• Arapaho Bend Natural Area,  clouds,  horizons,  landscape,  natural areas,  sunrises

    Learning Patience

    August 20, 2023

    one way to learn patience
    is to become a photographer, here’s how

    first…
    arrive early at a favorite location
    set up your camera and tripod
    and don’t forget to bring along
    a hot cup of your favorite coffee or tea
    then enjoy the calm waters, the cool breeze
    receive all the gifts nature is offering

    next…
    awaken to the miracles she offers, such as
    small wavelets drifting on the open waters
    the great blue heron who stalks the shoreline
    a glimpse of a hungry fish rising to the surface
    clouds constantly reshaping themselves
    with the pink then red then orange colors

    then…
    be sure to pay attention to the whispers
    rising within you, they are very important
    some call it prayer, some call it meditation
    why not call it both

    now…
    say thank you and listen as your words
    of gratitude drift to the far shore,
    so, there’s no need to pray for patience
    just become a photographer
    and let nature teach you patience

    mws
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  • landscape,  musings,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  sunrises,  writing/reading

    Early Mornings

    August 17, 2023

    Early mornings in nature have a positive effect on me. I always return home feeling more of my true self, refreshed, and nurtured by her touch. I want to believe that these times with nature change me in so many ways. It is in the silence and the beauty of nature that help me be aware of my breathing, my physical senses and how much a part of this world I really am. And, these feeble attempts to express in my own words always seems to fall short. Probably the only way to know what I experience is for you to experience it.

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  • fog,  horizons,  landscape,  Mary Oliver,  Plants,  poems,  poetry,  sunrises,  trees

    Conversation in My Heart

    August 15, 2023

    Another morning and I wake with thirst
    for the goodness I do not have. I walk
    out to the pond and all the way God has
    given us such beautiful lessons. Oh Lord,
    I was never a quick scholar but sulked
    and hunched over my books past the hour
    and the bell; grant me, in your mercy,
    a little more time. Love for the earth
    and love for you are having such a long
    conversation in my heart. Who knows what
    will finally happen or where I will be sent,
    yet already I have given a great many things
    away, expecting to be told to pack nothing,
    except the prayers which, with this thirst,
    I am slowly learning.

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

    The great Way

    August 13, 2023
    Predawn red sky at Arapaho Bend Natural Area

    The great Way is easy,
    yet people prefer the side paths.

    Be aware when things are out of balance.
    Stay centered within the Tao.

    When rich speculators prosper
    While farmers lose their land;

    when government officials spend money
    on weapons instead of cures;

    when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible
    while the poor have nowhere to turn-

    all this is robbery and chaos.
    It is not in keeping with the Tao.

    Tao Te Ching – Verse 53
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  • Arapaho Bend Natural Area,  landscape,  natural areas,  reflections,  sunrises

    I Come Here for the Silence

    August 5, 2023
    Arapaho Bend Natural Area taken on 5/31/2023

    I come for the silence heard in the ground of my being
    which brings awareness of the gift of life.

    As this gift unfolds,
    the sun rises over a cloudless horizon,
    a fish quietly rises to the water’s surface
    and a quiet prayer is heard in my soul.

    This Book of Nature has opened its pages of this new day,
    may we silently read each word.

    I come here for the silence.

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

    The Morning After

    August 3, 2023

    I was awakened around 2:00 am with flashes of lightning bursting in my bedroom. I could hear and feel rumbles of thunder while the rain pounded on my bedroom window. Sounded like one of those storms my dad would call a toad-strangler. I layed there with a heart full of thanks, thankful for the comfort and protection of my condo and how rain is such a refreshing gift of nature. In my mind I envisioned a predawn eastern sky with scattered clouds above the horizon, perfect for a photo. ❤️ A couple hours later with that vision in my mind I headed out to Pineridge Natural Area. So, when I say morning after in the title I’m talking about the thunderstorm and not any overindulgence from the night before. Thankful those days no longer exist in my life. Hope you have a wonderful Thursday!

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  • Arapaho Bend Natural Area,  landscape,  natural areas,  poems,  poetry,  quotes,  sunrises,  writing/reading

    Whoever that may be

    July 29, 2023

    In the late summer season of life, I found
    authors, guides, and teachers who have made me
    aware of the gift of my wandering soul and spirit
    within my own inner landscape.

    With no knowledge of an inner landscape
    I went seeking in the enticing outer landscape
    yet this wandering soul and spirit of mine
    was never satisfied, never fulfilled, always lost

    Now in my winter season of life
    my soul and spirit wander my inner landscape
    seeking the Unknowable,
    that source of life,
    Whatever and
    Whoever that may be.

    mws

    I’ll end this with a thought from C.G. Jung, suggesting that our wandering has and is the thirst of our being for wholeness, expressed in medieval language: the union with God.

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