My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
Wanted to share this morning’s sunrise in a cloudless sky above Dixon Reservoir with you. Meadowlarks joined with chickadees, robins and magpies in singing of this morning’s beauty. Geese and ducks made small waves across the waters surface and joining in the chorus with a quack and a honk every once in a while. There were a few more people joining me with their coffee mug in one hand and their smartphone in the other to witness the sunrise. It’s in these moments I believe in a God, a Great Spirit, a Creator, whatever name you choose to give it, who is love, compassion, creativity, inspiration, and in my books, the true artist in every sense. Hope you have a great day! Happy Easter to those who celebrate this season!
There was a lot of chatter going up there as these Canada Geese flew over me. Had to chuckle as I imagined what they are honking up about. Do you suppose they are just like we are when we get in our cars and head somewhere? Were some complaining the goose behind them was following too close? Were some wanting to fly faster or slower? Were some being backseat flyers? Were some wanting to land here or fly on farther? Were some trying to control the formation, shouting instructions to others because the formation is not what they wanted? Do I even want to know? Not really but I had fun with my imagination. Have a great week!
From a weekend walk at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area
“Nature, too, supports our personal blossoming (if we have any quiet exposure to her) through her spontaneities, through her beauty, power, and mirroring, through her dazzling variety of species and habitats, and by way of the wind, Moon, Sun, stars, and galaxies.”
Bill Plotkin
It is a desire of mine to spend more time in nature. Hopefully, you already knew that. It is now obvious to me how deep these roots of solitude with and in nature have always been present. There is an awareness, also, that the more time I spend in the natural world, the more I desire to be there. My condo of bricks and sticks is not where I want to spend my life. It has provided a place of comfort but at a price. For many the house is all they need and want. Our culture stresses that. I’m not one of them. There is a desire to blossom. Have a great day and wonderful week!
empty parking lot gate closed due to snow opening soon
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This is sunrise three days ago at Pineridge Natural Area. The area was closed until today due to snow so I pulled along the rode and took this image. It is a different perspective of a common theme I am drawn to. What you see below is is the lower parking area. I normally park in the upper parking lot as I gives me the higher view. I cannot see the horizon when in the lower parking lot. It is now open but the trails will probably take a bit longer to reopen due to mud.
“Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement, to get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed…”
It’s been a cold day. It started out with 9 degrees at 7:00 this morning. We may have reached 34 degrees. Even though it was cold I went to Reservoir Ridge Natural Area to journal and watch the sunset. Cloudless sky. Quiet. I needed it.
Poetry is one of the ancient arts, and it began as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth.
Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook
I no longer celebrate the in coming New Year by partying and then suffering with a hangover in the morning. I am going way overboard this year and celebrating at home with some shrimp cocktail. Have a safe and enjoyable New Years Eve. If you do dance on the tables, please post a video. We can all use the laugh. 😁
Young lady watching the sunrise at Pineridge Natural Area on a cold December morning
What’s broken can be mended. What hurts can be healed. And no matter how dark it gets, The sun is going to rise again.
Well, back to another sunrise. Took this image yesterday but this one is a bit different. I arrived at predawn when the sky was pink and took a few images of those colors. It was 18 degrees and a slight breeze from the northwest. What is different about this image is the young lady located in the lower left corner of the image. She is sitting on a small bench at the trailhead, wrapped in a blanket and sipping on a thermos of hot coffee or maybe tea. I was there about 45 minutes and she was there when I arrived, sitting on that bench the whole time. We watched this lovely sunrise as well as seeing a couple coyotes walk across the frozen reservoir in search of food. We did not talk. Not sure the reason she needed to be there but for me nature is a place to go when I need to find healing, answers, peace, serenity, silence, a boost, even a good cry and most often the need to slow down the chatter of my thinking. It had warmed up to 19 degrees by the time she left. I departed soon after. We’re expecting light snow today so right now it is overcast and windy. Happy Friday!!
“Within yourself is a stillness, a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.”
Hermann Hesse
A quick update on the Cameron Peak fire. On Tuesday night winds picked up gusting to 65 mph and caused the fire to make a 15-17 mile run in a easterly direction in about 12 hours. Several mandatory evacuations to the east and south were issued. The city of Fort Collins was socked in with smoke. It looked like 6:00 pm all day while smoke, ash and soot fell like snow. Everyone was wearing a mask due to the poor air quality. Had a friend over for lunch and made him smoked pasta with smoked marinara sauce and a smoked caesar salad. I have not heard but I’m pretty sure some homes were lost in that run yesterday. The fire now has become the largest in Colorado history with 167,000 acres. Not a record we want to boast about. The high winds brought in a cold front, dropping temperatures and we will have a good freeze tonight. Today has been much better with air quality and even given us some blue sky with sunshine to enjoy. We also have another fire that started yesterday afternoon, the East Troublesome Fire, west of Boulder. It has already grown to 3,700 acres due to the winds. We are so dry out here.
Many of us have had to look for that stillness, that sanctuary within because the external sanctuaries are not accessible and in some cases gone.
This past Sunday evening, because there wasn’t have much smoke in the air, I made a quick run out to Reservoir Ridge. Just as I pulled up the sun began dropping behind the mountains. I grabbed the camera and got in 6 images before the scene was gone. The wind changed Sunday night, coming from the north-northwest, causing the smoke to drift over the city and front range. We expect more of the same today with a light foggy look to everything.
Anyway, after taking the 6 images I did a walk to the bridge and back, about 3 miles. I had eaten a burrito earlier so I left my camera and journal behind and focused on the walk, jotting down what I experienced later. I’m noticing it is getting colder now that we’re in the first week of October. The humidity from the irrigated hay field next to the trail makes it even cooler for the first quarter mile. As I approached the pond I could hear the chorus of red winged blackbirds and yellow-headed blackbirds among the cattails. They sounded louder than usual and seemed like there were more of them. A sudden lull in their chorus caused me to stop walking, ears perked, but they quickly started up again. I then heard mallards calling out and watched as they made their landing approach onto the pond for the night. I watched milkweed follicles being released from their pods, floating across the open fields, clinging to leaves, cattails, rabbitbrush, natures velcro. Trees were showing their fall colors and releasing leaves for their fall descent. Even with cooler weather the mosquitoes buzzed around me but I don’t seem sweet enough to bite. When I returned to the car I couldn’t help but smile at the beauty I experienced in that short hour, even with the fires burning. Then a question crossed my mind from something I read this past week, does nature also seek “to be love” as Cedric suggests?
