My online journal sharing interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
Keep doing the things that make you feel something. Keep doing the things you’re in love with. And if you don’t know what those are just yet, step out into the world, and find them. Because everything is waiting for you.
Victoria Erickson, Edge of Wonder
I like her use of the word “things” as plural rather than singular. It suggests that we step out into the world to uncover things we weren’t aware we loved, or better yet things that loved us. I’m off to coffee shop.
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind.”
William James
Knowledge has entertained me and it has shaped me and it has failed me. Something in me still starves. In what is probably the most serious inquiry of my life, I have begun to look past reason, past the provable, in other directions. Now I think there is only one subject worth my attention and that is the precognition, the condition of my own spiritual state. I am not talking about having faith necessarily, although one hopes to. What I mean by spirituality is not theology, but attitude. Such interest nourishes me beyond the finest compendium of facts. In my mind now, in any comparison of demonstrated truths and unproven but vivid intuitions, the truth loses.
Mary Oliver, Upstream
Took the bus this morning to coffee and also to drop off my ballot at the drop box located on campus. Taking the bus is much easier than driving and finding a place to pay to park. I also need the walking. I took this image as I stepped off the bus. It has been several weeks since we have been able to see Longs Peak due to the smoke from the fires. A cold front brought in high winds yesterday that cleared the air, blew leaves into Kansas and also brought much needed moisture to the Cameron Peak fire. More wind is predicted for today, both a curse and a blessing. It was nice to not smell smoke this morning.
“I want to sing like the birds sing
Not worrying about who hears
Or what they think.”
Rumi
I wonder what went through the minds of our ancestors who were physically, mentally and spiritually closer to nature then we are? I ask because I come to these nature areas to find distance from the noise of the city but find my mind is consistently distracted. Were they capable of being more present than I seem to be? I’m aware the more time I spend out here the more present I can be. After a period of settling in, adjusting to this place, I hear, then see, the osprey soaring in the wind drafts, being pursued by a pesky crow. Next I notice a goldfinch that just perched on a bush nearby, singing it’s soft and delicate “swee-eet” song. I watch and am amazed at how quickly the birds can fly from here to there, silently. If you do not know what I write about then spend a morning in a nature area, listen, watch, be present, bring a journal and use it, and please leave your phone at home. Just some questions.
Drove up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park last week. This is what it looks like. Lots of green.
A few years ago, Mike and I took off on a road trip with our motorccylces, making a loop around the southeastern corner of Colorado. Part of our trip was a ride over Trail Ridge in Rocky Mountain Park. This two lane road is the highest continuous highway in the United States and reaches a maximum elevation of 12,183 ft (3,713 m). We stopped along one of the scenic pullouts to stretch our legs and take in the view. The peak in the background is Longs Peak, one of the 53 peaks in Colorado over 14,000 ft, and reaches a height of 14,259 ft. Good times!!