• landscape,  snow,  winter scenes

    Snow and Cold

    April 17, 2026

    It began snowing just after 8:00 am this morning. At one time the snowflakes were big and beautiful. It’s what you’d expect with a springtime snow and made me smile. It has stopped and this dusting is all we are getting but we so need any moisture we can get. We are not expecting to be above 45 degrees today and it will be below freezing tonight and tomorrow night.

    “I don’t think everyone wants to create the great American novel, but we all have a dream of telling our stories-of realizing what we think, feel, and see before we die. Writing is a path to meet ourselves and become intimate.”

    Natalie Goldberg

    One of the gifts of blogging has been the opportunity to try my hand at writing. It truly has helped me discover who I really am rather than the man wearing an assortment of masks, depending on the stage I think I’m on. As Goldberg suggests I also am not interested in writing a novel, however the daily practice of journaling and regularly posting on this blog has been a good fit for me. So bare with me as I continue on this path.

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  • coffee life,  fountain pens,  journal,  journaling,  quotes

    Journal writing…

    November 11, 2025

    Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.

    Christina Baldwin

    It was a surprisingly warm morning so a very pleasant bicycle ride to coffee and back. I then met a few of my high school classmates for our monthly luncheon. I overate, again and have been waddling around most of the afternoon. It seems some lessons must be repeated! My youngest sister and I have purchased tickets and are flying to Phoenix next week to spend a couple days with my dad, sister and brother-in-law. It will be an early Thanksgiving. The sun has set, darkness and cold move in. I hope you had a good day and stay safe!

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  • clouds,  Humor,  landscape,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  sunsets

    Profanity and Ire

    October 24, 2025
    Sunrise from last week

    Sometimes we are at one with our fellows in brotherly love and peace.
    Sometimes in the unity of traffic, profanity and ire.

    Brenda P

    I was down to one Dove’s chocolate yesterday morning so I made a run to the grocery store. I drove east on Prospect where construction had traffic down to one lane in two locations in that one mile stretch. Crazy drivers were speeding and trying to cut in front of other people. Angrily I began to call them names, which did not make me feel any better nor could they hear me. Once I got to the grocery store, I could not make the self checkout thingy work for me. The anger I was still holding on to when I walked into the store now included frustration. After finally getting checked out I took Drake westbound home to avoid the construction on Prospect. But…. they had construction on Drake down to one lane near Shields. Now I’m angry, frustrated and spewing profanity all over the dashboard of my car and totally away of my behavior. I turned north on Shields only to discover they had traffic down to one lane near Prospect due to construction. So in that four mile square trip to the grocery store I had one lane traffic in four places due to construction. And the construction was really nothing more than a cable company burying cable. Oh, the measures we go to for chocolate! Gladly, no one got hurt and I got my chocolate fix.

    I put myself in timeout when I got home (20 minutes of meditation time) and calmed down. I reflected on my childish reactions to my first world problems and how insignificant they are compared to other world problems. I laughed at my silliness and went to a place of gratitude for the life I live, began to be excessively gentle with myself and aware of the growth that I still need in moving away from my self-centeredness. Thanks for listening. I hope you’re having a wonderful day!

    Oh, and the quote is from a text message with my friend Brenda after she heard about my experience and rather childish behavior. I think it fits perfectly with my story.

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  • poems,  writing/reading

    …never the same

    September 5, 2025

    A free afternoon found me
    lying in the grass at the park.
    Above me a canopy of leaves
    offering the gift of cool shade.

    I take deep breaths and stay present
    while leafhoppers jump around me.
    I inhale the scent of freshly cut grass
    and hear the unseen blue jay’s call.

    Clouds drift above me in a sea of blue sky
    as I take in the awe and wonder of nature,
    a sanctuary without walls, doors or windows.
    I close my eyes in reverence, gratitude, prayer

    … and I’m never the same!

    mws
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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  quotes

    Why I write…

    May 6, 2025

    …I write to better understand myself and my relationship with everything else. If my writing does indeed influence the world in a positive way, either now or in some future time, I’m all for it. And if for some reason it doesn’t, I’m okay with that too. But before any greater analysis is made, it’s important to keep in mind that my work helps me understand who I am. What happens after simply happens.

    Robert Lax

    I practice my photography and writing to understand myself and the world around me. It’s interesting to think that we do not know just how many people read our blogs. Could be less than ten or over a hundred. I’m not actually interested in knowing those numbers. So, I write on this blog and I journal to better understand myself and my relationship with the world around me. If my writing touches someone or helps them understand themselves or me, then it has been worth the work.

    We have had a nice gentle rain the past 24 hours providing much needed moisture.

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  • fountain pens,  journaling,  quotes

    Embrace living…

    March 25, 2025

    Life isn’t something you leave home to do. It’s what you accomplish within the walls of your haven. That’s what allows you to greet the world with an open heart and reach out and embrace living in all its richness, variety, and staggering wonder.

    Richard Wagamese, Embers

    One way for me to greet the world with an open heart, then reach out and embrace living in all its richness, is setting aside time to put pen to paper in my journals. I find it a great way to begin the new day, as well as end the day, while staying in this present moment. Hope you had a good day and I hope you stagger in wonder tomorrow!!

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  • coffee life,  musings,  writing/reading

    Gratitude Lists

    February 28, 2025

    A few years ago I began the practice of writing out a gratitude list. Usually the final paragraph in my journaling for the day. This morning my journaling began with a list of “what if” questions. What if people were to start making a gratitude list each day, making it a routine just like brushing our teeth? What if it consisted of just one gratitude for the day? How would our view of life change? Would we spend less on unnecessary stuff if we made such a list? What if we wrote it down, putting pen to paper, and not just let it rumble around in our head? I know from my own experience that I was prone to make a list of what I wanted rather than a list of what I already have. And, because of that I was seldom in a place of gratitude. I write gratitude lists.

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  • fountain pens,  journal,  quotes

    My journaling…

    January 10, 2025
    Dark Chocolate Petit Beurre Biscuits and chocolate milk

    “As the pen rises from the page between words, so the walker’s feet rise and fall between paces, and as the deer continues to run as it bounds from the earth and the dolphin continues to swim even as it leaps again and again from the sea, so writing and wayfaring are continuous activities, a running stitch, a persistence of the same seam or stream.”

    Robert Macfarlane, The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot

    Nothing like a couple of Dark Chocolate Petit Beurre Biscuits and a small glass of chocolate milk to add to my journaling experience. My journaling has been a continuous practice in my life, a journey, a path I enjoy walking, one word, one step at a time.

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