• clouds,  horizons,  landscape,  nature,  poems

    Refreshed

    June 1, 2024

    There is a place where the town ends,
    and the fields begin.
    It’s not marked but the feet know it,
    also the heart that is longing for refreshment
    and, equally, for repose.

    Mary Oliver, Boundaries from her book Red Bird

    I enjoy my little excursions to what Mary calls in her poem a place where town ends. I am also aware I frequent them more often. I’m seldom conscious of when I cross that unmarked line and things change. But, I do feel it in my body as it gradually relaxes. I believe nature is lovingly offering me (and all of us) a place of rest and tranquility within her embrace. What I see, hear, smell, and feel are enhanced. I gently find myself feeling a part of nature. Even refreshed!

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  • leaves,  quotes

    What our eyes see…

    May 26, 2024

    The years to come – this is a promise – will grant you ample time to try the difficult steps in the empire of thought where you seek for the shining proofs you think you must have,. But nothing you ever understand will be sweeter, or more binding, than the deepest affinity between your eyes and the world.

    Mary Oliver

    Have a wonderful Sunday!

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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes

    Another Blue Sky

    February 1, 2024

    Before we get the incoming stormy weather this weekend I spent a quiet afternoon yesterday at one of the natural areas. Seemed several people had similar ideas. The trails were busy with walkers, joggers and bicyclists. I also noticed a few dogs out walking their owners.

    Another blue sky with a few clouds sprinkled in was just what I needed.

    Let me always be who I am, and then some.

    Mary Oliver

    I sat on a favorite bench to journal and noticed that even though it was busy there was a quiet around me. I would guess 85% of the Dixon Reservoir is still frozen, therefore no waterfowl. The warm sun and quiet stirred my desire to see spring and the return of our song birds. We are extremely dry so I hope this incoming snow brings the much needed moisture. We could also use a nice wet spring. Shot this image with that old Fujifilm XT-10 and XF18-55mm lens. Happy Thursday!!!

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  • Art,  Art/Design,  Mary Oliver,  poems,  poetry,  quotes

    The Miracle of a Kiss

    September 22, 2023

    If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
    don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
    of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
    to be. We are not wise, and not very often
    kind. And much can never be redeemed.
    Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
    is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
    something happens better than all the riches
    or power in the world. It could be anything,
    but very likely you notice it in the instant
    when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
    case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
    of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

    Mary Oliver

    This past weekend I shot some senior portraits in Red Feather Lakes. While I was there I made another trip on Elf Lane. As I got out and walked among all the elfs and assorted other characters I suddenly, but not unexpectedly, experienced joy. Thought this little frog and princess needed to have their photo taken.

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  • clouds,  horizons,  landscape,  Mary Oliver,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes

    …honor the world

    September 18, 2023

    Photography by nature is spiritual considering, it comes from the darkness to show the light.

    Kevin Russo

    I was told the other day by someone that they no longer look my sunrise images. However, I’ve come to know that the beginning of a new day offers a unique sunrise, there is no other like it, and if I’m present to it then it’s another opportunity to live one more day. So for me a sunrise is a sacred moment, where we move from darkness to light. In a Mary Oliver poem called The Swan she writes, Of course the path to heaven doesn’t lie in flat miles. It’s in the imagination with which you perceive this world, and the gestures with which you honor it. My presence and the photographs I capture is my act of receiving this morning’s predawn sky and is my gesture to honor the world. I will probably keep doing that to my last breath.

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  • leaves,  Mary Oliver,  moon,  Plants,  quotes

    … the real poem.

    August 30, 2023

    From the Book of Time

    I rose this morning early as usual, and went to my desk.
    But it’s spring,

    and the thrush is in the woods,
    somewhere in the twirled branches, and he is singing…

    I am touching a few leaves.

    I am noticing the way the yellow butterflies
    move together, in a twinkling cloud, over the field.

    And I am thinking: maybe just looking and listening
    is the real work.

    Maybe the world, without us,
    is the real poem.

    Mary Oliver

    I hope you were able to see the blue moon last night or this morning, one of the brightest and largest moons of 2023. I will try this evening to watch it rise and maybe get a photo. My son called last night and was in complete awe of the size and beauty of the moon. The blue moon won’t happen again until 2037. Praying for those in the path of hurricane Idalia! I am off to meet my friend Mark for the senior breakfast meal at IHOP. Have a great day!

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  • Mary Oliver,  Metro Parks,  quotes

    That Slow Seduction

    August 24, 2023
    Blendon Woods – May 2009

    I could not be a poet without the natural world. Someone else could. But not me. For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple.

    Mary Oliver

    I’m rather new to poetry, in both reading and writing. Primarily because I did not understand it, nor did I put the effort into learning what it was about and what it could teach me. It just wasn’t time yet in my life. Now it is. Some of that slow seduction could be spending more quality time in the natural world, or as Mary suggests the temple. I like how Maria Popova says it here. Having said that I want to thank all of you who read and maybe even understand my attempts at writing poetry. But not today!

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