• natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  poems,  poetry,  seasons,  winter scenes

    It Is Enough

    March 25, 2023
    A couple inches of wet snow fell during the night, the best kind.
    Took this on my way home from the coffee shop at Pineridge Natural Area.

    Half of me is filled with bursting words
    and half of me is painfully shy.
    I crave solitude yet also crave people.
    I want to pour life and love into everything
    yet also nurture my self-care and go gently.
    I want to live within the rush of primal, intuitive decision,
    yet also wish to sit and contemplate.

    This is the messiness of life – that we all carry multitudes,
    so must sit with the shifts.
    We are complicated creatures, and ultimately,
    the balance comes from this understanding.

    Be water.
    Flowing, flexible and soft.
    Subtly powerful and open.
    Wild and serene.
    Able to accept all changes,
    yet still led by the pull of steady tides.

    It is enough.

    Victoria Erickson

    I also experience the messiness of life she talks about in the above quote, those constant changes, challenges and especially the surprises. At this time of my life these changes and challenges are becoming more acceptable and in many ways I’m eager to face them with all the gifts and talents I’ve attained in life so far. Some of these challenges have become adventures. Not sure I would have said that 20 years ago but I do now. Hope you enjoy this quote by Victoria Erickson. I especially like this line, “I want to live within the rush of primal, intuitive decision, yet also wish to sit and contemplate.” Hope you have a great weekend!

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  • landscape,  mountains,  Plants,  seasons,  sunsets,  trees,  winter scenes

    Post Surgery Update

    March 16, 2023
    A cold blue sunset back in February 2021

    Overcast skies dominate and it’s windy, definitely a bad hair day. Want to update my status after surgery. The TAVR procedure went well. They were done in just over an hour. Surgery started at 7:00 am and I was home about 5:00 pm. They fractured the original valve that was installed back in 2018 and inserted a new valve inside of that one. All done through the arteries. Amazing! My body seems to know nothing about a new aortic valve being installed. However, my groins are well aware of the three catheters invasive entry into my body, one in my wrist and one in each groin. I walk with pain, bent over like an old man, slow and deliberate, one foot in front of the other. Getting up and down from a chair is a slow process also. All tests done so far show the valve working perfectly and the gradient numbers of 40 we saw before surgery are now below 20. That tells us the heart is not working as hard pre surgery. I cannot say enough for the care I received from the medical staff and all the support and outreach from family and friends. Now comes the slow recovery process but this is nothing like I had with my open heart surgery four years ago. More to follow. Hope you are having a wonderful day!

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  • grass,  landscape,  natural areas,  Plants,  Reservoir Ridge Natural Area,  seasons,  snow,  winter scenes

    Two Chipotle Peppers

    February 22, 2023
    Light snow at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area – March of 2022

    I put on a crockpot of chicken tortilla soup early this morning. As I was putting it together I decided to put in two chipotle peppers in adobo sauce 🌶️ rather than one as it seems like that kind of day. It is lightly snowing and 5 degrees at the moment, 2 degrees colder than when I got up. It is a day to curl up in my chair, wrapped up in a blanket, a hot chai tea latte beside me, do a bit of reading and journaling then have a bowl of soup later. Planning on filing taxes later today and putting that $153 return into my savings account. Should bring my account balance up to about $156. 😂 Stay warm!! Stay dry!! And, have a super Awesome day!!

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  • clouds,  Plants,  quotes,  seasons,  trees,  winter scenes

    This way…

    January 26, 2023

    “When we allow ourselves greater freedom in space and place than has come to be the norm, we create our own pathways of meaning and knowledge upon the land where we dwell. Wandering freely, we garner landmarks, presences, ecological awareness, a sense of kinship. Our brains and our hearts alike gather this knowledge as we become intimate with the paths that speak to us most strongly. Our footsteps in the outer world create an inner, wilder cartography that whispers, This way, this way…

    Lyanda Lynn Haupt

    I drove by these trees the other afternoon when it was cold and overcast. I vaguely remember how different they looked in an image I took this past fall. Not quite the same perspective and the change of seasons is quite obvious. Yet, each time I pass by I have an opportunity to draw more intimate with these trees and if I listen closely maybe hear their whisper, This way, this way…

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  • John O'Donohue,  landscape,  Plants,  quotes,  seasons,  sunrises,  trees,  winter scenes

    It is within…

    January 7, 2023

    The ancient rhythms of the earth have insinuated themselves into the rhythms of the human heart. The earth is not outside us; it is within: the clay from where the tree of the body grows.

