• landscape,  Self-portraits,  sunsets

    Another tool on this spiritual journey

    March 23, 2025

    I pushed the order button on March 2nd for a beginners Native American Style flute, also called a Love flute. I could give you a list of reasons for justifications but it had more to do with impulse than anything else. I have always connected to the sound of Native American flutes. It’s not a loud instrument, does not require a battery or power outlet, has little maintenance, you don’t need to read music, and you can easily take it anywhere. I have never played a wind instrument in my life so this is my first. And, I quickly discovered I wanted a flute made by the hand of a craftsman and out of wood. Some are beautiful works of art and some are simple works of art. I chose a simple work of art and one designed for a beginner.

    Danja portrait

    While taking sunset photos and selfies of me practicing on my Native American flute on Thursday evening, I met a wedding photographer, Danja, who was shooting a young couple’s engagement photos near me. Afterwards, they thanked me for serenading them while they did their photos. I was surprised by their comment because I’m not sure I would call what they heard as serenading. It was more about trying to keep all squawks, squeaks and whistles to a minimum. Then Danja asked if she could take a photo of me playing the flute. The top image is what she sent me the next morning. Thank you for the image, Danja!!

    Self-portrait

    I’ve discovered online lessons and courses through youtube and a couple of websites to help me along this journey. I’m taking one online course now. As you know I enjoy spending time in the natural areas and I can think of no better place to play a Native American flute than in nature. I’m finding these locations are ideal to practice learning how the flute and I can make music together. I’m 74 years old and do not know when I will take my last heartbeat. So it seems reasonable to give this some good old discipline, practice, and be both patient and gentle with myself. I plan on carrying it when I ride the bicycle along the trails, stopping when I find a secluded area and play. My hope is for the flute to be another tool on this spiritual journey I’m traveling.

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  • quotes,  shadows

    … when we glimpse it

    March 3, 2025

    Our religious experience begins and ends with the heart. It begins with the insight that our heart is restless. A world of things can never fully satisfy its restless quest. Only that nothing beyond all things that we call meaning gives us rest when we glimpse it. The quest of the human heart for meaning is the heartbeat of every religion.

    Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer

    When I returned from my bicycle ride to coffee this morning I caught a glimpse of the sunlight coming through my bedroom window. I knew it as a voice telling me there was a photo being offered. Did I want it? Just a glimpse is all it takes for us to see something that’s small and irrelevant at times and now has something simple to offer. I wanted it! Some would call it a spiritual experience. After looking at the quilt I rememberd it was a handmade quilt given to me by my friend, Judith, who died of cancer 17 years ago. Maybe she was behind that voice.

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  • architecture,  quotes

    Willingness

    July 29, 2024
    Savannah’s Waterfront, Georgia – 2009

    “.. the spiritual life is a natural human activity that requires not special powers but the willingness to open doors.”

    Elizabeth O’Connor

    My history is marked with moments when I hesitated to open a closed door or enter a partially open one. Fear was my nemesis, filling my head with voices telling me of projected danger on the other side, and seldom of those gems of new possibilities that may exist there. I’ve come to see the gift of my willingness and discernment to open doors of opportunities. I’ve read that once we place the key of willingness into the lock and have the door ever so slightly opened, we can always open it some more. And if need be, close it to open another. And if fear and self-will slam it shut again, I can again open that door with willingness.

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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  quotes,  Reservoir Ridge Natural Area

    The Spiritual Path

    January 29, 2024
    A spiritual path at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area

    There are no shortcuts on the spiritual path, although many have tried to find one. Learning the lessons the spirit teaches takes time, patience, and perseverance. It requires a sense of discipline. It takes a level of self-awareness that can be difficult, because it requires that we are honest with ourselves. We have to look deeper. We have to study. We have to live a rule of life that never takes love for granted. It is not easy, but it is joyful. The sacred journey may take us up some very steep hills and demand we keep going on even when we are tired, but it shows us the wonder of life along the way and the purpose of life when the day is done.

    Steven Charleston, Ladder to the Light
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  • clouds,  grass,  landscape,  Plants,  quotes

    Indigenous

    July 10, 2022
    Cumulus clouds in the distance

    “… becoming Indigenous to a place means living as if your children’s future mattered, to take care of the land as if our lives, both material and spiritual, depended on it.”

    Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

    I have places inside and outside of the city that are sacred to me. I do not have civil ownership to them but I visit them because this is where I find quiet, solitude and regeneration. I cannot think of one place I visit where the hand of man has not trashed it in some way with beer cans, whiskey bottles, old tires, mattresses, chairs, cigarette butts, etc. It is a sign of how little we know about caring for our world, and those we share this land with or ourselves. I believe the care for the land must start with me.

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  • Avian,  quotes

    Spiritual Practice

    May 28, 2022
    Red-winged Blackbird (female)

    The foundation of all spiritual practice is love.
    That you practice this well is my only request.

    the Dalai Lama

    My hope is to practice love, as a spiritual practice, and that it’s not just something I preach. Have a great Memorial Weekend!

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  • Candid Portraits,  People/Portraits,  quotes

    Love is…

    March 24, 2022

    Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life. Meaning does not lie in things. Meaning lies in us.

    Marianne Williamson

    It was just after 7:30 am and the morning light on Adriana’s auburn hair was radiating around her! She was in the spotlight. Love is shining on her and in her. She agreed to let me take a shot while she continued to work on her computer. The subject, the light and the moment, all make this image a meaningful moment. Thank you, Adriana.

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