CSU Oval on Friday there was a young woman walking barefoot on the grass. Almost made me want to stop and take my shoes off. Yet, when I think about all the chemicals they put down on that grass, to keep it green and growing, I keep my shoes on and keep riding. But I’m tempted… If you look closely you will see chalk drawing on the sidewalk. I assume made by the children who have come for a summer camp week and encouraged by student leaders. We had rain during the night so we awoke to overcast skies and cool. I saw where we had from one tenth of an inch to half an inch in Fort Collins. Happy Saturday!

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  • nature,  Plants,  quotes,  trees

    “the little joys”

    June 28, 2025

    This is our modern curse: A century of conspicuous consumption has trained us to be dutiful citizens of the Republic of Not Enough, swearing allegiance to the marketable myth of scarcity, hoarding toilet paper for the apocalypse. Along the way, we have unlearned how to live wide-eyed with wonder at what Hermann Hesse called “the little joys” — those unpurchasable, unstorable emblems of aliveness that abound the moment we look up from our ledger of lack.

    Maria Popova
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  • clouds,  landscape,  quotes,  sunsets,  trees

    Sitting Quietly

    March 29, 2025

    All of humanity’s difficulties stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.

    Blaise Pascal

    This is a snapshot of Mike watching the sunset at Turquoise Lake, Colorado, while on our motorcycle camping trip in 2006. It was one of those moments to just sit quietly and soak it all in.

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  • landscape,  quotes,  silence,  sunsets,  trees

    Silence is the stuff of life…

    March 11, 2025

    I am constantly surrounded by noise: TV, texts, the internet, music, meaningless small talk, my thinking. All of it blocks my consciousness, my ability to hear the ME that exists beneath the cacophony. I am my consciousness, my awareness of my circumstance, my presence in every moment. So I cultivate silence every morning. I sit in it, bask in it, wrap it around myself, and hear and feel me. Then, wherever the day takes me, the people I meet are the beneficiaries of my having taken that time – they get the real me, not someone shaped and altered by the noise around me. Silence is the stuff of life.

    Richard Wagamese, Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations
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  • coffee life,  quotes,  trees

    … join the dance

    March 5, 2025

    The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

    Alan Watts

    I arrived four minutes before the coffee shop opened and stood outside. I watched and listened as the wind blew begging the trees to dance with her. Even in these unsettled times of our society and with the wind of change blowing, I stood there having a feeling of being settled and calm inside. I took a couple long steady breaths of prayer, raised my camera and took four images of the gently swaying trees. Shortly, my barista, Winter, opened the door and I entered to enjoy her mocha latte and the gift of my coffee life. And, I knew I was joining in the dance.

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