golden grass stands tall
ms
drinking of the snows moisture
teaching us patience
Teaching Patience
-
-
Gift of Forgiveness…
in the silence of a foggy morning
ms
I listen to my heart as it cries for
the brokenness of our world and
offer a prayer as tears flow from my soul
may we awake to the nurturing embrace of love
may we awake to the healing touch of compassion
may we awake to the needs of the oppressed
may we awake to the gift of forgivenessIt is a cold morning here in Colorado. A heavy ice storm yesterday morning followed by a light snow all day and cold temperatures has made it poor traveling. I received a notification yesterday that the city of Fort Collins was on an accident alert and the bus system was on a delayed and shortened schedule. Expecting some sunshine this afternoon and will clean off the snow and 1/10th of an inch of ice from my car. I have not been outside my condo for over 48 hours. Feels strange.
-
Anyone else …
… still looking for the perfect camera bag? 😂 A quick google search for “perfect camera bag” gives me 118,000,000 hits. There is always someone suggesting the best camera bag for travel, backpacking, street photography, weddings and so forth. But I’m afraid we are all going to be disappointed because there ain’t one.
Daily, I normally carry a camera with a lens attached, a journal, my fountain pens, a kindle paperwhite, sometimes a book, a smartphone, spare battery and SD cards. I seldom carry my 13″ Macbook Pro anymore. If’n I’m going to the coffee shop with the above then all I need is camera bag A or A1 or A2. If’n I’m going to a natural area for nature photos then a camera body with two lens and binoculars are what I need and fits in camera bag B, or B1 or B2 or B3. Maybe what I need is a bag that morphs into what I want for that day. I just put in what I’m going to carry for the day and it shapes itself to my needs. And all for only $49. Or maybe I need to give up. But I’m still looking. Sigh!
-
Significance of Living
Coffee shop living Keep alive the dream; for as long as a man has a dream in his heart, he cannot lose the significance of living.
Howard Thurman -
A Quick Look at 2021
Thought I would mention the purchases I made this past year. One was the purchase of a nice pair of the Nikon Prostaff S3 8×42 binoculars. Just love them and I feel one the better purchases I made. I’m learning a lot about the birds in this area. Another was purchasing the Fujifilm XF 70-300mm lens. I have not owned a lens of this focal length for a long time. Loving it! So this year included several more bird photos than I normally would not have made. This image is one of my favoritest images of one of my favoritest songbirds, the Western Meadowlark, so I needed to post it again. And finally was the purchase of another Pelikan fountain pen the Marbled Petrol. I’m a sucker for fountain pens!
I discovered another natural area to explore called the McMurry Natural Area.
I have tried to post on a regular basis quality images and decent content. Sometimes I do well and other times I struggle but I put it out there. I’ve also continued to write haiku, even though I’ve slacked of the past few weeks. I also still venture to coffee shops to socialize, read and journal. Probably will do the same in 2022 also.
I am also extremely grateful for my family. I’ve watched wonderful growth in them as they mature into adults. They are growing up along with me. I am also grateful for the friends I have in my life. They have supported me when I needed to talk, work through my feelings and they have allowed me to do the same for them.
There is more. Maybe later. Have a great day and stay warm!
-
Connected to all things
Colorado sunrise from October of 2005 If we look at the Path, we do not
Lakota Seer
see the Sky..
We are Earth People on a
Spiritual Journey through the Stars..
Our Quest, our Earth Walk..
is to look within,
to know who we are,
to see that we are connected
to all things, that there is no separation,
only in the mind!As a young man I spent a lot of time in nature which included walking and riding a bicycle almost everywhere. I spent almost no time in front of a television. I am grateful for that childhood. At some point I attained the coveted drivers license and life took on a new direction. I did less walking and driving and less time in nature. I then began chasing a career that put me in front of a computer, within a cubicle and less time in nature. I began to spend less and less time in nature to the point where I lost a connection to nature. I viewed it as separate from me. More than 20 years ago there was a shift in seeing that we are connected to all things. Getting back into photography and practicing a spiritual life were key elements in that shift. There is a desire within me to have more of that connection and thus the reason this poem strikes a chord with me.
-
Learning to Be a Listener
A gentle snow storm at Arapaho Bend Natural Area in 2014 Generous listening is powered by curiosity, a virtue we can invite and nurture in ourselves to render it instinctive. It involves a kind of vulnerability – a willingness to be surprised, to let go of assumptions and take in ambiguity. The listener wants to understand the humanity behind the words of the other, and patiently summons one’s own best self and one’s own best words and questions.
Krista Tippett, Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of LivingOver the years I’ve discovered how poorly I listen. Some of the discovery is from encountering people who are poor listeners, enabling me to see the reflection of myself in them. Becoming a better listener allows me to be the student rather than thinking I need to mansplain it. I agree with Krista that listening is a virtue we can invite and nurture and overtime becomes instinctual. It seems to me listening is the very foundation to any healthy relationship with another human and all of creation. With that in mind, my curiosity begs to ask the question, what do we learn when listening to the silence of a winter snowfall?
