(Floating on the colorful reflections.)
Learn to pause … or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you.
~ Doug King
Nature
Whatever we do to any other thing in the great web of life, we do to ourselves, for we are one.
~ Brooke Medicine Eagle
(Sunshine on water.)
Most people can look back over the years and identify a time and place at which their lives changed significantly. Whether by accident or design, these are the moments when, because of readiness within us and collaboration with events occurring around us, we are forced to seriously reappraise ourselves and the conditions under which we live and to make certain choices that will affect the rest of our lives.
~ Frederick F. Flack
(Reflections on a Saturday evening in October.)
If we can recognize that change and uncertainty are basic principles, we can greet the future and the transformation we are undergoing with the understanding that we do no know enough to be pessimistic.
~ Hazel Henderson
(Overlooking Lake Haiyaha. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
I am I plus my surroundings; and if I do not preserve the latter, I do not preserve myself.
~ Jose Ortega y Gasset
(Colorado harebell. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.
~ Joseph Addison
I have trouble seeing or hearing the word “inconceivable” without thinking of The Princess Bride (montage found here).
(On the road to Estes Park. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
We are not going around in circles, we are going upwards. The path is a spiral.
~ Hermann Hesse
(Raindrops on tiger lilies. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
Beauty awakens the soul to act.
~ Dante Alighieri
(Moon and elm. All photos © 2009 by Robin)
Two large elm trees on our property will be coming down as soon as the weather is warm enough and dry enough. They have succumbed to Dutch elm disease. There is no saving the trees as they are quite dead.
(Sun and elm.)
While out on my walk yesterday I took (too) many photographs of them as it seemed to me that these beautiful giants deserve some sort of recognition. They provided shade for us during the hot summer months and a frame for many a gorgeous sunset. Walking near them on a windy day is now a dangerous proposition as branches and large chunks of bark come flying off at amazing speeds.
We would normally leave the trees to die and come down on their own, providing a home for some of the wildlife. However, they’re located near my vegetable garden and I’ve already been hit by small pieces of bark while out there looking around. I’d hate to have half the tree come crashing down on me while I was weeding.
What did the tree learn from the earth to be able to talk with the sky?
~ Pablo Neruda
(Feeling small. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
Sometimes during the day, I consciously focus on some ordinary object and allow myself a momentary “paying-attention.” This paying-attention gives meaning to my life. I don’t know who it was, but someone said that careful attention paid to anything is a window into the universe. Pausing to think this way, even for a brief moment, is very important. It gives quality to my day.
~ Robert Fulghum
More photos and a bit about this morning’s hike at Life in the Bogs.
Bountiful Healing 