• musings,  window

    My Mind Can Wander

    August 11, 2019

    A refreshing rain began falling yesterday morning just as I was leaving a local coffee shop. When I pulled up in my condo it was pouring, so I sat in my car to wait out the rain. I found it peaceful for the next 10 minutes. As I sat there my mind wandered back to the coffee shop I had just left and to one of the regular customers there. 

    He sits at the same table almost 6 days a week from 7:00-10:00 am, reading one of the larger national newspapers, from front to back, and sipping on a large iced tea. Of course he is known by both the baristas and the customers. The other regulars will keep the table reserved for him in case he’s late and he has conversations with other customers on a regular basis. My wandering mind was thinking about how differently we spend our time in the coffee shop, and I imagine that’s true outside the coffee shop. I prefer spending my coffee shop time visiting with a friend, reading an uplifting book, writing in my journal,  and fighting the battle to spend as little time on the internet as possible but I almost never read the newspaper. I would rather fill my mind with positive images and thoughts, which is an unreachable ideal. A smile came across my face and I laughed at myself because my idea of coffee shop time would bore him, and probably many others, into a glazed-over-stupor. As I thought about it more, he’d also be bored sitting in my car listening and watching the rain. Sheesh, can my mind wander and not just when it’s raining! 🙂

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  • architecture,  window

    Bedroom Window

    August 22, 2018

    Bedroom Light
    Bedroom Light

    This is a second morning of overcast skies and cooler temperatures. Now at the Bean Cycle for a latte and to use their internet. Talk is about the weather as people get excited about the approaching fall weather. The other night I had to get up to stretch my legs and walk around. When I saw this bedroom window light I had to go back in and grab my camera. There this something about the feel I liked. Have a super Awesome day!

    “The animal merely makes a bed, which he warms with his body in a sheltered place; but man, having discovered fire, boxes up some air in a spacious apartment, and warms that, instead of robbing himself, makes that his bed, in which he can move about divested of more cumbrous clothing, maintain a kind of summer in the midst of winter, and by means of windows even admit the light and with a lamp lengthen out the day.”  Henry David Thoreau

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  • Anthony de Mello,  Black and White,  quotes,  shadows,  window

    Waking Up

    June 22, 2018
    Morning Shadows and my Desk Lamp
    Morning Shadows and my Desk Lamp

    “Spirituality means waking up.”

    Anthony de Mello

    Good morning! Hoping you’re awake. And, if not, then I’ll let you know this is my desk lamp with shadows coming in from my bedroom window. Another one of those surprise scenes that was given just as I was about to leave the house. Had to be awake though.

    Seems I have lived most of my life with a thinking cap that believed the best time to start a project and put the work in to move towards finishing the project, was tomorrow. At this stage of life I approach each day with new attitudes and a trust in myself that was missing in the past. I attribute this change to some healthy maturity, some inner work, authors who have helped me, photography, journaling, unclouded thinking, accepting failures as a part of life, finding a spiritual path, putting in the work and chocolate. Having a network of fellow photographers has been essential also. Those of you who follow along on this blog, sharing your insights with me can pat yourselves on the back. I now have on a new thinking cap. Hope you have a great Friday and weekend! 

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  • architecture,  Documentary/Street,  window

    Jessup Farm

    May 4, 2018

    Window at Jessup Farms
    Window at Jessup Farms

    Happy Friday! Clear skies this morning after three days of cloudy skies and rain that brought over 2 inches of much needed moisture. The mountains received snow with as much as 2 feet in Rocky Mountain National Park. That will put a smile on the farmers faces in eastern Colorado as well as golfers in Phoenix. 

    Jessup Farm was a turn of the century farm owned by Joseph and Mary Jessup. In 2011 it was developed into an innovative, adaptive reuse plan to preserve, restore, and rehabilitate the historic integrity of the farmstead. It’s been developed into the Buckingham housing and the Artisan shops. One of these shops is Bindle Coffee. 🙂 There is a barber shop, dress shop, couple of restaurants, portrait studio, brew house, fitness place. Needles to say there is no more farming. However, they do have a chicken coop with chickens that roam around outside. 

     

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  • architecture,  Black and White,  coffee shops,  window

    Letting Go

    March 8, 2018

    Window Light at Wild Boar Coffee
    Window Light at Wild Boar Coffee

    “Left to its own devices, my mind spends much of its time having conversations with people who aren’t there.” Anne Lamott

    As, Anne Lamott suggests, we can have some strange conversations in our heads. What is troublesome is when we begin to believe these people and conversations exist. They are not reality so it’s important for us to take a few deep breaths and stay present to the moment. Let go of these unreal thoughts.

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