• clouds,  landscape,  quotes,  sunsets

    Beauty

    Colorado sunset at Arapaho Bend Natural Area – January 2025

    The human soul is hungry for beauty; we seek it everywhere – in landscape, music, art, clothes, furniture, gardening, companionship, love, religion and in ourselves. No-one would desire not to be beautiful. When we experience the Beautiful, there is a sense of homecoming. Some of our most wonderful memories are of beautiful places where we felt immediately at home. We feel most alive in the presence of the Beautiful for it meets the needs of our soul.

    John O’Donohue

    They say the perception of beauty is subjective – people can have differing opinions on what is beautiful. So what one person perceives as beautiful might be ordinary or unappealing to another. I would also add that perception changes as we change. The beauty I see today is different than what I saw 10, 20, 30 years ago. It’s a gift to see beauty in so many things but what sets Beauty apart for me is the experience of being present to it! And, in many ways feeding my soul.

  • frost,  quotes,  winter scenes

    You are a living message

    Here is one way to look at yourself through spiritual eyes: you are a message. When you wonder what existence is all about, when you ask about your purpose in life, or when you feel small in comparison to the troubles of the world: remember that you are a message sent by the Spirit into creation. What you say, what you do, how you think and feel: your whole life is a long and sustained message for others to encounter, experience and receive. You are a living message: sent to touch more lives than you can imagine.

    Steven Charleston

    My car’s dashboard showed 2° as it grumbled to start this morning. But I was bound and termined to make my way to Mugs and support my baristas. Could be one of my purposes in life. This morning Winter was my barista, and a name fitting for this wintery day. I needed to be there, to share the message of how awesome she is and that I’m one of the many lives she touches. I was surprised how many people were at the coffee shop. They gotta be nuts to be here on a morning like this!!!!

    By 7:30 the blue skies and sunshine were a welcome sight. I stayed a little longer than normal, leaving about 9:30 am. I drove to the Reservoir Ridge Natural Area to experience the beauty of the wintery scene and capture a photograph or two of the snow and frost. It was a magical time! I wish people offered more nurturing messages like our natural world does. Yes, magical!

  • poems,  poetry,  shadows

    Keeping my eyes open

    Each day offers moments enticing me to keep my eyes
    open and aware of the world around me.

    No matter how familiar the world may appear to my senses
    may these brief moments surprise me as never before.

    Oh, to see the sacredness, simplicity, and beauty
    of shadows spreading across on my bedroom wall.

    mws
  • natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes

    The Beauty and Mystery

    Storm clouds over Dixon Reservoir

    To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again. The heavens change every moment, and reflect their glory or gloom on the plains beneath.

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    No matter how often I come here, each photograph is one that has never been seen before. That is the beauty and mystery of nature. That is the beauty and mystery of our photography. What an amazing gift! Enjoy your weekend!

  • clouds,  horizons,  landscape,  quotes,  silence

    The silence and the darkness…

    Until we understand what the land is, we are at odds with everything we touch. And to come to that understanding it is necessary, even now, to leave the regions of our conquest – the cleared fields, the towns and cities, the highways – and re-enter the woods. For only there can a man encounter the silence and the darkness of his own absence. Only in this silence and darkness can he recover the sense of the world’s longevity, of its ability to thrive without him, of his inferiority to it and his dependence on it. Perhaps then, having heard that silence and seen that darkness, he will grow humble before the place and begin to take it in – to learn from it what it is.

    Wendell Berry

    Twenty years ago in May of 2004 I made a motorcycle trip to the Badlands for a few days of tent camping and photography. It was my first trip there and I loved it. The vistas, the rugged landscape (they call it Badlands for a good reason), the silence, the sheer beauty, all left a permanent imprint on me. I distinctly remember the experience of silence! Every once in a while I feel the pull to return and experience its presence one more time. But I also want to return because I need time away from the chaos of what Berry calls the “the regions of our conquest.” I can also say this about other places of nature I’ve experienced, including the local natural areas. I wonder if that pull is because of our one-on-one encounter with nature, the silence and the darkness? And who knows, maybe the whisper I hear is nature calling me. What will I learn when I return?

  • Candid Portraits,  coffee life,  musings

    Sunday Smiles

    Smiles… they are the simplest gift we can offer the world. There is an unending supply within each one of us. Each one is unique, no two are alike! They can be repeatedly given throughout our day. They are extremely contagious. They are free with no monetary value placed on them. They are not to be hidden but need/must to be set free, released, given, and received.

    Emma
    Keera

    They lift the spirit of both the giver and receiver. They may unknowingly offer healing to anyone who may be silently suffering. They are a sign of our inner joy and happiness, that life is good. And they can be an invitation to return a smile, begin a conversation or make eye contact. They break down all barriers that separate, isolate or reject. They express what words may not be able to say. They enhance our external and internal attractiveness and beauty. And, in my world, smiles are what keep me returning to coffee shops! Seems the world would be at a better place if each of us offered more smiles. We for sure will feel better!!! Thanks to my baristas, Keera and Emma!!

  • quotes,  trees,  winter scenes

    Winter Wonderland

    You were born to occupy a particular place within the community that ecophilosopher David Abram calls the more-than-human world. You have a unique ecological role, the way you are meant to serve and nurture the web of life, directly or through your role in society. At the level of soul, you have a specific way of belonging to the biosphere, as unique as any maple, moose, or mountain.

    Bill Plotkin

    I awoke to a beautiful winter wonderland this morning. More snow than I expected. I would guess 7-9 inches at my place but I know the mountains and down south received much more. After cleaning the car I headed to a coffee shop for a latte with some journaling time. I took the long way home so I could search out this winter wonderland, finding photo opportunities almost everywhere I turned. I felt that giddy feeling inside my soul! Scenes in nature do that to me. This scene is a row of trees along Overland Trail. I did not see that many tree branches damaged as it is a very wet and heavy snowfall. Weather app says we’ll see sun this afternoon so this will melt quickly and soak into the parched soil. It’s about 10:30 am and I think I have done well occupying my particular places this morning. Enjoy your Friday!!

  • landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  sunrises,  winter scenes

    It’s a Miracle

    Predawn light over Dixon Reservoir

    To be alive and walk on the Earth is a miracle, and yet most of us are running as if there was some better place to get to. There is beauty calling to us every day, every hour, but we are rarely in a position to listen.

    Thich Nhat Hanh

    I can easily find myself running, sometimes unaware of the direction I’m running. Often times it’s driven by fear, worry, fatigue, anger, running late, and not surprisingly, influenced by our highly driven society. I have a few of ways to slow down. One is to journal. Another is time in nature. Prayer and meditation time is another. As I think about that I realize they allow me to see more of the beauty in this world. Enjoy your Monday!