• flowers,  landscape,  Plants,  rants

    Even the Onions

    Taken in 2005

    This beautiful field of sunflowers is now a high school with a huge parking lot, three baseball fields, a half dozen tennis courts, and a massive football stadium. And, directly behind me is over a mile of houses (Starting in the low $400s the signs say). Along with the houses comes buried sewer lines, water lines, gas lines, electrical lines, paved streets, concrete sidewalks, all required infrastructure needing years of constant maintenance against nature’s attempt to reclaim it’s world. And there’s a quick stop place for our gas guzzling cars and to purchase unhealthy foods. For such a large area it would be almost impossible to actually touch the earth as most of it is covered with concrete and asphalt.. The farmer that previously owned this field would alternate the sunflowers with onions yearly. Personally, I preferred the sunflowers over the onions but I will take the onions over what is now there. Saturday morning on my way to meet Eric for coffee I realized how much I miss those sunflowers, even the onions.

  • clouds,  landscape,  quotes,  reflections

    We are the change…

    Clouds reflected in Rigden Reservoir

    Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

    Barack Obama

    I spent some time today at Arapaho Bend Natural Area. As I approached the area, I noticed the clouds to the west over the mountains and knew there was a photograph of these clouds reflected in Rigden Reservoir if I walked to the east edge of the reservoir. Unfortunately the clouds aren’t as dramatic as they were a few minutes prior to this image but that’s the way it goes sometimes. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

  • clouds,  mountains,  sunsets

    Last Night’s Sunset

    CSU Campus

    After about 36 hours of overcast skies that brought much needed moisture, the storm moved to the east late yesterday afternoon. Blue skies once again appeared and the late afternoon sunshine spread its golden glow upon us. We did experience some heavy rain early afternoon and even hail. It seemed like the color green popped out in the blink of an eye. I took this image yesterday evening about 8:00 pm after leaving the movie premiere I attended at CSU. Then, this afternoon I took a bicycle ride to Spring Creek Park where there was still remnants of flooding along low lying areas of the trail and the underpasses. I hope you had a wonderful Thursday!

  • landscape,  quotes,  reflections,  sunsets

    Sunset Reflection

    Sunset at Rigden Reservoir this past February

    True self-fulfillment arises in the absence of the ego.

    Lao Tzu

    It’s a busy day. Coffee and conversation at Mugs, then met my oldest daughter for breakfast. Will meet Duane for a late lunch at 2:00 pm then attend a movie premiere for my friend John Barnhardt at 5:30 pm. at the CSU Lory Student Center theater.

  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  quotes

    Why I write…

    …I write to better understand myself and my relationship with everything else. If my writing does indeed influence the world in a positive way, either now or in some future time, I’m all for it. And if for some reason it doesn’t, I’m okay with that too. But before any greater analysis is made, it’s important to keep in mind that my work helps me understand who I am. What happens after simply happens.

    Robert Lax

    I practice my photography and writing to understand myself and the world around me. It’s interesting to think that we do not know just how many people read our blogs. Could be less than ten or over a hundred. I’m not actually interested in knowing those numbers. So, I write on this blog and I journal to better understand myself and my relationship with the world around me. If my writing touches someone or helps them understand themselves or me, then it has been worth the work.

    We have had a nice gentle rain the past 24 hours providing much needed moisture.

  • landscape,  mountains,  quotes,  storm clouds

    Waiting for my attention…

    Once we discover that the ‘book of nature’ is an ancient idea—that this really was God’s first way of reaching out to us—then it’s like we’re stepping into this giant prayer book when we step out into the natural world. This makes it impossible for me to be anywhere in creation, now, and not be aware of this God who is crouching down low, just waiting for my attention.

    Barbara Mahany
  • bicycling,  clouds,  landscape,  quotes

    I do like my bicycle rides

    Honestly accept the journey into physical diminishment as the new learning curve in your life and embrace it with curiosity and beginner’s mind. Keep facing forward with a gently yielded heart; that is always the direction from which the new integration emerges.

    Cynthia Bourgeault

    These are the morning clouds on my way to the coffee shop this past Thursday while bicycling across campus. I do like riding my bicycle because of scenes and moments like this. But I also hope it decreases some physical diminishment in this aging process we all are on. I also find it’s a great way to start my day and be actively a part of nature. I hope you have a wonderful Saturday!!