• leaves,  quotes

    Godful

    November 26, 2023

    But now I’ll have to go, for there is nothing to spare in the way of provisions. I’ll surely be back, however, surely I’ll be back. No other place has ever so overwhelmingly attracted me as this hospitable, Godful wilderness.

    John Muir

    I discovered a new word in some of John Muir’s writings, called “Godful.” At first I thought it was a play on the word grateful but then realized it’s his way of expressing the presence of God in all of nature. Some people may say these brown, orange and red leaves are dying with the autumn frost but I’m not so sure. Just maybe, as I’ve heard it said, they are just flowing through the current of life and those wonderful colors are a way of expressing their excitement in the new phase of life? Maybe the colors express Joy? Happiness? Could their colors and the frost be the expression of that word “Godful?” Well, I have no factual answer to any of those questions and a thousand other questions like them. However, as I experience and see the divine presence in nature I am drawn more and more to the idea of nature expressing itself to us. “Godful” I like that word.

    We have blue skies, sunshine and it’s cold. 🥶 Stay warm if it’s cold where you are and have a wonderful day! If there is a stupid rule that you can’t have a piece of chocolate cake before noon, I just broke it. 😂

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  • Annie Dillard,  leaves,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  Plants,  quotes,  sunrises,  Uncategorized

    … try to be there.

    September 30, 2022

    “The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.”

    Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

    The winds began to pickup on Thursday afternoon. I stood on my porch watched them blowing with the wind. We may see isolated storms over the next two days, so many trees will probably be barren by Monday. We really had no bright colors on the trees this year, almost every leaf turned brown then began their descent, the final stages of their lives as leaves. I learned to make it a routine to grab my camera and walk around my condo and along the edge of the ponds just to be there. Never know what simple beauty I will discover

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  • Mary Oliver,  poems,  writing/reading

    Bought a New Book

    February 8, 2021

    On Meditating, Sort Of

    Meditation, so I’ve heard, is best accomplished
    if you entertain a certain strict posture.
    Frankly, I prefer just to lounge under a tree.
    So why should I think I could ever be successful?

    Some days I fall asleep, or land in that
    even better place — half asleep — where the world,
    spring, summer, autumn, winter —
    flies through my mind in its
    hardy ascent and its uncompromising descent.

    So I just lie like that, while distance and time
    reveal their true attitudes: they never
    heard of me, and never will, or ever need to.

    Of course I wake up finally
    thinking, how wonderful to be who I am,
    made out of earth and water,
    my own thoughts, my own fingerprints —
    all that glorious, temporary stuff.

    Mary Oliver (From Blue Horses)
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  • Cityscapes/Urban,  Plants

    The Carpets Gone

    November 9, 2010

    The Carpets Gone

    Almost a month ago I posted and image of these same trees where the leaves were bright gold and in the early stages of their gravitational fall to create a carpet on the ground. Within nature this process is part of the cycle of life: the leaves fall for decomposition to prepare the soil for next years growth and provide nutrients for small organisms, a world we seldom see. Three weeks later I happen to be driving by these same trees and was surprised at how quickly things changed. Not only are the trees barren of their leaves but the tree owner has raked up the carpet of leaves. I must admit to being a bit sad. In my  mind I envisioned  the leaves stuffed in large plastic bags hauled off to the local dump. I calmed myself by admitting those leaves may be in some compost pile and will fulfill their cycle of life.

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  • landscape

    Shenandoah Fall Colors

    November 30, 2009

    Fall Colors

    This is from a couple years ago during a short visit to Shenandoah National Park. I had one day there and found everything shrouded in fog making for some interesting images.

    Today is also my oldest daughters birthday, so I want to say “Happy Birthday Christine!” I love you!

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