…but in this moment, loving the world changed me—
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
made me more than my fear and sadness,
turned me again toward the miracle.
Loving the world…
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Loving the sunrise – January 2021 -
How Well We Love
When all is said and done,
Steven Charleston, Spirit Wheel
The only true measure of our lives
Is how well we loved.
How well we gave love, received love, shared love,
Protected love, created love.
Nothing else will matter when our turn comes
To make the final journey—
Only the love we were will linger.
Only love will still speak our name
In the hearts of those we embraced.
We were made to love, you and I,
Made so by the author of love
Made in the image of love to be the love we are.We had a light dusting of silent snowfall during the night. However, along with the snow comes the cold temperatures, 23 degrees. I made my way to the coffee shop for an Old Town Mocha made by Winter. It was rather quiet in there this morning. People must have slept in. I drove around the CSU Oval on the way home and snapped this photo for the blog. Hope you have a wonderful Superbowl Sunday.
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I believe…
Pineridge Natural Area – December 2020 I have made it through some hard times in my life.
Steven Charleston
I imagine you have too.
Looking back, I can honestly say
That in more than one of those times
I was not sure I would make it.
The presence of a living and conscious love
Got me through.
I can only call it Spirit.
So my faith is not the product of an emotional need
Or an intellectual imagining.
I believe because I know. Because I have been there.
Because of my experience.
I cannot convince others of this truth.
I can only share it and wait to see
The light of memory in their eyes.I believe in the presence of a living and conscious love
because I, too, have been there and experienced it. -
be the love…
Today I will conjure love from the empty air.
Steven Charleston
I will call it out from thin places
Where people walk without breathing
From dark places where they stumble without seeing.
I will find love in those I do not like
And let love appear in the faces I avoid.
I will make room for love in my life
Even if I feel overcrowded with worry.
I will offer love without restraint
Even if I have not received love in return.
I will dance with love in innocent pleasure.
I will sing love as though love were a new discovery.
Today I will be the love Spirit made me be
When Spirit loved me from the empty air. -
Merry Christmas
Well, the cookies and milk I left out for Santa were gone when I woke up this morning, always a good sign. However, there was no XF8mm lens under the tree so there must have been a screw up somewhere. They must have not gotten my letter. I didn’t think I was that naughty this past year. However, I’ve lived without that lens so far and will continue to live without it.
Overcast skies spurred me to drive to Pineridge Natural Area for possible Christmas morning predawn colors. A mix of rain and snow began and added to the feel of the morning’s cold. I showed up and was not disappointed in nature’s gift of colors. The reflection off Dixon Reservoir was breathtaking and almost caused me to miss the Great Horned Owl perched on the tree. I asked if they were watching the predawn colors or looking for prey or both, but only silence? And, silly me forgot to bring the tripod so this is a handheld image taken at 23mm, 1/10 sec at f8.0 and ISO 12800. I have cropped this image and used denoise in Lightroom to clean up the noise. It works well enough for this blog. I started a crockpot of chili soup after my quiet time and its aroma is filling the house. It’s making me hungry. I hope everyone has a wonderful day in whatever way you celebrate it. Thank you to all who regularly stop by for a visit. I love this world!!! ❤️
“The biggest gift you can give is to be absolutely present, and when you’re worrying about whether you’re hopeful or hopeless or pessimistic or optimistic, who cares? The main thing is that you’re showing up, that you’re here and that you’re finding ever more capacity to love this world because it will not be healed without that. That was what is going to unleash our intelligence and our ingenuity and our solidarity for the healing of our world.”
Joanna Macy -
To Love Life…
Predawn at Pineridge Natural Area Life is everything. Life is God. Everything changes and moves and that movement is God. And while there is life there is a joy in consciousness of the divine. To love life is to love God. Harder and more blessed than all else is to love this life in one’s suffering, in innocent suffering.
Leo Tolstoy, War and PeaceAfter my quiet time and a bowl of Irish Oats I made a trip to Pineridge Natural Area to enjoy the predawn and sunrise on this Friday the 13th. It has been a while since I’ve ventured up there for sunrise. Instead, I’ve been spending more time riding the bicycle and at the coffee shops. I made a good choice as the clouds to the south were glowing pink and red. And, it was quiet and calm which quiets and calms my soul. I realized how much I missed these moments with nature. Who knows, maybe nature missed my presence also. Our cold days have left most of Dixon Reservoir with a layer of ice. I then met Jeff for coffee and conversation and will meet Don and Elizabeth for lunch later today. Yes, to love life while we still have time!
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To Love Another
“… 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 RilkeMay you be filled with gratitude, pie, and love!
Happy Thanksgiving!! -
The Meaning of Life
BirdsEye mural by Ren Burke I think “the meaning of life” is something we have to formulate for ourselves, we have to determine what has meaning for us… It clearly has to do with love — what and whom and how one can love.
Oliver SacksWe had another beautiful day yesterday, beginning with an orange sunrise then blue skies and sunshine. In the afternoon I headed to Old Town to walk the streets with my camera. I found a few images then did some journaling at Starry Night, enjoying an Earl Grey Tea. I believe so deeply in what Oliver Sacks suggests that the meaning of life is about love. So today I ask myself what and whom and how I can love.
In 2004 as a collaboration between the City of Fort Collins Art in Public Places Program and Utilities Light and Power created The Transformer Cabinet Mural Project. Serving as a graffiti abatement program, the murals help lower maintenance costs while adding bright colorful art in unexpected places. The program also helps keep the investment local by utilizing local artists and non-profit groups to paint the cabinets. Since the start of the program, 20 years now, over 400 transformer cabinets have been transformed into works of art.
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Letting Go…
A small flurry of falling leaves. Where selfishness excludes, love makes room and includes.
Michael Curry
Where selfishness puts down, love lifts up.
Where selfishness hurts and harms, love helps and heals.
Where selfishness enslaves, love sets free and liberates.While walking home from the coffee shop this morning I was caught in a flurry of leaves on campus. Each leaf letting go and entering their freefall into an unknown phase of their journey. I was walking in a green, yellow, gold, and red snowstorm. I loved it. I also saw it as a subtle message for me to let go of my fears, worries, wild imagination, awfulizing (which is just one type of irrational thinking), and my desire to have some control. All of these point to my selfishness. Makes me wonder if our nation of entitlement and privilege is a mask of its deep selfishness. We as a nation are moving into an unknown phase of a new journey, a freefall like the leaves of fall. No matter what the future will look like, may I let go of selfishness and remember that disorder always precedes reorder. Thanks for listening! And, it’s been a cold blustery day here. Stay warm!!
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Storm Clouds
Setting sun and storm clouds over the Colorado Front Range – June 2012 There is nothing more beautiful than living a simple life in this complex universe!
Mehmet Murat ildanI awoke to a dusting of snow and cold this morning. After my quiet time I checked the election results. I am unable to express the feelings I experienced at such a deep level within me. So, my task today, and maybe for some time, has been to journal in hopes of uncovering my feelings, thoughts, and the words to express them. At this moment I find it amazing to accept that in this divided nation I find myself a minority in my beliefs and values. I will do my best to continue to live a simple life, yet also be true to myself, my beliefs and my values. May all who can allow the love and light within them shine in our world, no matter the storm clouds on the horizon. And, may we all find inner peace.
And, outside my window a cold wind blows indicative of our nations emotions.
