• clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  quotes,  reflections

    The scent of the rain

    March 14, 2025

    As I stepped out the door this morning I was greeted with a chorus of robins announcing the new day. Now a gentle rain falls, spreading it’s refreshing scent into the lives of all of creation. In these moments I feel alive, renewed, as I enter into the mystery of this new day. This day began with quiet prayer and meditation time, an Old Town Mocha made by Adriana, then coffee and conversation with Jeff. My intent for the day is to live with some peace and calm, separate from the chaos and drama that society seems addicted to. I know of no better teacher and friend to experience this serenity with than staying close to nature. Did I mention I love the scent of the rain?

    Reflections in Big Bass Pond

    I took a stroll around Big Bass Pond at Arapaho Bend Natural Area yesterday afternoon to enjoy the silence and solitude of that sacred place. Behind me were a couple of nesting eagles. I want to believe their shrill calls are shouts of happiness for the egg or two sitting in their nest. May you have a wonderful Friday!

    How we think ripples out to how we behave.

    Robin Wall Kimmerer
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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  quotes,  sunrises

    … re-imagining and reweaving of the world

    March 12, 2025

    I keep imagining how the time of collapse and chaos can also be a radical period of re-imagination and potential renewal… precisely in the midst of chaos each of us may be closer to finding a particular thread that gives our life genuine meaning and also gives us something to contribute to the re-imagining and reweaving of the world.

    Michael Meade

    My hope “is” in the re-imagining and reweaving of the world. The old way of thinking has never worked. Hope you have a wonderful day!

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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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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  quotes,  silence,  sunrises

    Silence of Early Mornings

    March 6, 2025

    “The body is a great reservoir of wisdom. Something as simple as bodily stillness and breathing make a contribution of untold value to discovering the unfathomable silence deep within us.”

    Martin Laird

    A light rain fell during the night leaving the air soaked in moisture. I found it very invigorating to me when I stepped out the door and ventured into the new day. I witnessed the gift of sunrise at Pineridge Natural Area. As I looked east the foothills behind me had a dusting of light snow while low hanging clouds blanketed their peaks. But the warm colors of the rising sun and the golden glow on the rabbitbrush was where my photographer’s eye focused. I love the silence, the stillness of early mornings. Spring is quickly coming and change is inevitable. Hoping you have a wonderful day!

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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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  • quotes,  shadows

    … when we glimpse it

    March 3, 2025

    Our religious experience begins and ends with the heart. It begins with the insight that our heart is restless. A world of things can never fully satisfy its restless quest. Only that nothing beyond all things that we call meaning gives us rest when we glimpse it. The quest of the human heart for meaning is the heartbeat of every religion.

    Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer

    When I returned from my bicycle ride to coffee this morning I caught a glimpse of the sunlight coming through my bedroom window. I knew it as a voice telling me there was a photo being offered. Did I want it? Just a glimpse is all it takes for us to see something that’s small and irrelevant at times and now has something simple to offer. I wanted it! Some would call it a spiritual experience. After looking at the quilt I rememberd it was a handmade quilt given to me by my friend, Judith, who died of cancer 17 years ago. Maybe she was behind that voice.

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