• clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Plants,  quotes,  trees

    Good to be Alive

    May 26, 2022

    “To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe — to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it — is a wonder beyond words.”

    Joanna Macy

    I ventured out to Riverbend Ponds the other night because the sky was filled with clouds and I love clouds. It was rather quiet out there, maybe a half dozen people fishing. The water was very peaceful without the wind. Birds were singing all around me. And those clouds! Yes, it’s good to be alive!

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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Plants,  Reservoir Ridge Natural Area,  shadows,  trees

    Long Shadows

    May 8, 2022
    Late afternoon shadows

    They are repairing some major potholes to the parking lot at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area. One of those holes you could disappear in. On Friday when I visited I parked outside the gate and walked along the fence to get this image. This is a very different perspective than most of the images from the natural area. I like the mystery in those shadows. Happy Mother’s Day!

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  • landscape,  Plants,  poems,  sunsets,  trees,  writing/reading

    Quieting of my spirit

    May 2, 2022
    Sunset from Red Fox Meadows

    looking out across the meadow 
    my mind restless and troubled
    seeking the quieting of my spirit.

    as the sun sets over the mountains 
    nature empties herself completely  
    finding the quieting of my spirit.

    ms

    This simple poem was inspired by one of Mary Oliver’s poems. She spent time in nature on an almost daily basis which is motivating me to do the same. At times I feel regret for those times I could have spent in nature. I wonder if time in nature inspires me to write or if my writing inspires me to spend more time in nature. Have a great day!!

    P.S. We have water falling from the sky. People are telling me it’s called rain. ☔

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  • quotes

    Wonders at Wondering

    April 24, 2022
    Sunset along the Washington coast – 2003

    I stand at the seashore, alone, and start to think. There are the rushing waves… mountains of molecules, each stupidly minding its own business… trillions apart… yet forming white surf in unison.

    Ages on ages… before any eyes could see… year after year… thunderously pounding the shore as now. For whom, for what?… on a dead planet, with no life to entertain.

    Never at rest… tortured by energy… wasted prodigiously by the sun… poured into space. A mite makes the sea roar.

    Deep in the sea, all molecules repeat the patterns of one another till complex new ones are formed. They make others like themselves… and a new dance starts.

    Growing in size and complexity… living things, masses of atoms, DNA, protein… dancing a pattern ever more intricate.

    Out of the cradle onto the dry land… here it is standing… atoms with consciousness… matter with curiosity.

    Stands at the sea… wonders at wondering… I… a universe of atoms… an atom in the universe.

    Richard Feynman
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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Plants,  quotes,  reflections,  trees

    More questions…

    April 23, 2022
    Sunset over Riverbend Ponds Natural Area

    Walt Whitman wrote over 150 years ago in his book Leaves of Grass that the United States: is not merely a nation but a teeming nation of nations. It seems like a good question to ask ourselves: How well does each of us hold to the idea we are a nation of nations? It’s also interesting that the first word in our Constitution is we. Which leads to another question: how and who defines “we”? Yes, I’m a thinkin and asking questions again this morning. Hoping you have a wonderful weekend!

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  • grass,  landscape,  Plants,  sunsets

    That’s Just What We Do

    April 10, 2022

    Here is an attempt to photograph a scene where I wanted you to experience what I was experiencing. The late afternoon sunlight had the grass shimmering in gold, while the wind had the grass dancing to the music of silence. The first meadowlarks of the season were singing to me. There was that feeling of solitude, distant from the cities clamber. I took several images of the backlit grass along the fence with the awareness you probably wouldn’t experience what I was experiencing through this image. It just can’t. For you would have to be there to experience it. But, as a photographer, I will always try. That’s just what we do.

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  • clouds,  landscape,  Plants,  sunsets,  trees

    End of a beautiful day…

    April 2, 2022

    I made a drive out to Cobb Lake State Wildlife Area yesterday evening to enjoy the sunset. We had such a beautiful day. I also got in a nice bicycle ride as I work on getting my legs back into some sort of physical condition to ride. A meadowlark was perched in this small tree when I arrived singing my favorite song. To my left, out of view, there was a concert going with the geese and ducks on Cobb Lake. While a group of ducks had a second concert on the smaller lake just to the right of center. I thanked them for the free concerts. After sunset the days cool breeze quickly became a cold wind so I headed for home. I so enjoyed the end of a beautiful day…

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