My online journal sharing interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
“Sometimes I need
Mary Oliver
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.”
This morning I drove out near the Arapaho Bend Natural Area and parked along Horsetooth Road to listen to the meadowlarks and red-winged blackbirds. Watched several red-tailed hawks perched atop old cottonwood trees searching out breakfast menu. I am posting this image because of the tree reflections in the water and the rising morning sun. Almost no wind gave the water a glass like look. Have a wonderful weekend!
clouds speak with brilliance
ms
telling of the day that was given
watching silent sunset on the farm
may I never be too busy
to listen with my inner ear
“Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action. Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems, carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives.” Audre Lorde
it is a serious thing
Mary Oliver
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in this broken world.
Violence never brings peace nor does it solve problems in our world. It’s insanity when we think fixing a broken world or disturbed mind can be accomplished through violence. It’s insanity when some keep trying it again and again. It’s insanity when we encourage such thinking. It’s insanity when we fail to speak up against it. There is another way.
On Meditating, Sort Of
Mary Oliver (From Blue Horses)
Meditation, so I’ve heard, is best accomplished
if you entertain a certain strict posture.
Frankly, I prefer just to lounge under a tree.
So why should I think I could ever be successful?
Some days I fall asleep, or land in that
even better place — half asleep — where the world,
spring, summer, autumn, winter —
flies through my mind in its
hardy ascent and its uncompromising descent.
So I just lie like that, while distance and time
reveal their true attitudes: they never
heard of me, and never will, or ever need to.
Of course I wake up finally
thinking, how wonderful to be who I am,
made out of earth and water,
my own thoughts, my own fingerprints —
all that glorious, temporary stuff.
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed
Amanda Gorman
a nation that isn’t broken,
but simply unfinished.
Have a wonderful weekend. It started out wonderfully this morning with this sunrise.
morning sun enters through my window
ms
warms my soul with its abounding grace
grateful and blessed for this life I live
filled with love of family and friends
solitude and silence the foundations of my life
it’s the staff I need to walk through life
raises me up when I fall, again and again
where I discern my chatter from your words
prayer and meditation my daily practice
a lifeline to grasp when I begin to wander
lifting the spirit when life weighs heavy
opens a door to knowing beyond thinking
it’s been said that if the only prayer we say
is thank you, that would suffice
so I’m thankful for this wonderful life
happy thanksgiving to you!
This morning we had a comfortable 42 degrees with overcast skies that offer a feeling of dreariness. That feeling matched my mood. In my journaling this morning I wrote that I wanted to run away and not face the muck and mire of life as it is. But I have no idea where away is which makes it impossible to go there. I find it difficult to live in a place of unknowing but I’m getting used to that. In my past I would numb myself with alcohol but hard learned lessons taught me that was not how to face life. Deep down inside of me is a knowing that running away is not the answer but rather hold onto some hope, facing the day with all the tools, knowledge and trust I have. I accomplish nothing by wanting to live in the future, or worse yet, my imagination. My life is only lived here, now, in the present. So, after prayer and meditation, I decided to grab my camera and see how nature is handling the day. I pray for this country as we are in a place of transformation and hopefully healing. There’s no need to run away.
the news…
ms
the airways are a buzz
the news is spreading
we now know who won
a prayer…
of thanks to all who voted
for those who feel they lost
for the healing that now begins