My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and asking deep questions.
There’s a difference between seeing something and beholding it.
Martin Shaw
The sun shines, the wind blows, the leaves on the trees dance wildly, robins sing happily, squirrels chase one another, a flotilla of pelicans float on the reservoir, and white clouds drift across the blue sky. There is so much beauty around us to see and behold. They all grab my attention, maybe even calling to me. I hope you had a wonderful Friday and may you have a wonderful weekend!!!
It may be a product of getting older
Steven Charleston, Spirit Wheel
But sometimes I want to stop time.
I want to make the sunsets last just a little longer.
I want the quiet mornings to go on and on
The laughter at the dinner table
To stretch out into a whole evening
The beauty of the clouds as they race
Across the valley to never end.
It is not that I want to freeze reality, just slow it down.
I want life to move as slowly as I do.
For I have learned that life moves far too fast as it is.
It is a joy that endures but briefly
Made of moments that pass as quickly as hummingbirds.
Let me linger in the love I feel.
Let me see the light for as long as I can.
I stopped on my ride this evening because these daisies caught my eye. However, I was not the only one interested in the daisies as this bee busily flitted from flower to flower. So busy in fact, I never got a good infocus shot. Oh well. I watched and lingered and loved the moment.
Overcast skies on this Sunday morning provided beautiful diffused light, perfect for flowers. This light enticed me to stop at the CSU Flower Trial Gardens on the way home from coffee. I grabbed my camera and walked among the beauty of nature’s newest creations. At times I can almost be overwhelmed by the colors and those smiling faces of so many flowers. I was not the only one enjoying them. Bees excitedly buried their bodies in each face, then moved on the next face. I was also joined by a few early risers with coffee in hand strolling among these smiling faces. Needless to say I left with a smile on my face! Have a wonderful Sunday!
We have our first frost warning of the 2018 fall season tonight. Good-by summer. These daisies are located on the median strip at the north entrance of campus. I walk by this spot each morning I walk to Mugs coffee shop. I like how the school landscapers change these flowers throughout the summer season at this spot It is never the same. I posted an image of tulips earlier in the summer that were in this same spot. Feels like I have a personal gardener.
There are days when my inner peace is troubled or just not there. It can be due to the political environment and struggles of our world, a troubled relationship in my life, my weight, a task I really do not want to do, traffic, road construction, money (the lack of it). I could go on but I’m sure you have your own list. Sometimes I find myself thinking I’d have more peace if I did more walking, got more rest, spent more time in prayer and mediation, more solitude, more…. a lack of something? Then at some moment of clarity I stop and laugh at myself. More is not my answer, although this culture wants to convince me it is. I’ve come to realize it’s not the wants that bring peace and serenity but it’s the acceptance and gratitude of what I already have. And, maybe having less will allow more peace, letting go of something(s).
Since I was early to meet a friend at a local coffeehouse called the Wild Boar, I took a walk across the street to the CSU Experimental Gardens. Look what I found! 
In the life of the Indian there is only one inevitable duty – the duty of prayer – the daily recognition of the Unseen and Eternal. He sees no need for setting apart one day in seven as holy days, since to him all days are God’s.
Ohiyesa, Santee Dakota
