• clouds,  gratitude,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  sunrises

    Nature’s Invitation

    May 1, 2022

    Waking early I took my camera to Pineridge Natural Area to watch the sun rise. It was cold this morning at 36 degrees. A frigid breeze was enticing the brown grass of the meadow and rabbit brush to joyfully dance together. I was greeted with a meadowlark singing its song of happiness, then joined by a second meadowlark. A couple of robins perched themselves on the fence in front of me and joined in with their glad tidings. I watched a goose smoothly paddle across the reservoir leaving behind its v-shaped wake. A pair of mallards circled above as if not sure where to go. A half dozen white pelicans used their webbed feet to silently float along the north end of the reservoir in search for food. I wonder if that’s where the big fish are?

    I offer thanks as I am never disappointed with the gifts nature gives me at these sacred places and times. I like to call these times gifts but they seem to be more than that. Could it be nature’s invitation to share our presence in all of creation? Maybe these times are the most natural thing we can do with nature. By now my hands were cold and I could picture in my mind wrapping them around a hot mocha latte. It has been a good start to a wonderful Sunday! May you have also have a wonderful Sunday!

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  • clouds,  gratitude,  landscape,  Poudre River,  quotes,  seasons,  winter scenes

    Living This Life

    March 6, 2022

    You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.

    Kahill Gibran

    Many who regularly read my posts are aware of my references to pray and mediation. Both have become integral parts of my life and are how I daily start and end my days.

    But, it hasn’t always been that way. I mainly prayed to the God I was introduced to in my upbringing in times of distress or to ask for my needs and wants to be granted, and many times bargaining. Prayer changed once I let go of that concept of God. I began to read and study about prayer from different faith traditions and authors. I’m still searching for a better grasp of prayer, its purpose and the source of that prayer. I enjoy this search.

    In all honesty, where I’ve grown the most in prayer is by practicing it. Through practice I’ve come to feel that prayer arises from within me rather than something I consciously do or say. It’s very much an internal dialogue. I’ve heard it said prayer is a the longing of the human heart for God, the Divine or whatever name we use. I enter into prayer in many ways. Prayer is spending time in nature, walking along the Poudre River or watching a sunrise. Being grateful at some deep place within me, I find to be prayer. Or the feeling I experience when I take a deep breath and oxygen enters my lungs is prayer. A good conversation with a friend brings a warm feeling and I know there has been some special connection with them, I find to be prayer also. I could go on but….

    I end this by saying I now find prayer to be experiencing joy, gratitude, connection, love, peace, justice and just living this life.

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  • haiku,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  seasons,  snow,  winter scenes,  writing/reading

    To See With All of Them

    February 4, 2022

    “I began to realize that the camera sees the world differently than the human eye and that sometimes those differences can make a photograph more powerful than what you actually observed.”

    Galen Rowell

    This is another image from yesterday morning at Pineridge Natural Area. It was not as cold this morning at -2 degrees as it was yesterday. Sun is also radiant against the blue sky today. I put on a pot of Chicken Tortilla soup and let it cook for about six hours. I love how the condo smells when I cook soup. It is a good day for soup.

    As some of you know I have played around with writing haiku and sharing it on my blog. I began to look at haiku because of the suggestion of a good friend. I knew nothing about it nor had I read any of it. My understanding is that a haiku is a language of creation, a way to re-create the essence of a moment and allow it to touch our hearts anew. 1Haiku-The Sacred Art: (The Art of Spiritual Living) by Margaret D. McGee. When the pandemic began I spent more time in nature, had those moments that touched my heart and tried to capture them with haiku as well as my camera. It seems to me the eye of the heart sees much differently than the human eye or the camera. Today my desire is to see with all of them.

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  • clouds,  gratitude,  landscape,  sunrises

    A Grateful Heart

    June 27, 2021
    [ngg src=”galleries” ids=”77″ display=”basic_slideshow”]

    Today is my 71st birthday and this is how I started the day. I awoke early, just before 4:00 am, wide awake. Made a trip to the bathroom which is something we do more often when we reach this age. Got up at 4:01 am, had my quiet time, made a chai latte and headed to Weld County along County Roads 90 and 13.

    The slideshow is a series of images as the morning progressed. You can click on the slideshow for a larger image and manually walk through the images. Nature gave me the most wonderful birthday gift with beautiful clouds, a colorful sunrise and a chorus of meadowlarks. I was surrounded and immersed in creation. Spending time in nature is our real home, as John Muir suggests. I have a full and grateful heart.

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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  sunrises

    A Unified Whole

    April 23, 2021
    This morning’s sunrise

    “We must also take active steps to live in harmony with the rest of creation. This means that we cannot adopt attitudes or beliefs that place us above the natural world. We cannot see ourselves as having dominion over the land, the water, or the animals. We can’t even see ourselves as being stewards of the Earth. We are only keepers of a way of life that is in harmony with the Earth. Every day, we must act in ways that acknowledge that we are part of one living system, a unified whole.”

    Sherri Mitchell

    In case you do not know Sherri Mitchell is an Indigenous Rights attorney and the executive director of the Land Peace Foundation, an organization dedicated to the protection of Indigenous land and water rights and the Indigenous way of life. Mitchell has been actively involved with Indigenous rights in the U.S., Canada and abroad for more than 25 years. I had not heard of her before until I read this quote.

    This image is an envisioned scene I’ve had for a couple of weeks. This morning nature pulled together the elements so I could have this scene. I tried something similar back on April 19th but clouds did not allow it to happen. Happy Friday!

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  • clouds,  landscape,  sunrises

    Moments like this…

    January 5, 2021

    Wanted to share this mornings pre-dawn colors. I took this near the south dam on Horsetooth Reservoir, a scene that looks out over the sleeping city of Fort Collins. We are expecting high winds today and I could already notice them picking up. I love how nature creates anew each day with the clouds, the patterns and color palette that all stir up deep feelings within me. When I got home I asked myself the question, “Would I come here if I was not a photographer?” I’m aware I do have the incentive to take images, hoping to come home with a keeper or two. However, at this stage in my life, it’s more about being there, letting it all touch me in some way. It’s moments like this which draw me closer to creation and a conscious contact with its creator. I call them spiritual experiences.

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  • animals,  Meister Eckhart,  natural areas,  quotes

    The Silence

    July 10, 2020
    They call them cottontails for a good reason

    “Nothing in all creation is so like God as silence.”

    Meister Eckhart

    Started the morning with time in nature. The birds were singing. A Great Blue Heron surveyed the kingdom perched on a distant tree. A sunflower looked east greeting the morning sunrise. Cottontails wandered around in search for the best grass to nibble on. I come for the silence and the effect nature has on my soul. It can set me in a good place, clears my mind of irrelevant stuff. Yes, the silence.

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