My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
To sit in awe of creation, to listen to, observe, appreciate things greater than yourself, to understand the volition of the natural world, is to be contented and nourished with things as they are, not as they should be, not as we want them to be. This is a happiness without need of more. Global capitalism is insatiable by design. The natural world is not.
Christopher Ketcham
Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Whatever the vexations and concerns of their personal lives, their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner contentment and to renewed excitement in living. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature–the reassurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.
Rachel Carson in THE SENSE OF WONDER
True silence is calm being. True silence is appreciating the moment for the moment. Every breath a connection to my life force, my essence. It is the grandest music I have ever heard.
Richard Wagamese
It’s been a hot day! I met Eric for coffee this morning and saw this vista near Prospect ponds on the way home. I had to stop because of the one puffy cloud. And, meadowlarks were singing when I got out of the car. I drove to Cheyenne for a BBQ at my granddaughters home. Her husband has just returned from a year’s deployment so we wanted to celebrate that he’s back safely. I ate way too much food, enjoyed the family time and was grateful for the water misters.
My MacBook Air M4 arrived on Thursday at about 1:00 pm. I began the transfer a half hour later. When it first began it said it had just over 34 hours remaining. Then 5 minutes later said 37 hours. The reality was more like 2 1/2 hours. All went smoothly and everything seems to work fine. I can see a major speed difference with this laptop in Lightroom. Probably will make me a better photographer in editing. Nah! Well, maybe.
Age is opportunity no less than youth itself.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Words. They are an important part of my life. I journal daily and read daily. I venture into my coffee life for those enriching conversations where words are shared with another. I’m learning to listen and allow words to soak in. I’m learning to think through before speaking words because words can cause harm. Whether reading or in conversation I search for them as seeds to transform me in some way. I’ve heard it suggested that we not read for information but or transformation. It is an opportunity I embrace as I age.
I spent some time late this afternoon at the natural area. Meadowlarks were singing their song of happiness, while a couple of robins chimed in. Add to their song the sound of falling rain and the rumble of thunder and I’m a happy camper. It was a light rain shower that moved through and as it moved out east it left this double rainbow for us to enjoy. I hope you had a wonderful Friday the 13th!
Everything here feels compromised—too many planes—too many cars—too many concessions where commerce is favored over contemplation. What if it is only through the deep sustained silences that precede and follow love that life can be brought forth in all its fullness?
Terry Tempest Williams
Love is the movement within life that carries us, that enables us, that causes us to break out of what Alan Watts calls the “skin-encapsulated ego.” Without love, we are self-centered, but love enables us to move the center of our lives outside our ego. Therefore it expands our lives and, needless to say, enriches it. Any human being would give anything to love or be loved. When it really happens, it is like heaven on earth.
Huston Smith
There are those moments when I am touched at some deep level when taking images such as this and, more importantly, the opportunity to witness scenes like this. Photography has allowed me to slow down and experience those sacred moments. Our friend Earl is spot on when he says these moments are transforming and revitalizing. At this stage in my life I ask myself the question, “How much love is actually being shared between me and Nature herself?” Just asking that question now is transformative and revitalizing. I agree when Earl mentions in his post about this chaotic world. Seems to me it is in need of a touch of heaven.
Sometimes I arrive just when God’s ready to have someone click the shutter.
Ansel Adams
I clicked the shutter on this image this afternoon after the rain storms had moved on. It looks like sunshine the next four days then more rain. The rain we have had over the past 4 days has sure made things green and after today, my car is a muddy mess. And, I just love this quote! Hope you had a good Friday!
All Nature’s wildness tells the same story. Storms of every sort, torrents, earthquakes, cataclysms, ‘convulsions of nature,’ etc., however mysterious and lawless at first sight they may seem, are only harmonious notes in the song of creation, varied expressions of God’s love.
John Muir
It’s my holiest time of the day, the dayspring, the squinting hours near sunrise, just before the light comes, before the trace of familiar makes itself known. Nothing draws me into the arms of God more fully than standing here before the world starts its whispers.
Barbara Mahany