• clouds,  landscape,  mountains,  quotes

    Prayers and Hopes

    January 1, 2024

    Real security can only be found, if at all, in a world without the injustices that now exist, and without arms.

    Kathleen Lonsdale

    It was 19 degrees with clear skies and sunshine when I left the condo this morning, our first day of 2024. However, we are expecting to reach 50 degrees later. Kathleen Lonsdale’s quote stirs my hopes for this coming year. So I would like to share my prayers and hopes for the coming year. May our troubled and broken world embrace a year filled with peace, love, compassion, reconciliation, forgiveness, love, mercy, kindness, justice, love, and healing. May we respect and protect all human lives, their rights as equals, never less or greater than, always discovering our common ground. May we let go of the heavy chains of anger, hate, fear, judgements, prejudice, resentments that weigh us down, separate and divide us. May we see with the openness of new eyes, not defined with preconceived images of our minds or another’s images. May we choose faith over fear. May we have the awareness we are all connected in unimaginable ways within this landscape we call earth. May we respect and protect our life-giving natural world as vital to our existence and not abuse it. May we spend more time within the beauty of Mother Earth, walking gently on her sacred soil, fully embracing the gift she is while accepting her embrace. May we venture into the mystery of the unknown that lies ahead of us with trust! And last but not least, may we all enjoy the gift of sharing with our neighbors from our box of Enstrom’s Almond Toffee (to die for I’m telling you). And, thank you for the gift of your presence in my life, even if it’s virtual!!

    Read More
  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  sunrises

    Just Beyond Our Understanding

    December 28, 2023

    The God of our understanding is just that: the God of our understanding. What we need is the God just beyond our understanding.

    Rami Shapiro

    As I set up my tripod this morning, the full moon was setting behind me and the sun had not yet risen. Predawn or twilight are the names we call this time of day. It is a favorite time for me. An orange glow sat along the horizon, a color I have come to know as the gift offering of the day’s mysteries. And today I think I will call those mysteries: adventures. As I returned home and walked to my front door the sky above me became filled with the sight and sounds of hundreds of Canada Geese. I just stood there with a bag of groceries in one hand and 12 roll package of toilet paper under the other arm. I watched them zig and zag in their attempt to keep perfect formation. And, as always there are those one or two or three that wander off course, then hustle to get back in formation or join another formation. I watched the rising sun begin lighting them with its glow against the clear blue sky. I accepted another of the day’s offerings!

    When younger I did not use the name God in any form or shape of reverence or awe, but usually out of anger or frustration with life. I’ll just say it was profanity. I could not understand a God that would cause or allow the pain and suffering I saw in life. However, I reached a point in life where, as Rami Shapiro suggests, I began to seek a God just beyond my understanding. As I experience moments of reverence or awe like this morning, I have a sense this is what God is all about. Yes, it is just beyond my understanding. Hoping you have a wonderful day!

    Read More
  • flowers,  quotes

    The need for mystery…

    October 18, 2023
    A touch of yellow

    If we seek the mystery instead of the answer, we’ll always be seeking. I’ve never seen anybody really find the answer, but they think they have. So they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.

    Ken Kesey

    Experience has taught me, and is still teaching me, that what I think may be the answer is really a key to another door, some insight leading me to ask the next question. Or as the quote suggests, seek the mystery.

    I’m enjoying a mocha latte at the Bean Cycle then will meet Mark for breakfast. I have an open schedule after that, one of the perks in my life of retirement. Enjoy your day! 🤗

    Read More
  • insects,  quotes

    What a Mystery

    July 29, 2023

    Nature is a part of our humanity, and without some awareness and experience of that divine mystery man ceases to be man.

    Henry Beston

    A search of Doctor Google showed this to be Widow Skimmer Dragonfly. Unlike other species of dragonflies where males guard egg-laying females, Widow Skimmer males leave the female by herself, ‘widowing’ her as she lays her eggs just under the surface of the water. I stood in the sun and waited for them to land, hoping to get some images. This is a female as the males have a silver-grey body. What a mystery it all is! If you’re so inclined, reading this link will add to the mystery. Hope you enjoy your Saturday!

    Read More
  • clouds,  haiku,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  reflections,  sunrises,  writing/reading

    Simple two notes

    May 4, 2023

    two simple notes
    drifting over the meadow
    a chickadee sings

    ms

    Much like the snowflake, every morning sunrise is different. It seems to me that no two morning sunrises will ever be experienced the same. Each new dawn Nature provides a new canvas and uses every tool at her disposal in her creative task. Using the wind, temperature, light, the chickadees song, cloud shapes and patterns, maybe even knowing my intention and attitude that morning, she continuously offers an experience. We never know what she will offer. Maybe that mystery alone is what draws me out here.

    Read More
  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  sunrises

    This Sacred Moment

    March 29, 2023

    A man who works with his hands is a labourer. A man who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. A man who works with his hands, his head, and his heart is an artist.

    Francis Of Assisi

    While scraping the car’s windshield in the dark this morning I could hear the geese on the pond announcing to the world the approaching new day. I was well aware of their secret, which is why I crawled out from warm covers and made my way to Pineridge Natural Area. I regularly make my way to this sanctuary in nature, needing to experience these sacred moments. I am filled with gratitude for the dawn of this new day, its promises, and the mysteries of what it holds. Now time for a cortado. May you also enjoy the unfolding of this day!

    Read More
  • landscape,  People/Portraits,  Self-portraits,  sunrises

    love beyond my fear…

    February 13, 2023
    A predawn self-portrait near Horsetooth Reservoir – 2012

    Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery,
    teach me how to trust
    my heart,
    my mind,
    my intuition,
    my inner knowing,
    the senses of my body,
    the blessings of my spirit.
    Teach me to trust these things
    so that I may enter my Sacred Space
    and love beyond my fear,
    and thus Walk in Balance
    with the passing of each glorious Sun.

    Lakota Prayer
    Read More