• poems,  poetry,  quotes

    Connected to all things

    December 26, 2021
    Colorado sunrise from October of 2005

    If we look at the Path, we do not
    see the Sky..

    We are Earth People on a
    Spiritual Journey through the Stars..

    Our Quest, our Earth Walk..
    is to look within,
    to know who we are,
    to see that we are connected
    to all things, that there is no separation,
    only in the mind!

    Lakota Seer

    As a young man I spent a lot of time in nature which included walking and riding a bicycle almost everywhere. I spent almost no time in front of a television. I am grateful for that childhood. At some point I attained the coveted drivers license and life took on a new direction. I did less walking and driving and less time in nature. I then began chasing a career that put me in front of a computer, within a cubicle and less time in nature. I began to spend less and less time in nature to the point where I lost a connection to nature. I viewed it as separate from me. More than 20 years ago there was a shift in seeing that we are connected to all things. Getting back into photography and practicing a spiritual life were key elements in that shift. There is a desire within me to have more of that connection and thus the reason this poem strikes a chord with me.

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  • grass,  landscape,  Mary Oliver,  Plants,  poems,  poetry,  writing/reading

    A Poem and A Photograph

    November 8, 2021

    Every day
          I see or hear
                something
                      that more or less

    kills me
          with delight,
                that leaves me
                      like a needle

    in the haystack
          of light.
                It was what I was born for —
                      to look, to listen,

    to lose myself
          inside this soft world —
                to instruct myself
                      over and over

    in joy,
          and acclamation.
                Nor am I talking
                      about the exceptional,

    the fearful, the dreadful,
          the very extravagant —
                but of the ordinary,
                      the common, the very drab,

    the daily presentations.
          Oh, good scholar,
                I say to myself,
                      how can you help

    but grow wise
          with such teachings
                as these —
                      the untrimmable light

    of the world,
          the ocean’s shine,
                the prayers that are made
                      out of grass?

    Mindful by Mary Oliver
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  • haiku,  landscape,  sunrises,  writing/reading

    Light of a New Day

    October 22, 2021

    dark blue pre-dawn sky
    fades to the light of a new day
    a meadowlark sings

    ms

    It was 32 degrees and clear skies when I left the condo this morning. I sometimes wish I could completely eliminate the hand of man in my landscape images but it’s almost impossible. However, I believe these towers added something to this image. A meadowlarks song then brightened my spirit, and added even more to this cold morning. Yes, the gift of a new day!

    Had to laugh at myself, though, because I placed my coffee mug on roof of the car when I put my tripod away and then drove off. I went about a quarter of a mile before I remembered it. Still sitting there. Have a wonderful Friday! 😂

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  • leaves,  Plants,  poems,  writing/reading

    Community of Love

    October 15, 2021

    Creation flows from the fountain fullness
    of creative energy,
    Springing from a creative and dynamic Source of Love.
    Relational, personal, generative, communicative
    Love
    Spilling over on the canvas of space-time;
    Creation is like a song
    That flows in the most beautiful of harmonies.

    What could possibly account for such
    Creative beauty bubbling up
    Into life?
    Could it be
    The Beauty of Life itself,
    A Divine community of Love? . . .

    Ilia Delio
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  • clouds,  landscape,  Mary Oliver,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  poems

    Paying Attention

    October 13, 2021

    I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
    I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
    into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
    how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
    which is what I have been doing all day.
    Tell me, what else should I have done?

    Mary Oliver

    I spent an hour at one of the natural areas this afternoon. The sun felt good as I sat on the bench and looked out over the meadow, being idle and blessed. The trees along the edges of the reservoir are taking on the colors of fall, while some already stand naked of leaves. A fall wind blows in my face from the northeast. I watch clouds casting their shadows over the meadow and I could hear the prairie dogs bark as people walked along the trails. I was practicing how to pay attention.

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  • animals,  natural areas,  poems,  poetry,  Reservoir Ridge Natural Area,  writing/reading

    Your True Self

    October 9, 2021
    A deer at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area

    “It’s not possible to save the world by trying to save it. You need to find what is genuinely yours to offer the world before you can make it a better place. Discovering your unique gift to bring to your community is your greatest opportunity and challenge. The offering of that gift — your true self — is the most you can do to love and serve the world. And it is all the world needs.”

    Thomas Berry
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