• clouds,  consumer,  gratitude,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  sunrises

    Everything is a gift

    December 4, 2022

    Living in a consumer society, as a consumer, means I am bombarded daily with the idea I do not have enough. And, that’s simply not true! The Rule of St. Benedict counsels contentment, that what we have is enough. But, along with being content is the idea of gratitude. I have the practice within my journals of writing a gratitude list on a regular basis. Along with that practice I also include a simple pray of thanks throughout my day as I look for the gifts offered. When I look back over those lists I see less and less material goods and more of the intangible things in life and includes so many of the simple things. So this morning I was grateful for time at Pineridge Natural Area and this predawn scene. It was a good start to this day and reminds me that everything is a gift! Sorry it’s a bit blurry but I shot it handheld at 1/20 sec in the wind and at 20 degrees. Grateful for my old gloves! Happy Sunday!

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  • landscape,  Plants,  quotes,  reflections,  sunrises,  trees

    Predawn Twilight

    November 16, 2022
    Predawn light at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in 2011

    “The most beautiful thing in the world is, of course, the world itself.”

    Wallace Stevens

    Sun has just set. Weather app says snow will begin after midnight and into tomorrow with 2-6 inches. Road conditions will not be good for commuters tomorrow morning or evening. This image was taken 11 eleven years ago at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. I enjoyed going to this area for morning quiet time and photographs. Because of the reflection on those calm waters I was gifted with two views of this beautiful world that particular morning.

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  • clouds,  landscape,  quotes,  sunrises

    Love the Gifts

    November 5, 2022

    “That is not the way it should be. Good leaders wait to be called and they give up their power when they are no longer needed. Selfish men and fools put themselves first and keep their power until someone throws them out. It is no good to have a way where selfish men and fools fight with each other to be leaders, while the good ones watch.”

    Kent Nerburn

    Drove to Windsor early this morning to meet Eric for coffee and conversation. Had to stop and take a few images of the predawn sky. Love the gifts of creation. Early this afternoon I sat at Mugs in the warm sunlight. Leaves fall and dance all around me. It is a beautiful fall day. Nature is all around us when we look. Meeting a friend at 4:30 pm then an evening of reading. Hope you are having a good weekend!

    I voted for the good ones today.

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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  sunrises

    Up before dawn

    November 2, 2022

    The more I see of unmechanised places and people the more convinced I become that machines have done incalculable damage by unbalancing the relationship between Man and Nature. The mere fact that we think and talk as we do about Nature is symptomatic. For us to refer to Nature as a separate entity — something we admire or avoid or study or paint — shows how far we’ve removed ourselves from it.

    Dervla Murphy (1965)

    Had my quiet time then headed to Pineridge Natural Area to enjoy the colors of this new days beginning. I had no intentions of heading to the natural area when I got up but I could see clouds on the eastern sky and figured there could be a chance for an interesting display of colors. I was not disappointed. As I stood there taking in the colors I could hear a couple of owls calling to one another across the waters of Dixon Reservoir. Afterwards I met a friend for coffee and conversation at Starry Night. It was a great way to start the day.

    The sun now shines from a clear blue sky and our temperature reached a lovely 70 degrees today. I sat outside and journaled, soaking up the sun. Yet, they predict a cold night and a mix of rain and snow for tomorrow. I may need an extra blanket tonight. Going to meet friends later this evening. Hope you had a good day!

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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  sunrises

    The Gifts Creation Offers

    October 26, 2022

    It seemed like a long time since I had been to Pineridge Natural Area to photograph and experience the pre dawn light and silence. I looked in my archives and the last sunrise image I took was in July. Well that needed to come to halt. So, I’ve been throwing off the warm covers and making my way out to the natural area this past week. Silence. Solitude. Beauty. Cold toes. I need to receive these gifts creation offers. Most songbirds are gone while a lone owl lets me know with a “Who hoo” that they are glad for the new day. Or maybe they are glad I finally showed up again. It was 30 degrees yesterday morning when I took this image. After taking a few images I headed to a coffee shop to warm my hands around a mocha latte. It is cloudy this morning and we are expecting a slight chance of rain today. Hope you have a great day!