    John O’Donohue

    Sorry for another quote by John O’Donohue but he is one of my favorites. Yesterday was a fairly good day for me, I rested well and the energy carried through the day. We have been in a cold spell the past few days. We received about 1-2 inches of snow a week ago and it still is on the ground. Overcast skies and the cold temperatures have kept the Colorado sun from melting the snow and warming us up. However the weather app says we can see sunshine this afternoon. Anyway, here is an image from a cold December sunrise in 2011. Have a great weekend!!!

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  • leaves,  Plants,  poems,  poetic journal,  quotes,  winter scenes,  writing/reading

    So Let Go

    December 17, 2022

    life is to be lived
    it’s our gift to the world
    so let go, fall freely

    and become who we were created to be

    mws

    It was bitter cold this morning, 7 degrees when I left the condo for coffee shop. Yet, clear blue skies and sunshine dominated the day. Today was winter graduation for some at Colorado State University so it was hectic around campus and a good reason to stay home. Expecting it to drop to 7 again tonight. Thankfully no wind. Stay warm and have a great day tomorrow. Live life!

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  • grass,  landscape,  Mary Oliver,  Plants,  poems,  seasons,  snow,  winter scenes,  writing/reading

    A Bit More Snow

    November 29, 2022

    Now through the white orchard my little dog
    romps, breaking the new snow
    with wild feet.
    Running here running there, excited,
    hardly able to stop, he leaps, he spins
    until the white snow is written upon
    in large, exuberant letters,
    a long sentence, expressing
    the pleasures of the body in this world.
    Oh, I could not have said it better

    The Storm by Mary Oliver

    Winter weather is the word for the day, receiving the 3-4 inches promised. It is loaded with moisture and making road conditions bad. It was 18 degrees at about 8:30 am and not expecting to be above 22 degrees. I call that cold and the perfect day to stay in and eat leftover vegetable soup, unless your Mary Oliver’s dog.

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  • quotes,  snow,  winter scenes

    Ice Crystals

    November 18, 2022
    A leaf found on campus this morning

    …the care of the earth is our most ancient and most worthy and, after all, our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it, and to foster its renewal, is our only legitimate hope.

    Wendell Berry

    We did not get much snow in Fort Collins but we definitely have the cold. It was 5 degrees when I left the condo to catch the bus. Sun came out of hiding around 9:00 so the ice crystals in the air were sparkling, glittering, and twinkling. Ice crystals form when it’s cold and the humidity is high (90% this morning). And, in case you don’t know what an ice crystal is, they are solid ice exhibiting atomic ordering on various length scales and include hexagonal columns, hexagonal plates, dendritic crystals, and diamond dust. Now, aren’t you glad you asked what an ice crystal was. I tried to capture a couple images of them in the sunlight as I left the coffee shop but not happy with them. Definitely need more practice. I saw where we reached 22 degrees but the high humidity makes it feel colder.

    I read about great hope this morning in my meditation time and then found this quote by Wendell Berry. Had to post it because I do have hope!

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  • coffee life,  coffee shops,  landscape,  seasons,  snow,  winter scenes

    Spring Snow

    March 17, 2022

    Well, Happy St. Patrick’s Day. ☘️ Not much green to be seen in our neighborhood. Awoke to a light spring snowfall, very wet and slushy. Made my way to the Bean Cycle where Devan worked on her latte art (above). She did not make me a four leaf clover design but she may practice on them today.

    After some reading, journaling and finishing my latte I headed to Rolland Moore Park for a few winter images. No one was playing basketball or volleyball and all the park benches were empty. People probably decided to have another cup of coffee and toast with jelly or making snow angels in the streets.

    My next stop was near Pineridge Natural Area. By now the roads had become very slushy and drivers were slowing down. The cities snow plows were out clearing the slush and putting down their chemicals (that poison that seeps into our groundwater).

    I saw on the news feed this morning (need to stop that) where Putin thinks “a natural and necessary self-purification of society will strengthen his country.” Then I read where Zelensky is quoted as saying, “I am almost 45 years old. Today my age stopped when the hearts of more than 100 children stopped beating. I see no sense in life if it cannot stop the deaths.” I’m thinking this morning that maybe the self-purification is about purifying minds that believe in killing.

    To end on a positive note I love the silent falling of snow, the moisture that it brings to our world. This gentle snowfall will help green up the meadows for its display of spring beauty while creating the food sources and habitat for birds and animals. May there be love ❤️ and peace ☮️ in the world!

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