• coffee life,  coffee shops,  fall season,  fountain pens,  journal,  journaling,  musings,  Photography,  quotes,  seasons,  writing/reading

    A Reason to Journal

    October 29, 2022

    “With words at your disposal, you can see more clearly. Finding the words is another step in learning to see.”

    Robin Kimmerer

    I believe that each pen, or any writing instrument, is a tool filled with words and that it is the task of the writer to find them. And, I define a writer as everyone! We just don’t know it yet. Just pick up the pen and put it to paper. I also believe words are found in blank journals and it is the writer’s task to find them. If you don’t believe me then get a journal and pen and begin to write daily. The words may be just for you but they are there.

    This morning we had a light frost with the temperature around 30 degrees. By mid-morning the sun and bright blue sky had melted it away. It has been a quiet day for me. This afternoon I sat in my chair in the sunshine and let the sun warm me, inside and out. I watched the wind blow leaves across the yard, making that rustling sound as they danced in front of me. Now it is overcast and cooling down. My journals are my attempts to find words that describe such moments. and they also help me see such moments. It is a practice where progress not perfection is the task. I love what I see in this world so I use photography and my journals as ways to describe them. That’s my reason to journal and why I love my photography.

    Read More
  • Annie Dillard,  fall season,  leaves,  Plants,  quotes,  seasons

    Concerning trees and leaves..

    October 27, 2022

    Concerning trees and leaves… there’s a real power here. It is amazing that trees can turn gravel and bitter salts into these soft-lipped lobes, as if I were to bite down on a granite slab and start to swell, bud and flower. Every year a given tree creates absolutely from scratch ninety-nine percent of its living parts. Water lifting up tree trunks can climb one hundred and fifty feet an hour; in full summer a tree can, and does, heave a ton of water every day. A big elm in a single season might make as many as six million leaves, wholly intricate, without budging an inch; I couldn’t make one. 

    Annie Dillard

    Annie Dillard’s quote caused me to rethink my perspective on the world of these trees around me. It’s that thing where I look at them, see their beauty, see them as a passive object, while failing to see the innate and active power within them. And, I couldn’t make a leaf either. However, I love to see them swirling in the wind, whether the leaf is clinging to a branch or free-falling to the ground, or lying peacefully on the ground. Always intrigued by their shapes, patterns, colors and how nature seemingly and randomly scatters them to and fro, making beautiful art, just for me. And, I love to photograph them. ❤️

    Read More
  • clouds,  fall season,  landscape,  Plants,  seasons,  trees

    Healing Music to My Soul

    October 22, 2022

    I’ve been in a funk for 4-5 days. Realized I have not taken a photo in 4 days nor been to any of the Natural Areas to greet the sun in weeks. So unlike me. To solve that I made my way to Reservoir Ridge Natural Area for some writing and just sitting there listening. A robin began singing to me and the wind was blowing through the elm and cottonwood trees. It’s healing music to my soul. As I’ve mentioned before the fall colors are splendid this year.

    I have also talked to the nurse at the doctors office about the effects the blood pressure meds are having on me and the doctor is supposed to get back with me. I don’t like how I feel with this medication. I’m tired and lightheaded and even have some shortness of breath. My blood pressure numbers are good but we are expecting more than that.

    Read More
  • fall season,  grass,  Plants,  seasons,  Uncategorized

    Fully into Fall

    October 19, 2022

    I needed to scrape frost off my car windshield in order to meet a friend for coffee yesterday. Even though it was cool the warm October sun allowed us to sit comfortably outside. When I returned home the red fescue grass along the edge of the ponds was glowing in the mid morning sunlight. Later I sat outside, watched that 2 1/2 foot tall grass dance for me in the afternoon light and journaled. Last night was our third frost warning in a row. Yes, we are fully into fall in Colorado.

    Read More
  • Avian,  fall season,  quotes,  seasons

    Enoughness

    October 18, 2022

    Someone used the word enoughness this past week and it has stayed with me. I am one of those people who always seem to want “more.” So, when she said enoughness, it struck something within me. After some research on it I found the most common definition was: “the state or condition of being enough; sufficiency; adequacy.” But maybe a better definition for me would require changing the word being to becoming, making it dynamic rather than passive. This makes enoughness a part of the journey in life, where I’m content with today, while trusting that tomorrow will also have its enoughness. Living in enoughness we can experience joy and true fulfillment with what we have. There is no need for more, just content in the very moment. Forgive me as I continue to play with words, what they mean to me at this time in life and how I can articulate them, or not.

    Read More
  • fall season,  leaves,  Mary Oliver,  Plants,  quotes,  seasons

    More

    October 17, 2022

    “I am one of those who has no trouble imagining the sentient lives of trees, of their leaves in some fashion communicating or of the massy trunks and heavy branches knowing it is I who have come, as I always come, each morning, to walk beneath them, glad to be alive and glad to be there.”

    Mary Oliver

    Good morning! It is a bright sunshiny morning. Awoke to frost on the car as winter draws closer. This image is from my walk yesterday afternoon and shows more of the colors nature is giving us this year in the city, which has been beautiful. However, it will not be long and these colors will be gone for this season. Winter will bring the greys and browns then followed by blankets of white. Already been to the coffee shop and indulged in a mocha and lemon cranberry scone. Happy Monday!

    Read More
  • fall season,  leaves,  Plants,  seasons

    A walk with my camera

    October 16, 2022

    Dew is the result of water changing from a vapor to a liquid. Dew forms as temperatures drop and objects cool down. If the object becomes cool enough, the air around the object will also cool. Colder air is less able to hold water vapor than warm air. This forces water vapor in the air around cooling objects to condense. When condensation happens, small water droplets form—dew.

    The colors in town have been vibrant this year or I’m more alive to them than previously. The sun was warm and bright yesterday morning making things look vibrant. So, I took my camera and the 35mm f2.0 for a walk. Only makes sense to photograph all this beauty.

    Wisdom for today: I need to walk away from food rather than around food.

    Read More