Knowledge was inherent in all things.
Luther Standing Bear
The world was a library and its books
Were the stones, leaves, grass, brooks…
We learned to do what only the students
of nature ever learn, that was to feel beauty.
… to feel beauty
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The Simple Things
The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.
Paulo CoelhoIt is a cool fall morning with a light mist descending on everything. Needless to say I did not ride my bicycle this morning. As I returned from the coffee shop I noticed the fallen leaves sparkling and shining up at me. So I took my camera for a walk, accepting the simple and extraordinary gifts of nature. These moments are important in my life because they help keep my feet firmly on the ground, even when it’s wet, and life simple. Today is also a great day to enjoy a crockpot of chili soup now simmering.
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Changes
Changes are being made to this blog. First will be the look of this theme. Secondly, I am changing hosting services so there may be a period of silence from me. You even may see the Error 404 code. If I’m not back up and running in 5-7 days, send out a search party. I’ll probably be drifting somewhere in the World Wide Web.
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My first flat tire
Common Globe Amaranth on campus Welp, when I started to leave the coffee shop this morning I experienced my first flat tire after just over 1800 miles of riding. I filled both tires early this morning before I left and hope I have not damaged anything. I was not able to find any nail, screw or thorn. Without panicking or throwing a hissy-fit I left the bike locked up and walked to the transit center and then took a bus to my condo. I drove my car back and brought the bike home. I did not want to walk the bicycle the 2 miles home. I will take it into the shop tomorrow and let them fix it. I do not want to mess with repairing the flat (front tire) because of the disc brakes. I will feel more comfortable with paying them to repair it. So, I got a good start to September.
These are Common Globe Amaranth planted in the median when you turn into the parking lot of the Lory Student Center at CSU. Every year this flower garden in the median catches my attention. And, each year they seem to plant something different. This is the first time I’ve seen these flowers here. I hope you enjoy your day!!
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Wonders and Realities
The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us the less taste we shall have for the destruction of our race. Wonder and humility are wholesome emotions, and they do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction.
Rachel Carson, The Sense of WonderWhen you first look at this image you will see three mushrooms in the grass. But If you look closely (enlarge the image if you need to) you will see the wonders and realities of this world on many of the blades of grass where a tiny single dew drop clings to its tip. Yes, wonders and realities!
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Exploring..
Hemp dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum) covered in dew We shall not cease from exploration,
T.S. Eliot
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.It was a cool bicycle ride on this August morning. The temperature was at 56 degrees and the humidity was over 90% when I mounted the red steed and headed for the coffee shop. I could see the fog lazily drifting along the eastern horizon but we had none here. I had never thought of my bicycling as a form of exploration but I am coming to see that it is. It is not much different than walking the trails, at least at the meandering speed I pedal. I needed to stop on the way home and photograph these (Apocynum cannabinum) leaves covered in dew along Spring Creek Trail. The leaves and stems are quite lovely but probably not something to put in your salad ( see the link). I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!
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Nothing Exists Alone
It seems I have seen more mushrooms over the past couple years. Out of curiosity I searched out why. Mushrooms are essentially the fruiting bodies of fungi, and these fungi decompose organic matter in the soil. This organic matter can include things like decaying tree roots, buried wood, thatch (a layer of dead grass), leaves, grass clippings, or even animal waste. The fungi break down these materials, and the mushrooms are the visible sign of their activity. They thrive in damp, humid conditions, prefer shade and low light. They are located in two locations in my front yard that meet these qualifications, offering me some photo opportunities. In this photo are the mushrooms, grass, a cottonwood seed, decaying leaves and below all of that is another world all together. Fascinating, that nothing in nature exists alone. Expecting mid 90s today but rain showers tomorrow.
In nature nothing exists alone.
Rachel Carson -
But I’m tempted…
As I rode through the CSU Oval on Friday there was a young woman walking barefoot on the grass. Almost made me want to stop and take my shoes off. Yet, when I think about all the chemicals they put down on that grass, to keep it green and growing, I keep my shoes on and keep riding. But I’m tempted… If you look closely you will see chalk drawing on the sidewalk. I assume made by the children who have come for a summer camp week and encouraged by student leaders. We had rain during the night so we awoke to overcast skies and cool. I saw where we had from one tenth of an inch to half an inch in Fort Collins. Happy Saturday!
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Learning to be Present
Time as objective reality has never made much sense to me. It’s what happens that matters. How can minutes and years, devices of our own creation, mean the same thing to gnats and to cedars? Two hundred years is young for the trees whose tops this morning are hung with mist. It’s an eyeblink of time for the river and nothing at all for the rocks…If there is meaning in the past and in the imagined future, it is captured in the moment. When you have all the time in the world, you can spend it, not on going somewhere, but on being where you are. So I stretch out, close my eyes, and listen to the rain.
Robin Wall KimmererAs a young man I would lay in the grass and daydream. Seems I usually ventured into the future, accomplishing feats such as being the hero in the big game or the hero saving the fair maiden. Now that I am older I’m able to look back and see how those daydreams kept me from living in the moment. I was not experiencing the world I was a part of. The lessons they have given me is an awareness that helps me live in the now more often and the desire to live there. The gift of photography, recovery from alcoholism, and a spiritual practice have also been key in that transformation. Now when I stretch out, close my eyes, and listen to the rain I am learning to be present and enjoy the rain. I have the time to be present.
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“the little joys”
This is our modern curse: A century of conspicuous consumption has trained us to be dutiful citizens of the Republic of Not Enough, swearing allegiance to the marketable myth of scarcity, hoarding toilet paper for the apocalypse. Along the way, we have unlearned how to live wide-eyed with wonder at what Hermann Hesse called “the little joys” — those unpurchasable, unstorable emblems of aliveness that abound the moment we look up from our ledger of lack.
Maria Popova
