• journaling,  musings,  nature,  Plants,  pond,  quotes,  reflections,  water

    This Galaxy of Stars

    January 30, 2024

    “Tomorrow is never ours until it becomes today.”

    It was 62 degrees yesterday afternoon as I sat in my yard soaking up the sun and journaled. Had lots on my mind so the words flowed. I was joined by three squirrels who were also enjoying the sunshine while chasing one another, seemingly in a game of tag. Mallards and geese floating on the open water were making quite a racket as they enjoyed the water. And as I watched, listened and wrote my mind settled down. Then a thought came that I should take my camera for a walk around the pond, stretching my legs and flexing my shutter finger. Before I knew it this short jaunt became a lovely gift as I came across this galaxy of stars.

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  • leaves,  musings,  nature

    I truly believe…

    December 14, 2023

    The less we allow ourselves to be touched by nature or to be present to nature the less we will believe nature to be the foundation of our life, that we are an essential part of nature and the less we will know about ourselves. When we do not know ourselves we are incapable of knowing others, yet we will think we do. Just watch how someone who thinks they know-it-all treats you and all of creation. I truly believe that what we do to the earth we are doing to ourselves, and the way we treat nature is the way we treat all of humanity and all of creation. I pray we lovingly touch nature and allow nature to lovingly touch us.

    We awoke to a heavy fog and had a layer of ice to scrape off of the windshield. Now off to coffee. Stay warm!

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  • leaves,  nature,  Plants,  quotes

    The Sacredness of Nature

    July 1, 2023

    The world is not a problem to be solved; it is a living being to which we belong. The world is part of our own self and we are a part of its suffering wholeness. Until we go to the root of our image of separateness, there can be no healing. And the deepest part of our separateness from creation lies in our forgetfulness of its sacred nature, which is also our own sacred nature.

    Joanna Macy

    Nature has many ways of calling to us as we move through life. It is not always audible such as a robin’s song. It can be a visual call as well. This branch of cottonwood leaves that were blown down during Thursday’s winds stopped me in my tracks. It was a visual calling. As we spend more time in nature, as we can gain the awareness that nature is sacred, as we realize we are not separate from nature, we come to know we are an essential part of nature. So, I pray we do not forget the sacredness of nature or of our own sacred nature!

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  • clouds,  horizons,  landscape,  natural areas,  nature,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  reflections,  sunrises

    Book of Nature

    June 22, 2023

    Into God’s Book of Nature I step in the murky hour just before the dawn, before the rising sun stages its rehearsal, bleeds pink into the edge of night. It’s where you might find me … at twilight, the in-between hour when day dissolves into darkness, when on a summer’s eve I surrender to the rising surround sound of crickets and keep watch till the starkeepers trot out the stars. 

    Barbara Mahany
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  • Avian,  meadowlark,  nature

    My Favorite Bird

    May 25, 2023

    Western Meadowlarks seek the wide open spaces of native grasslands and agricultural fields for spring and summer breeding and winter foraging. I find them along the weedy sides of roads, marsh edges, and mountain meadows on the eastern plains and along the foothills. They seem to share the marshes with the red-winged and yellow breasted blackbirds. Which make sense as they are in the blackbird family. Since their diet consists mostly of insects and seeds they really are almost everywhere. As you can tell in this image this one has dinner already. They were perched on fence post as I drove along Weld County Rd. 15. Their song is my favorite of the song birds. It just resonates with me. I was surprised to hear it sing even with the worm in it’s bill. Again, have a super day!

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