An online journal sharing my interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, spirituality and asking deep questions.
My brother-in-law has a new hummingbird feeder. As the morning sun rose I stepped over to catch a starburst breaking the roofline along with the feeder and got photobombed.
My sister and I arrived home about 6:45 pm last night. I had a wonderful time with family, filled with laughter and way too much food. But isn’t that what normally happens during the Thanksgiving holiday. Once again reminded of how much dislike I have for air travel. Have a great Tuesday!
Instructions for living life:
Mary Oliver
Pay attention
Be astonished
Tell about it
“The innocence and silence of the animal world has a huge subtlety to it that is anything but dumb, but rather notices everything and is present in everything. Animals carry a huge ministry of witness to the silence of time and to the depth of nature. They are like the landscape in a sense: they live too in a mode of silence.”
John O’Donohue
I believe this to be a Western Kingbird. I am not that familiar with them but they are a beautiful bird. I encountered this one along Weld County Road 15 in an open prairie area. This is a major crop and looks fairly decent.
a flash of blue catches my eye
ms
a quick flutter on the fence post
always keeping a safe distance
with trills of rich musical notes
a rare sight in this area
at the edge of their range
found in bushy, moist pastures
and roadside thickets
gift of a blue grosbeak
stirring up mud
ms
seeking aquatic insects
evening dinner
I see a lot of killdeer out here but I can’t remember ever seeing an American Avocet until last week. As I drove by a pond along Weld County Road 13 I noticed a very large killdeer so I stopped to check it out. That’s when I realized it was not a killdeer. This is a lovely bird with a lovely call. They use their long bills to stir up the mud, disturbing the aquatic insects and having a feast.
“…the first intention of Nature is the preservation of the universe” and that all beings are striving for that goal. Indeed, “God loves all creatures equally and fills them with his being. And we should lovingly meet all creatures in the same way.” Meister Eckhart
Stepped out of my condo this morning into a very silent world. There is no wind, no sound of cars. The world seems to have quarantined itself. I hear a chickadee singing to me their happy and short song. I did not need to leave the city to experience the quiet. Eerie feeling inside of me. So many people in fear and so many are indifferent. Stopped at the grocery store yesterday afternoon and so many items gone from the shelves. I noticed a newly opend restaurant serving breakfast this morning that no cars in its parking lot. Churches, schools, sporting events have closed. Amazing how such a small creature can affect the world so quickly. Shows how little power and how insignificant we humans really have. Sharing a few of my feelings and thoughts this morning. Stay safe.
I was 1 degree at 6:15 this morning. By my standards, that’s called cold. This snowstorm was all that they predicted and some and some and some more. Reports say we had 15 inches in 15 hours. I cleaned off at least 12 inches of heavy wet snow from my car, which means we have received some wonderful moisture out of this. On my walk to the coffee shop this morning the snowdrifts along the campus parking lots looked like mountains. Enough about the snow.
My sister and I were scheduled to fly to Phoenix yesterday morning but due to the incoming storm they canceled our flight and we were able to reschedule for today at 5:00 pm. That will get us there in time to keep my brother-in-law from eating all the lemon meringue pie. 🙂 But, my weather app warned of flash flooding for the Phoenix area and are predicting rain over the next few days with cold temperatures for them, and that depends on your definition of cold. I will take the rain and the time with my family over the cold and snow here.