My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
How beautiful our mother, the earth And how worthy of our love and respect.
Steven Charleston, Spirit Wheel
I took a pleasant bicycle ride yesterday along Spring Creek Trail and the Poudre Trail. It was 31 degrees when I got up but we reached a lovely 70 degrees by mid-afternoon. Blue skies and a spattering of clouds brought a smile. I was not the only one out riding and walking. Just to my left was a women with a painting easel, sitting on a stool and an umbrella to keep the sun off while painting this very scene at the Cattail Chorus Natural Area. I agree with Charleston’s poem, we do have a beautiful Mother Earth and my prayer is we all learn to love and respect her. ❤️
In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.
John Muir
I can just as easily replace the word walk in this quote with bicycle ride. As I rode through this one area I noticed a scene that I noticed a scene I wanted to photograph. I took several images but was not satisfied with any of them. I turned to get back on the bike and noticed this scene. It is a busy image but the colors, eclectic shapes and patterns caused me to squat down beside the water and accept the image. Because I took the time to stop and squat a woman walking by also stopped to see what I was seeing. She thanked me and we both smiled as we received nature’s tapestry. Taken on my bicycle ride yesterday along Spring Creek Trail.
It is no longer a matter of expressing reality, but of expressing what one feels about reality.
Aaron Siskind
In some places along the Spring Creek Trail there is little color change among the trees while there are trees in my neighborhood that are almost barren of leaves. This image shows a touch of color and its reflection in the glass like water at Cattail Chorus Natural Area. My feelings in this image is not the colors as much as the clear open blue sky and reflection. I admit to being attracted to our Colorado clouds, yet some of the most impressive images one can make are the amazing blue cloudless skies.
Faith does not begin in what we imagine But in what we experience.
Steven Charleston
I am not able to explain my faith. I could try, but any words would fall short. However, experience has brought me to believe the sun will rise and set each day, even after I’ve taken my last breath. And, I believe the seed of these experiences change and transform me. Because somehow, when I returned to my car after watching a sunrise or sunset I believe I am a different man. I would try and explain that, but any words would fall short. And, it happens a lot.
“It is a commonplace of all religious thought, even the most primitive, that the man seeking visions and insight must go apart from his fellows and love for a time in the wilderness.”
Loren Eiseley
Fort Collins is a Platinum-rated Bicycle Friendly Community and maintains more than 200 miles of dedicated bike lanes and 50 miles of marked or signed bike routes. I have been riding them the last week or so and finding gems everywhere. You may be seeing more images taken along these trails and blog posts about them. I can be on the Spring Creek Trail after a short 2 block ride from my condo. Yesterday evening I headed east on the Spring Creek trail then connected to the Poudre Trail. I had the pleasure of having a white tail doe and her two fawns pass in front of me, and squirrels and rabbits darting in front of me. The fawns were still in their spots. It will be interesting to ride these trails in the different seasons and watch how things in nature change. I am realizing how easy it is to be close to nature within this city when on these trails. Enjoy your Sunday!!
Full moon reflecting in Beaver Pond at Arapaho Bend Natural Area
The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.
Joseph Campbell
My early goals were often set by parents, church, schools, society and hidden dreams. These goals set me on certain paths. Not everyone’s path is the same so realize I am only speaking about mine.
My parents instilled within me the goal to marry and have children. I did that. The church of my youth suggested I be a hellfire and brimstone preacher. Instead, I chose to raise hell. School offered me a couple goals: to be the hero at the football game, which never happened. And the other was to attain an education, build a career, and go into debt on a 30 year home mortgage, which did happen. Then, 20 years later I got a divorce, sold the home, changed careers, and was still unhappy in my career.
However, none of these goals nurtured the questions that were being asked within me; “Who am I? What do I have to offer the world? How do I make the world a better place? How do I participate in the world?” Once I entered my early fifties these questions began to shout for acknowledgement. Thus began the journey of discovering who I am, and who I am not. On this path I’ve uncovered a few things I do have to offer the world and believe there are many more yet to uncover. I am reevaluating my goals and their impact on others, nature and the universe. Seems Campbell may have narrowed it down, “to make my heartbeat with the heartbeat of the universe and live as if I am a part of nature.” I can see that as a goal and a prayer. May I live it!!
Tonights sunset and reflection at Arapaho Bend Natural Area
From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of each other – above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.
