• Avian,  natural areas,  quotes

    The Literature of the Spirit

    Pelican in early morning fog at Arapaho Bend Natural Area – May 2023

    One of our problems today is that we are not well acquainted with the literature of the spirit. We’re interested in the news of the day and the problems of the hour.

    Joseph Campbell

    My wife and I separated in 1991 and sold the house that fall. I drove away with everything I owned in the back of a small Ford Ranger pickup and with a feeling I was not familiar with. Her and I were closing one chapter of our lives and moving forward into another. It was a time of letting go. One thing that I have fully embraced from that day to the present was the letting go of television. I have not owned one since then. I came to a place where I’m not interested in the news of the day, the problems of the hour or what society considers entertainment. I focus my attention on the reality of life, one-on-one time with family and friends, the gift of time in nature, reaching out to the needs of those who are suffering, time in solitude, silence, prayer and meditation, journaling, photography and listening to the spirit that pervades everything. I guess you can say that’s being acquainted with the literature of the spirit.

    Six years ago today I had open heart surgery. That valve lasted about four years when it failed and they needed to replace it in a TAVR procedure, March 2023. So today I am grateful and living life as full as I can. Thank you to all who have been reading these ramblings over the years!!

  • Black and White,  Travel,  writing/reading

    This is My World

    My World

    Wow, I’m sneaking up on my 60th birthday this summer. Gasp!  Where has the time gone? Even at this age I ask the questions about where I’m at in life and where I’m going. The life I live is not what I dreamed or envisioned in my youth. I know I cannot live in the past nor in the future but every once in a while I venture to those places. The only life I can live is the present. I must always remind myself to stay here.

    I’m nomadic at this time in my life. After my divorce and selling the house I drove away from that chapter of my life with all my belongings in the back of a small pickup. It was a freeing moment. Of course, I’ve since added a few items to carry around with me so I may need two truck now. I spend half my month living in hotels and flying with passengers in a long metal tube. For the past year I’ve started carrying a laptop, an iphone and my journal along with my camera wherever I venture. I search out images of the world in front of me, the people or places or objects or patterns I see. This is the present, this is my world.