“There is one simple thing wrong with you – you think you have plenty of time.” — Carlos Castaneda, author Getting older has been on my mind a lot lately. I’ve not done anything unusual in the way of self-reflection or anything, but I’ve noticed some changes in myself. People, circumstances, and difficult discussions don’t…
Category: nature
Sometimes
“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.”
Good to Go
Despite any drawbacks or concerns accompanying pop culture’s Pokemon Go craze, I will say this: I have never seen so many public spaces being utilized by so many people. Especially young people. I’ve had many a Sunday stroll through Laumeier Sculpture Park, and it’s typically a pretty solitary exercise. Not today. I’ve never seen the place so…
Patterns, Shapes, and Hidden Things
Try to find patterns, interesting shapes, and hidden things. That was my photo challenge to myself early this morning when I went to the Botanical Garden. I also confined myself to the front of the garden, with a boundary of the pools near the climatron. My favorite subject, the Japanese Garden, is beyond that boundary. But…
Three-Day Adventure…and a New Chapter
When you spend 24 hours of a three-day road trip in the car, you make your own adventures. My younger son started his new job in Tennessee today, so his brother, his girlfriend, and I moved him over the weekend. Each way, we drove through Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. Day One We didn’t stop…
Sometimes
“Sometimes I need only to stand wherever I am to be blessed.” – Mary Oliver, poet
For One Minute…
…walk outside. Stand there… …in silence. Look up at the sky… …and contemplate… …how amazing life is. (Have we had the most amazing clouds lately or what?)
Peace
“Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.” — unknown (But a little quiet sure never hurt anybody.)
Through Today’s Lens
“It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.” — Henry David Thoreau Bubble Bus bubbles clinging to my car’s windshield or a whimsical, magical temporary art installation? A lost and beaten-up button or a funny/creepy little face? Roses through a rain-soaked window or a watercolor dream? A sleeping cat or a…
It is Well With My Soul
“I love myself for I am a beloved child of the universe and the universe lovingly takes care of me now.” – Louise Hay Today I went on a really long bike ride along my usual trail. It was all pretty standard at first — 98 degrees, sun blazing, my skin and clothes grimy and sweaty. I knew…
Cheat Sheet…
I had to laugh when I received my daily email from Tiny Buddha this morning with the subject “100 Reasons to be Grateful Today.” I had just said in yesterday’s blog post that I wanted to start working on a gratitude list. Only mine wasn’t as ambitious as a list of 100 things. I could…
The 10 Rules of Karma
Whether or not you subscribe to the concept, these 10 Rules of Karma are worthwhile words of wisdom that I wanted to pass along. There’s more detail in the original article here. But I’m including the free prize inside, along with photos from a recent visit to our City Garden. You Get What You Give…
Lost and Found
“I like gardening – it’s a place where I find myself when I need to lose myself.” – Alice Sebold, writer I would amend this to read, “I like gardens – it’s a place where I find myself when I need to lose myself.” This sums up my visit to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens at the…
Pause
“Learn to pause…or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you.” – Doug King, poet Today is the first day of the 21-Day Reverence Challenge that I’d mentioned in an earlier post (link here). I loved it and wanted to pass along: “Drop Into The Present Moment: Busyness is an epidemic in today’s world. Our calendars have…
Reverence: The Sacredness of Existence
“The stronger the reverence for natural life, the stronger grows also that for spiritual life.” – Albert Schweitzer, French-German theologian Today I signed up for KindSpring.org’s 21-Day Reverence Challenge. I’m super excited about it. Here’s how they describe it: “Beauty lies in details. To notice it, you have to be paying attention. In a world…
Morning Affirmations & Stuff
This morning an email landed in my inbox from Spirituality & Health that included a wonderful list of “20 Morning Affirmations.” Here is a link to the full list, but below I pulled out a few examples, accompanied by some of my recent photos. – I greet the day with joy and gratitude. – I am so…
Well, That Makes Sense.
It’s interesting (and entirely appropriate) that the first day of spring coincides with the International Day of Happiness, don’t you think? (Even if ours did start with an unexpected snow shower.) Hello, Spring. Hello, Happiness. Here’s to the season of renewed hopes, new beginnings, and fresh starts.
An Irish Blessing
May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand. This is the Irish blessing the Monsignor sang acapella…
Art in Bloom
Today brought a trip to the art museum for Art in Bloom, an exhibit featuring floral interpretations of some of the museum’s collection. Gorgeous stuff…
Spring Affirmations
A walk through the Botanical Garden this morning revealed some glimpses of color and earliest signs of spring, as well as some fun shapes, patterns and even a few stories. The Garden always seems to be the place I can go to decompress and re-center when life gets busy. Today was no exception. With gratitude, here…
Distracted Churchgoer, Part II
About a month ago, I was a little on the distracted side at church — to the point of creating a blog post about it. Well…it happened again. In all fairness, I blame these two gentlemen in front of me. They were wearing identical shirts. It’s hard to tell from this photo, but trust me. Identical….
If the World is a Fair Place…
Temperatures in the 70s with less than two weeks until Christmas? Really? Yes, please. I thought this called for a walk through Laumeier Sculpture Park first thing this morning. And it didn’t disappoint. Lots of fun details. But then there was this installation by Raqs Media Collective. I loved this. Here’s the exhibit description: “Laumeier…
It Was All Yellow
Last week, I was fascinated by a number of ginkgo trees around town that seemed to decide to drop their leaves all at once, forming gigantic yellow carpets on the ground. Here’s a big one I saw near Forest Park. I was totally impressed with our local display until I saw… Check out this article and these photos…
hey there, friends 