My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and asking deep questions.
“All that we can do with any spiritual discipline is produce within ourselves something of the silence, the humility, the detachment, the purity of heart and the indifference which are required if the inner self is to make some shy, unpredictable manifestation of his presence.” James Finley
Here is a link to an interesting article by William Neil.
I like how the Mercy Center has plants all over the place. There is very little grass as they have planted these wonderful flowers and a vegetable garden. One section is almost all raspberries which are very good. And, of course along with the flowers come the bees, butterflies and other insects.
Common chicory is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant of the dandelion family, usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Many varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons, or roots, which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and food additive. In the 21st century, inulin, an extract from chicory root, has been used in food manufacturing as a sweetener and source of dietary fiber.
Chicory is grown as a forage crop for livestock. It lives as a wild plant on roadsides in its native Europe, and is now common in North America, China, and Australia, where it has become widely naturalized. “Chicory” is also the common name in the United States for curly endive; these two closely related species are often confused. (Wikipedia)
While wandering around the backyard of my sisters I decided to take an image of this Rose of Sharon. After pressing the shutter buton I noticed a pause in the camera and a message in my EVF that said saving. This is not normal. So after some troubleshooting I discovered I’d somehow moved the drive dial to Adv1 setting. This had placed to camera into creating an image to duplicate a toy camera. I liked how they adjusted the image. So, by accident I found something I will use in some situations. This the untouched image it produced.
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! 
Plants that tuck themselves in for bedtime exhibit a natural behavior known as nyctinasty. Scientists know the mechanism behind the phenomenon: In cool air and darkness, the bottom-most petals of certain flowers grow at a faster rate than the upper-most petals, forcing the flowers shut. I’m not sure what this flower is but I encountered a dozen of them along a raised garden on a late evening walk. All of them were closed. I may have to revisit these flowers to observe and learn more about them. Hope everyone has a super awesome weekend!