• desert,  landscape,  quotes

    Eventually…

    September 19, 2024
    Predawn on Perata Trail, Arizona – 2013

    “Life sometimes is hard. There are challenges. There are difficulties. There is pain. As a younger man I sought to avoid them and only ever caused myself more of the same. These days I choose to face life head on—and I have become a comet. I arc across the sky of my life and the harder times are the friction that lets the worn and tired bits drop away. It’s a good way to travel; eventually I will wear away all resistance until all there is left of me is light. I can live towards that end.”

    Richard Wagamese, Embers
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  • leaves,  quotes

    A Path of Grace

    September 18, 2024
    Two leaves, similar but different

    We do not want our lives to signify nothing. This would be the most profound and ungrateful ignorance: to remain childish in an aging vessel…Life’s longing for itself, is a path of grace.

    Kathleen Dowling-Singh

    I remember a morning when I was getting ready for work I felt tired, confused, probably hungover, unhappy, and questioning if this was all there was to life. I knew at that moment that I did not want the life I had. My life meant nothing to me. Somehow, and some will call it grace, I moved through that period to discover life is much more than I could foresee at that time. I found lifestyle changes that included letting go of some old thinking, believing, and most importantly an unhealthy lifestyle and career that was not fulfilling me. I look back at it now and see it was my time to let go of childish ways and begin living life’s longing for itself, growing up. Today, even with the challenges of everyday life in this aging vessel of mine, I want to live a path of grace.

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  • clouds,  landscape,  quotes

    We need mystery…

    September 17, 2024

    “We need mystery. Creator in her wisdom knew this. Mystery fills us with awe and wonder. They are the foundations of humility, and humility is the foundation of all learning. So we do not seek to unravel this. We honour it by letting it be that way forever.” (The quote of a grandmother explaining The Great Mystery of the universe to her grandson.)

    Richard Wagamese, Indian Horse
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  • bicycle rides,  clouds,  Pedaling on,  quotes,  sunrises

    Moments like this

    September 11, 2024
    Sunrise over CSU campus this morning

    We can express them (beauty and love) with words but cannot define them — we can only say that this and this are included but that is not, and wordlessly we all recognise the truth of it. Speech is limited, no matter what the language…. For in our hearts we understand more than we can possibly talk about.

    N.J. Berrill

    I stopped for this image on my ride to the coffee shop this morning. Makes me wonder if my coffee life is enriched because of moments of beauty like this. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

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  • flowers,  poems,  quotes

    Let me linger…

    September 10, 2024
    A busy bee and daisies

    It may be a product of getting older
    But sometimes I want to stop time.

    I want to make the sunsets last just a little longer.
    I want the quiet mornings to go on and on

    The laughter at the dinner table
    To stretch out into a whole evening
    The beauty of the clouds as they race
    Across the valley to never end.

    It is not that I want to freeze reality, just slow it down.
    I want life to move as slowly as I do.
    For I have learned that life moves far too fast as it is.
    It is a joy that endures but briefly
    Made of moments that pass as quickly as hummingbirds.

    Let me linger in the love I feel.
    Let me see the light for as long as I can.

    Steven Charleston, Spirit Wheel

    I stopped on my ride this evening because these daisies caught my eye. However, I was not the only one interested in the daisies as this bee busily flitted from flower to flower. So busy in fact, I never got a good infocus shot. Oh well. I watched and lingered and loved the moment.

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  • landscape,  natural areas,  quotes,  reflections,  sunsets

    Experiences

    September 9, 2024

    Faith does not begin in what we imagine
    But in what we experience.

    Steven Charleston

    I am not able to explain my faith. I could try, but any words would fall short. However, experience has brought me to believe the sun will rise and set each day, even after I’ve taken my last breath. And, I believe the seed of these experiences change and transform me. Because somehow, when I returned to my car after watching a sunrise or sunset I believe I am a different man. I would try and explain that, but any words would fall short. And, it happens a lot. 

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