clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Plants,  trees

Time on Earth

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Rocky Mountain Arsenal

The day started as I walked from my apartment to my car and made the half hour drive to the employee parking lot. I then jumped on a bus which took me to the airport. We only had one flight  for the day, ending our day in Omaha by mid morning. Our van driver informed us they were having an arts festival in the Market Area, so after changing clothes I grabbed my camera and headed that way. There were plenty of booths with artist selling their wares, and some really nice work, and of course plenty of food. I walked it twice and took several photos, visited with some of the artists and enjoyed the music by a group called Brule.

After returning to my room I felt uneasy, with wandering thoughts and unable to focus. Restless, I felt the need to get out of the hotel, so more walking. Around the corner of our hotel is a sculpture park and that was the direction I headed. The sun was setting, casting long shadows as I found an open grassy area and sat down to take in the last of the days sun. It was at this time I realized I had not physically touched the earth since yesterday. With all the business of the day I realized I had been isolated me from the earth, always separated by a sidewalk, the pavement, a bus, the airport, the hotel. As I sat on that grassy area. everything in my soul again found rest, a little more serenity. I’m one of those people who really needs to spend more time on this earth.

Retired. Having fun with photography. Journal daily. Meditate daily. Learning haiku/poetry. Have a love for fountain pens.

10 Comments

  • pj

    Good thoughts Monte. I’m much the same.

    That’s a curious caption for the photo. Is it arsenal property, or are you alluding to a place where you can reload your own spirit?

    • Monte Stevens

      The Rocky Mountain Arsenal is a natural wildlife refuge. It’s a total of 15,000 acres of land used by the government to make chemical weapons during WWII. It has been cleaned up and now is used as a wildlife refuge.

  • Mark

    It is interesting – arsenals, chemical plants, trash dumps, how we relinquish them to being wildlife refuges because they contain little “monetary” value to humans. Well, your post and image prove there is much more value to be had than simply through monetary worth.

    • Monte Stevens

      It is interesting to walk the paths and roads through the area we are allowed to use. The much larger area is inaccessible to the public an area which has the holding tanks for the chemicals and the bison. I was so amazed at how many deer I saw there. Prior to the war all of this land was farmed so there is also quite a history there.

  • Paul

    Ah yeah! Reconnection. I get this way when I’ve not been among the trees for a while. It’s good to get back and touch that energy source. I may go this evening, come to think of it.