• clouds,  landscape,  quotes,  reflections

    We are the change…

    May 9, 2025
    Clouds reflected in Rigden Reservoir

    Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

    Barack Obama

    I spent some time today at Arapaho Bend Natural Area. As I approached the area, I noticed the clouds to the west over the mountains and knew there was a photograph of these clouds reflected in Rigden Reservoir if I walked to the east edge of the reservoir. Unfortunately the clouds aren’t as dramatic as they were a few minutes prior to this image but that’s the way it goes sometimes. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

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  • landscape,  quotes,  reflections,  sunsets

    Sunset Reflection

    May 7, 2025
    Sunset at Rigden Reservoir this past February

    True self-fulfillment arises in the absence of the ego.

    Lao Tzu

    It’s a busy day. Coffee and conversation at Mugs, then met my oldest daughter for breakfast. Will meet Duane for a late lunch at 2:00 pm then attend a movie premiere for my friend John Barnhardt at 5:30 pm. at the CSU Lory Student Center theater.

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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  reflections

    Reflections at Riverbend

    April 26, 2025

    Awoke to overcast skies, 100% humidity that you could cut with a butterknife and an overall gloomy feel. I also felt tired and didn’t want to get out of my warm bed. But, after crawling out from under my covers, making a trip to the bathroom, making my bed, I enjoyed my meditation time. As with most Saturday mornings I drove to Windsor to meet Eric for coffee and conversation. Makes my Saturdays special! I stopped at Riverbend Ponds on the way back to capture some of the overcast skies and the reflections.

    Speaking of reflections, I was reflecting on my drive how much of our society wants to spend today the money from next week’s paycheck. That’s how I thought even 50 years ago. I always assumed that paycheck would be there but there was no guarantee then or now. I sure think differently today. I’ve discovered life is much simpler when I can live in the present and that includes spending only the money I presently have or don’t have. Back then I also believed that if money was short in my budget that my solution was to make more money rather than reduce my expenses. I sure think differently today. Have a wonderful weekend.

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  • clouds,  landscape,  mountains,  quotes,  reflections,  sunsets

    The Substance of Silence

    April 12, 2025
    Late afternoon at Lake Loveland

    But there is greater comfort in the substance of silence than in the answer to a question.

    Thomas Merton

    When I was younger my friends and I would ride our bicycles to Lake Loveland and fish. Our quest was for crappie and perch that gathered along the trunks of the trees in the water. If memory serves me we would use simple little jigs and it was pretty easy pickings. I have very good memories of those days. And amazingly we did not have smartphones to document it. Nor did mom send us a text message telling us dinner was ready. There seemed to be more silence back then. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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  • natural areas,  reflections

    Connecting through communicating

    March 21, 2025

    I have come to realize how poor a communicator I have been in the past. How well I may think I have expressed a thought is always limited and I need to accept that fact. How well I think I have listened and understood is always going to be limited and I need to accept that fact. In my experience learning to communicate in these later years of my life has been a wonderful adventure. I find it enjoyable to converse with someone who is also willing and open to learning the craft of communications. It is at these times we connect, come to understand each other and find our differences may be gifts rather than obstacles.

    Cattails along the edge of Big Bass pond at Arapaho Bend Natural Area

    “Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.”

    Hermann Hesse
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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  quotes,  reflections,  sunsets

    It is within each of us…

    March 19, 2025
    Sunset at Running Deer Natural Area

    The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that its center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.

    Black Elk
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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  quotes,  reflections

    The scent of the rain

    March 14, 2025

    As I stepped out the door this morning I was greeted with a chorus of robins announcing the new day. Now a gentle rain falls, spreading it’s refreshing scent into the lives of all of creation. In these moments I feel alive, renewed, as I enter into the mystery of this new day. This day began with quiet prayer and meditation time, an Old Town Mocha made by Adriana, then coffee and conversation with Jeff. My intent for the day is to live with some peace and calm, separate from the chaos and drama that society seems addicted to. I know of no better teacher and friend to experience this serenity with than staying close to nature. Did I mention I love the scent of the rain?

    Reflections in Big Bass Pond

    I took a stroll around Big Bass Pond at Arapaho Bend Natural Area yesterday afternoon to enjoy the silence and solitude of that sacred place. Behind me were a couple of nesting eagles. I want to believe their shrill calls are shouts of happiness for the egg or two sitting in their nest. May you have a wonderful Friday!

    How we think ripples out to how we behave.

    Robin Wall Kimmerer
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