• fall season,  leaves,  Plants,  seasons

    Telling on Myself

    September 9, 2023

    I’m telling on myself. Thursday morning I took a few images at Pineridge Natural Area of the predawn light. I did not shoot many images, making 7 compositions, placing the horizon in the various locations in the frame. When I loaded them on the computer at home they were all underexposed. I then discovered I had set the camera in manual mode yesterday and never checked the exposure. I made a critical assumption the camera would take care of everything, all I had to do was make the composition. Wrong. Way too much dependance on the camera and not checking my settings!

    A lot of seasonal changes are taking place here in Colorado. As the nights get longer and there’s less sunlight, leaves stop making chlorophyll, losing their green colors, some change to yellow, orange, red, brown and gray. These leaves will freeze in winter, so the trees are letting go, allowing them to decompose and restock the soil with nutrients for next spring. I love this time of the year and this process of dying to renew life.

    I attended my 55th class reunion dinner last night and enjoyed catching up with them. One facet of reunions is finding out more have died than I knew about. Just the same we get to reminisce about our youth. I’m leaving a few minutes to attend today’s picnic. I am finding it interesting how little I really knew about my classmates and the erroneous assumptions I had about them in high school. And that is also true of how they perceived me. Many thought they didn’t fit in. Just like me! Fascinating to me.

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  • fall season,  leaves,  Metro Parks,  Plants,  quotes,  seasons

    Sometimes They’re Even Good!

    February 4, 2023
    Leaves found on a walk at Blendon Woods Metro Park – 2011

    While I often try to anticipate those things that may occur in my little world, there’s always a surprise or two, and sometimes they’re even good!

    Earl Moore

    Wanted to share these words of wisdom from a comment our friend Earl made on one of my posts. He is referring to surprises in life, those wanted and not wanted. I am currently finding surprises in my life that at first seem unwanted but in some ways have turned out to be good. He has reminded me of that. His words also reminded me of the fondness I have for those surprises we can find in our photography. For me they happen most often when I venture out in nature with my camera, open to what my heart can see and accept. While living in Ohio for two and a half years I was able to experience trees and plants I was not familiar with. I loved what I was seeing and experiencing for the first time. As I reflect back it was on these walks when I first began to ask the questions: What surprise is nature going to offer me today? What will I expect and accept? You never know, sometimes they’re even good!

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  • fall season,  leaves,  Plants,  quotes,  seasons

    Beautiful Nature

    November 17, 2022
    Maple leaves from 2006

    “Nature is beautiful because it looks like Art; and Art can only be called beautiful if we are conscious of it as Art while yet it looks like Nature.”

    Immanuel Kant

    It was 23 degrees this morning at 7:02 am as I left the condo. Snow then began falling around 8:00 am. Intermittently big flakes then soft delicate snowflakes. I sat in my bedroom looking out the bay window as the artist created. It is lovely to my soul. It is also bringing much needed moisture to our thirsty soil. I checked the temperature about 2:16 pm and it said we’re still at 23 degrees but feels like 17 degrees. I’ll agree and it will only get colder! It’s expected to snow all night. I know the image does not depict the weather here but it is beautiful art made by nature. And, this is a second post about the beauty of nature.

    I finished a couple of blurb books that I’ve been working on for awhile. I ordered one each for a look-see copy today. Nothing fancy but small 7×7 size and on subjects I like, Twilight and Journaling. They are for me and will go on my bookshelf.

    I tested negative this morning for covid as I was exposed again this past Sunday. 👍

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  • fall season,  Plants,  quotes,  seasons,  trees

    Imagination

    November 13, 2022

    “The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.”

    William Blake

    The only constant is change and this morning was a prime example. It’s all worked out and been a good day. Have new chair for my bedroom that sits looking out my bay window and will use it for my quiet times, reading and journaling. Fits my buttocks! 😂 The above photo was taken on campus this past week. Love my tree friends! Now that the leaves are mostly gone we can see where the squirrels nests are. On my walk I smiled as leaves danced along side me in the wind. I am not taking my laptop to Phoenix this week so you will have a reprieve from my blog posts for four days. Have a great week.

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  • fall season,  leaves,  Plants,  quotes,  seasons,  Thomas Berry

    Awe and Reverence

    November 12, 2022
    Light, shadows, shapes, patterns, colors of leaves

    There is an awe and reverence due to the stars in the heavens, the sun, and all heavenly bodies; to the seas and the continents; to all living forms of trees and flowers; to the myriad expressions of life in the sea; to the animals of the forests and the birds of the air.

    To wantonly destroy a living species is to silence forever a divine voice. 

    Thomas Berry

    The man made worlds of our homes, work cubicles, television, and phones, cannot fulfill that awe and reverence. Our separation has caused us to see nature apart from us. We no longer hear the divine voice in nature and therefore can and do commit violence against it. All of creation is the divine voice! How many of us stop and just listen to the voice of falling leaves. It was another cold morning in Colorado, 9 degrees at 6:45 am. Sun has set and it will be in the single digits again tonight. Hope you enjoy your day tomorrow!

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  • fall season,  leaves,  Plants,  quotes,  seasons

    Say whatever prayers you choose….

    November 8, 2022

    Perhaps we should all settle down and think about what’s good in the world and what we want to do here. If we find this planet and its history and its story to be sacred, let’s preserve and nourish it, and then we can go home at night and say whatever prayers we choose.

    Ursula Goodenough

    Another lovely day in Colorado. It was a brisk 30 degrees this morning but we reached a nice 65 degrees. Blue skies and sunshine dominated. I attended, and enjoyed, a brunch with a few of my high school classmates, something we will do on a monthly basis. Had a good time and of course picked from the seniors menu. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do when you’re seniors. Later this afternoon I wandered around the pond with my camera for fall colors and soaked up the sun before it settled behind the mountains. This simple scene, through its beauty and existence, stirred something within me. It’s through these sacred experiences I feel I’m changed forever. And, my words fall short. Hope you had a good day and say whatever prayers you choose before bed.

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  • fall season,  landscape,  Plants,  seasons,  snow,  street photography,  trees

    First Snowfall of the Year

    November 4, 2022
    CSU Oval

    According to DIA we had our first measurable snowfall yesterday and through the night. They showed 4.5 inches at the airport while Fort Collins had maybe an inch. Still lovely and refreshing. Roads are clear so I easily made it to the coffee shop. As expected a few regulars there braving the weather on their bicycles. Not me! The sun was shining brightly by 9:00 am which allowed the more hardy souls to shed their jackets. Not me! I tell you this white stuff sure pulls out the fall colors.

    I received word this morning that my cousin, Kevin, died of a heart attack yesterday evening. No details on a service but if anyway possible I would like to attend. So, I could be making a road trip to the panhandle of Texas.

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