My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
Listen to silence, it has much to say.
Rumi
Good morning from Colorado! I woke up early and got out of bed about 4:00 am. I had a nice, quiet meditation then enjoyed more quiet and prayer, waiting for the sunrise at Pineridge Natural Area. A cool breeze began to stir among the brush and grasses. There was an orange glow among the few clouds in the eastern sky. I listened to the silence! May you listen to the silence!.
Yesterday afternoon brought rain showers, cooler temperatures, and a refreshing scent that rain brings. And this morning we have a steady drizzle falling and high humidity which makes it cool. Expecting more of this over the next 7 days. This will help extinguish any remaining fires and prevent others. Could be a day of warm soup, journaling, blogging, reading and laundry (already started). After coffee and a scone, which I didn’t need, I drove up to Pineridge for a look-see and an image. Weather app suggests this could be the norm for the next 7 days. Sure will help with our drought. Enjoy this day!
“At every moment, life gives you the opportunity to do something with what life gives you, and, therefore, Grateful Living means learning to avail yourself, moment by moment, of that opportunity.”
Brother David Steindl-Rast
I got together yesterday with some friends for one of those corn boils which I’d never been to before. They make up this big pot of corn on the cob, sausage, potatoes, and onions. Everyone was supposed to bring a side dish or a dessert. Not sure about you, but I always seem to overeat at shindigs like this. I was so stuffed when I left, I went out by Reservoir Ridge Natural Area to walk around a little bit and enjoy those beautiful clouds. I am so grateful for the friends in my life and for the beauty of nature. I am also grateful for the opportunity to experience both.
Update: the Alexander Mountain Fire is 83% contained, so our blue sky is back, and air quality will continue to increase.
I read the other day that God finds a thousand ways to tell us that we are sought after. In many ways I’d like to believe that. And please don’t ask me to define what God is because I can’t. All I can do is share my experiences where I have moments with a something bigger than me.
While out shooting the sunrise last week at Pineridge Natural Area I was startled by some movement at my feet. When there’s movement that close to me, I am startled because we do have rattlesnakes in the area. However, looking down, I watched this baby cottontail move closer and closer to me, seemingly a bit quizzical about me and unafraid. As I looked into those black eyes, with no words needing to be exchanged, I felt something, a connection. Was I being sought after? I went home clearly touched in some way by Nature and those gifts she offers. I’m grateful to say the God of my youth has evolved into the God I can experience today through the black eyes of a cottontail. I wonder, who sought who? Have a wonderful Monday and a great week.
Solitude… is what sustains me and protects me from my mind. It renders me fully present. I am desert. I am mountains. I am Great Salt Lake. There are other languages being spoken by wind, water, and wings. There are other lives to consider: avocets, stilts, and stones. Peace is the perspective found in patterns. When I see ring-billed gulls picking on the flesh of decaying carp, I am less afraid of death. We are no more and no less than the life that surrounds us. My fears surface in my isolation. My serenity surfaces in my solitude.
Terry Tempest Williams
The Oxford Dictionary defines solitude as: the state or situation of being alone. I relate to her quote because there are times when enjoying my coffee life, surrounded by people in conversations, baristas foaming milk, and piped music, I can feel isolated. A major contrast to the city’s natural areas which provides a place for me to be in solitude. Yet, I am never really alone as I am surrounded by plants, birds, animals, clouds, and people, who add their presence and sounds to my solitude. So, while I’m in solitude with nature, I too find serenity. Happy Friday!
If you are depressed you are living in the past.
Lao Tzu
If you are anxious you are living in the future.
If you are at peace you are living in the present.
It’s O’dark thirty or about 5:21 am. I’ve been up since about 3:33 am. After prayer and meditation, I am now sitting at Pineridge Natural Area. Bats quickly and silently feast above me. Smoke sits in low lying areas of the eastern horizon while a pink and blue glow rises above them. A Waning Crescent Moon hangs delicately in the sky. It is quiet and peaceful here. The new washer and dryer arrives today. Finally, clean underwear. May you shine your light brightly just as this moon this morning. I am so grateful to be living in this beautiful present moment.
Good morning! We have our first forest fire of the season burning called the Alexander Mountain Fire. It is burning just west of Loveland and was estimated at 1,820 acres with 0% containment as of 10:00 a.m. this morning. I took this image around 7:00 pm yesterday evening from Arapaho Bend Natural Area.
This morning I was awake and up by 4:00 am. After my quiet time I drove up to Pineridge to watch the sunrise. What a gift with a cloudless sky. I could see the smoke from the fire drifting gently out to the east but not smell it. On my way back into town, I came across a house on West Mulberry with a large fire burning in the backyard of the home. I pulled over as the four fire trucks and ambulance pulled up and just cried, and cried hard. Think I’m feeling too much of the pain of this world with natural disasters and man’s incessant need for killing, so the dam burst. Hope you have a good day!