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  • clouds,  horizons,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  sunrises

    Then things changed…

    October 24, 2022

    The day began as I watched the predawn colors on the eastern horizon then the sunrise from the ridge above the reservoir. I sat on the bench watched and listened. An owl, perched on the dead cottonwood tree, sharing with the world their joy for this new day. I enjoyed the warm sunshine and a light breeze we had all morning, drinking coffee and reading on the porch. It is what’s known as a perfect Colorado fall day. Then things changed… 

    By mid afternoon dark clouds had moved in, temperatures began to drop and the cold wind brought its power and authority to our attention. I put on a coat rather than a jacket and stepped outside for my walk. The cold wind stung my face and my nose began to run. The wind blew the still clinging leaves from their branches and sent them sailing in every direction. Some danced around me as if I was that important. My body knows this feeling as we move more into the later stages of fall and the promise of the colder season that quickly approaches, winter. Did I mention it’s cold?

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  • clouds,  landscape,  Mary Oliver,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  poems,  poetry,  sunrises

    Predawn Pinks

    August 9, 2022
    Predawn pinks this morning

    Praying

    It doesn’t have to be
    the blue iris, it could be
    weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
    small stones; just
    pay attention, then patch

    a few words together and don’t try
    to make them elaborate, this isn’t
    a contest but the doorway

    into thanks, and a silence in which
    another voice may speak.

    Mary Oliver, from her book Thirst
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  • clouds,  gratitude,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  sunrises

    Nature’s Invitation

    May 1, 2022

    Waking early I took my camera to Pineridge Natural Area to watch the sun rise. It was cold this morning at 36 degrees. A frigid breeze was enticing the brown grass of the meadow and rabbit brush to joyfully dance together. I was greeted with a meadowlark singing its song of happiness, then joined by a second meadowlark. A couple of robins perched themselves on the fence in front of me and joined in with their glad tidings. I watched a goose smoothly paddle across the reservoir leaving behind its v-shaped wake. A pair of mallards circled above as if not sure where to go. A half dozen white pelicans used their webbed feet to silently float along the north end of the reservoir in search for food. I wonder if that’s where the big fish are?

    I offer thanks as I am never disappointed with the gifts nature gives me at these sacred places and times. I like to call these times gifts but they seem to be more than that. Could it be nature’s invitation to share our presence in all of creation? Maybe these times are the most natural thing we can do with nature. By now my hands were cold and I could picture in my mind wrapping them around a hot mocha latte. It has been a good start to a wonderful Sunday! May you have also have a wonderful Sunday!

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  • Annie Dillard,  clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  sunrises

    Try to be there…

    April 5, 2022

    “The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.”

    Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

    These are the predawn colors at Pineridge Nature Area this morning. A strong wind was blowing from the north, robins were singing and magpies were squawking. At first one may think the magpies are complaining but I like to believe it’s their way to greet me in the morning. Just maybe they are thanking me for being there. After some journaling at the natural area I made my way for my morning mocha. They also thanked me for being there.

    Back home and clouds now fill the skies. A steady rain is being offered to our parched land and souls. This rain is welcomed, a wonderful sign of spring, so I have a thankful heart. Hope you have a great day and try to be there.

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  • landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  sunrises

    Cloudless Horizon

    March 23, 2022

    We must be true inside, true to ourselves, before we can know a truth that is outside us.

    Thomas Merton

    I finished my taxes yesterday. My taxes are pretty easy because I do not have the millions that some of you have to deal with. I just enter zeros and I’m done. 😁

    I’ve been working on a couple of ongoing writing and photography projects the last few days and plan on more of that today. Drove to Pineridge Natural Area early this morning for predawn colors before having a mocha latte at Mugs. I’m usually not too excited with cloudless skies but this morning was an exception. Hope you are being true to yourself today!

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