When one has a camera, a cold and rainy afternoon, and no interest whatsoever in Black Friday shopping, the Butterfly House is a perfect place to wander about, reflect, and decompress. It’s amazing how much there is to see in such a relatively small space. I am so grateful this town has such a variety of beautiful places in…
Category: nature
Sunday Surprises
Early this morning I headed to the Botanical Garden to see if anything was still in bloom or if any fall colors were still hanging in there. Much to my surprise, I found a little bit of both! In fact, I had more than 130 photos to wade through by the time I got home. Here are…
My Favorite Color…
…is October. I’m not ready to move on.
Thanks for Everything…and Nothing in Particular
“I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things… I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind.” – Leo Buscaglia, author Today I was wildly enthusiastic about…a single sunflower defying the change of seasons. I can see. And enjoy. Kids’ artwork in a hallway of the local elementary school (my polling place this…
Message Received
“Look in the mirror. Appreciate yourself. Celebrate your capacity for simple acts of generosity and gentleness.” – Chogyam Trungpa Today I noticed this little yellow leaf had settled perfectly on my front porch’s potted plant when I got home from work. I was completely fascinated. It certainly didn’t look like this leaf had floated here randomly on some gust of…
Owls & Orchids
Made some new friends at the Butterfly House tonight at the Owls & Orchids event. First I met the owls that were feathered… Yes, these are alive…and yes, that is that owl’s real expression. Then I met the other winged owls…1,000 owl butterflies! Before I walked in, the guide told me that the butterflies were “just waking…
9 Ways to Cultivate Gratitude
So I found a new website that’s kind of fun. It’s called “unstuck” and you can find it here. It bills itself as A Practical Guide to Gratitude (so you can see and think differently). There’s some really great stuff in here. One thing I really loved was a graphic that included “9 Ways to Cultivate Gratitude.”…
Yes, Indeed. So Glad.
“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” – L.M. Montgomery For any number of reasons, I haven’t wanted to resume training since the Chicago Marathon nearly two weeks ago. A little tired…a little sore…a little burned out. I’ve needed a break. But at the same time, I cannot bear to…
What’s In This Season
Of all the seasons, fall feels like the time of greatest transformation to me. There’s nothing subtle or slow about the transitions of fall. New colors. Less light. Colder temperatures. Bare trees. It seems to happen just like that: Boom, fall presents itself. For whatever reason, fall also makes me turn inward more than the other…
Can’t Decide.
Confused or nonconformist? Or simply indecisive? Whatever the case may be, what a striking little fella this is!
Goodness in the Garden
It’s amazing to me that no matter how many times I visit, our Botanical Garden manages to offer something new every single time. Naturally there are some favorites that never change, like the Japanese Garden. Click on pano below for detail. Fall Preview: Got to hear the crunch of leaves underfoot this morning. But I have…
The Thing About Butterflies and Bees
Today was an unusual day. It seems that the monarch butterfly migration is currently making its way through our area. All day long, monarchs floated by my office window. Dozens upon dozens…sometimes as many as six in my window at once. It was amazing. I wanted so badly to get a photo of one, but…
Five Tips for a Healthy Spirit
Tiny Devotions, my favorite Instagram account and mala maker, posted these “five tips for being a Free Spirit” today. I think I would amend this title to read “five tips for a healthy spirit” to make it more relatable for everyone. “Free Spirit” implies hippy-dippy to some (although I’m totally good with it). This is…
Going, But Not Arriving
“When you practice walking meditation, you go for a stroll. You have no purpose or direction in space or time. The purpose of walking meditation is walking meditation itself. Going is important, not arriving. Walking meditation is not a means to an end; it is an end. Each step is life; each step is peace…
Fields of Gold
In spite of its drawbacks (hateful political posts, vague booking, overshared details of offsprings’ projectile vomit, poop, etc), Facebook can be a pretty wonderful thing. It connects us to friends from all facets of our lives, entertains us with cat videos, updates us on the latest news (and gossip)…and inspires us to explore new places. Like this place. Prior…
Perfectly Flawed
Imperfect flowers. For whatever reason, this seems to be a trend over the past few days. I spotted the above FrankenConeflowers during my run this morning. Below is a photo I took as I watched in fascination as a man painstakingly worked his way through dozens of bundles of flowers trying to find the perfect…
Delmar Sunflower Project
10,000 of these golden beauties right smack in the middle of the city. Like two blocks worth. So gorgeous and unexpected. For background on the project, click here.
Well, hello there.
Bright and early this morning, I opened the front door to leave for work and…. …this cute little guy was sunbathing on my front porch* and I’d obviously woken him up. As I debated opening the glass storm door, he was clearly debating whether or not he was going to have to move. When I swung…
Whoops?
Went over to stalk my neighbor’s flowers and my lens instantly fogged up when I went outside. The result was subtle and slightly dreamy, even if it wasn’t deliberate. I love happy accidents.
Up
Look up. Get up. And never give up. (The past two days have been a cloud gazer’s dream. These are like cloud balloon animals. What shapes – or critters – do you see?)
Hello, Buttercup.
Some lovely flowers to close a very busy week…and welcome a long, holiday weekend.
Saturday at the Garden
Woke up this morning with the urge to wander through the Botanical Garden. Oh, what a lucky decision that was. This artist made my day. I wish you could see his painting. It’s a beauty. I’ve been to the Garden a million times, but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it look quite this…
Whoa…
Well, spring is out doing itself this year. Lemme tell ya, if these photos were scratch and sniff, you’d totally leave a nose print on your screen.
Yes…
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” – W.B. Yeats
Orange
Now see the beautiful sunset ore the ocean blue Fiery colors due abound of poems there are a few I wish that I could write one, about that perfect hue But nothing rhymes with Orange Orchards stretch for miles, they never seem to stop Their nectar-baring fruit is one that’s hard to top A fruit…
hey there, friends 