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

    Thanksgiving’s Predawn Sky

    November 27, 2025

    Finding beauty in a broken world is creating beauty in the world we find.

    Terry Tempest Williams

    It was a very cold morning at 22 degrees. I felt gratitude for the life I am living as I stepped from my car and walked to my favorite rock at Pineridge Natural Area. The rock was just as hard as the last time I sat on it but this morning it was also quite cold. The sky was beginning to turn a light pink then shifted into a darker pink. I accepted the gift of a beautiful predawn sky. It was quiet, still and serene. In the early twilight I could see a group of four hardy runners bouncing along the trail with their headlamps as they circled Dixon Reservoir. I assume they were working up an appetite for turkey dinner later today or maybe a warm cinnamon roll with coffee when they returned home. I agree Terry Tempest Williams quote, there is much beauty to be found in this broken world. I then made my way to Mugs in Old Town for a mocha and blueberry scone. They were having the annual Turkey Trot going on so the streets were blocked off for the race and people were gathering for the race. I decided to head back home before it became a mess. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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  • fall season,  leaves,  quotes

    To Love Another

    November 28, 2024

    “… for one human being to love another… is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.”

    Rainer Maria Rilke

    May you be filled with gratitude, pie, and love!
    Happy Thanksgiving!!

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  • landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  spirituality,  sunrises

    The Language of Nature

    November 23, 2023

    We need to move: from a spirituality of alienation from the natural world to a spirituality of intimacy with the natural world, from a spirituality of the divine as revealed in words to a spirituality of the divine as revealed in the visible world about us.

    Thomas Berry

    I awoke early and made the short trip to Pineridge Natural Area for the predawn colors. We’re expecting snow later today, as much as 4-10 inches by Saturday morning, so I was expecting to see some red sky. I was not disappointed. Almost no wind. Silence, which is such an integral part of the language of nature.

    Later, when I got to the coffee shop I felt a bit of regret as I may not have stayed as long as I could have. Seems my focus had moved on to enjoying a mocha rather than staying present and accepting all the gifts nature was wanting to share with me. Maybe I was intuitively aware of my spirit of alienation from the natural world over the past few days due of traveling. Maybe the divine in nature was asking me not to leave just yet. As I write this post I’m aware of my gratitude for the natural world that we are a part of, that is available to me, my ability to spend time within it and the amount of time I do spend in it. 

    I’ll end this post with a prayer on this Thanksgiving Day: I am thankful for family, friends, and those who are both. I pray for the healing of this wounded world and that we embrace the divinity of this natural world we share. Hoping you enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.

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