My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
“There is a great difference between defending life and befriending it. Defending life is often about holding on to whatever you have at all cost. Befriending life may be about strengthening and supporting life’s movement toward its own wholeness. It may require us to take great risks to let go, over and over again, until we finally surrender to life’s own dream of itself.”
Rachel Naomi Remen
Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.
Christina Baldwin
Like most of the nation it is cold here. It was 1 degree at about 5:43 am this morning. It was too cold for me to get out and meet Eric for coffee so we chatted over the phone. I was curled up in my chair and wrapped in a blanket. But we have had blue skies and sunshine all day. It has been a good day to journal. I hope you are safe and warm!
“Wisdom is not gained by knowing what is right.
Barbara Brown Taylor
Wisdom is gained by practicing what is right,
and noticing what happens when that practice succeeds
and when it fails.”
We had an absolutely beautiful day here in Colorado, reaching a nice 72 degrees and sunshine. I sat outside and journaled in the sun. It seemed like the wise thing to do!
This wood carved Santa has a story. My dad started carving this santa a few years ago but became discouraged with it and set it to the side. One year when Sheree and I were down in Gold Canyon he brought it out and we all started working on him, carving and painting, including mom. Once we were satisfied with how he turned out we decided to start a tradition where he gets passed along with one of us for the year. So each Thanksgiving one of us takes him for the coming year. So, Santa is spending the coming year at my place until next Thanksgiving.
Yesterday morning it was 22° at 6 am. This morning we started at 14° and have now warmed up to 17°. They are saying today will only have a high of 25°. Looks like much of the country is in a cold spell and some are having snow or rain. Started my day in quiet time then headed to Mugs for an Americano and conversation. Another day with no bicycling and probably not for the next few days. It is a hot coffee or cup of tea type of weather to accompany my journaling. Stay warm!
Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.
Christina Baldwin
It was a surprisingly warm morning so a very pleasant bicycle ride to coffee and back. I then met a few of my high school classmates for our monthly luncheon. I overate, again and have been waddling around most of the afternoon. It seems some lessons must be repeated! My youngest sister and I have purchased tickets and are flying to Phoenix next week to spend a couple days with my dad, sister and brother-in-law. It will be an early Thanksgiving. The sun has set, darkness and cold move in. I hope you had a good day and stay safe!
Winds have been gusting up to 25-30 mph since early this morning and we may see that continue into mid-afternoon. Because of the winds I wisely chose not to ride the bicycle to coffee and conversation. After returning home I made a piece of sourdough toast with a generous spreading of chunky peanut butter. I then sat in my bedroom chair with the warm sunshine spreading across my journal to write. But before I could get started writing the light and shadows on the pages urged me to put the pen down, set up the camera and tripod and use this image as a starting place for today’s post. As I post this I realize it reflects the life I live today full of prayer and meditation, coffee life, photography, journaling, blogging, and peanut butter. And if the wind wasn’t blowing, bicycling.
If we want to turn over a new leaf and really set a new humanity afoot, we must begin to turn humankind away from the long and desolate night of violence. May it not be that the new humanity the world needs is the nonviolent human?… This not only will make us new people but will give us a new kind of power…. It will be power infused with love and justice, that will change dark yesterday’s into bright tomorrows, and lift us from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope.
Martin Luther King
The healing of our present woundedness may lie in recognizing and reclaiming the capacity we all have to heal each other, the enormous power in the simplest of human relationships: the strength of a touch, a blessing of forgiveness, the grace of someone else taking you just as you are and finding in you an unsuspected goodness.
Rachel Naomi Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom
I sit on a rock bench looking out across Big Bass Pond at Arapaho Bend Natural Area. It’s about 1:57 pm. I feel the warmth of the 77 degree temperature but accepting the grace of relief provided by the cloudy skies. I notice the small world of life all around me that I so often overlook. Bees, butterflies, and beetles feasting on the nectar of the rabbitbrush. Ants, spiders, grasshoppers and unnamable bugs scurry or jump around me. Cottonwood leaves become intricate works of art as the autumn equinox arrives. And the cattails showing the golden tips of their swords. I am grateful to slow down and experience the healing given by being present to this world. It is a gift that has much to teach me. Now a rumble of thunder gives notice for me to move on. By the time I reach the car, raindrops have begun to fall. (Entry from my journal.) So here are three images from the afternoon.
This morning a steady, gentle rain falls. It began just after I got up, around 4:30 am. My weather app predicts it will continue until mid afternoon. I have my front door open so I can hear and take in the fragrance of this refreshing rain. It’s a good day to journal, read and work on this blogs transformation. Thanks for being here and have a great day!
Acceptance is a filament that takes our resistance and makes it bright,
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
makes it luminous enough that we might see ourselves exactly as we are.