We are limited, not by our abilities, but by our vision.
~ Author unknown
This is not my usual style, but I liked the light, colors and shapes in an otherwise blurry photo so I blurred and twisted them a bit.
Travels
(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
(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
(My feet at the Jersey shore. September 2008.)
Why isn’t there a special name for the tops of your feet?
~ Lily Tomlin
Well, you know, I had to do it. I can’t go to the beach without including a post with my feet when I return. Besides, it’s good for the hit count. Heh.
I think I need a new pose, though. This one is getting old. It’s hard to tell one beach-feet photo from another. I thought about trying to capture my feet in the water, but there are far too many good reasons to keep my camera away from the water. (My natural klutziness is the #1 reason.)
For those not familiar with my feet, it all started here.
This post is dedicated to my guide to Torrey Pines, TPGoddess (which, of course, stands for Torrey Pines Goddess).
I’m not going to bother with captions. All of the photos were taken by me at the Torrey Pines State Natural Preserve during the short hike I took with TPG on the Guy Fleming Trail. I wish I could have gone back again to hike some of the other trails during our trip, but they’ll have to wait until our next visit. It’s a gorgeous area and I can see why TPG loves it so.
Torrey Pines is one of those places I wish I could explore over and over again on a daily basis. I can’t imagine ever getting tired of going there as I think the changes over the seasons and over time must be fascinating…
(My feet at the beach. November 2007. © Robin)
Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.
~ Henry David Thoreau
Stevo has been wondering: Where are the feet photos in the blogosphere?
Well, here they are again: My feet. I wonder how well my feet posts will compete with each other in terms of getting the most hits.
One of my favorite feelings in the world is that of my feet in the sand. Mud is good too, but sand is best. Snow isn’t so bad either, now that I think about it. But my feet can’t take a lengthy excursion barefoot in the snow.
This photo reminds me that it might be nice to get a pedicure, even in the midst of winter when my toes rarely make a naked appearance anywhere (mostly in the shower/bath and on the yoga mat these days). My feet could use a little spoiling. They’ve been working hard lately, putting in a lot of mileage in an effort to meet my 2008 walking goal of 1,000 miles.
I almost forgot: The music.
(Yosemite. Photo by Robin. 2006)
And we who have always thought of joy as rising, would feel the emotion that almost amazes us when a happy thing falls. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke
(Peat bog trail at Quail Hollow. Photo by Robin. 2007)
I’ve been spending a lot of time sorting through my photos on the computer. I’m a very lazy photographer in that I haven’t had many of them printed. This sorting business is going to take a long time.
I’ve noticed a trend in my photography, something I might not have noticed if I hadn’t been so lazy and forced to spend an entire day staring at the fruits of my photographic labors. Every group of photos contains at least one shot of a road, a pathway, a river, a window, a gate, or a doorway.
I wonder if that reflects my nature as a Sagittarius. We’re known for having itchy (as in wanting to travel) feet. I do enjoy traveling, that’s for sure. I don’t enjoy the packing and the angst and anxiety (aka fear of flying) I go through getting ready to travel, but the traveling itself is always a fun adventure.
This pathways and portals trend might also be a reflection of my favorite activity: walking and hiking. I like nothing more than to set out on a long walk or hike. I have dreams of going on walking tours where we spend the entire day walking through some countryside or along the coast of any country. Like Forrest Gump and his running, sometimes when I start walking I just want to keep going and going, see where it leads me. Walking is, in my opinion, the best way to travel. It slows you down so you can truly see and enjoy the scenery and the moment. I like having my feet on the ground and in touch with the earth (which might partially explain my fear of flying).
In spending a day looking at a lot of these photos, they also remind me of meditative journeys. I look at the photo and in my mind I begin to wander the path in front of me, letting my spirit lead me where it will. This type of journey opens up whole new worlds for me, when I allow myself the freedom to travel in this way. It’s not always easy to let go, or to feel safe enough to let go. But when I do, oh…what a wonder it is!
I frequently keep this type of photo as my desktop background because these images are so calming to me. But they’re also exciting, because who knows where any pathway or portal may lead?
Man takes root at his feet, and at best he is no more than a potted plant in his house or carriage till he has established communication with the soil by the loving and magnetic touch of his soles to it. Then the tie of association is born; then spring those invisible fibres and rootlets through which character comes to smack of the soil, and which make a man kindred to the spot of earth he inhabits. –JOHN BURROUGHS, The Exhilaration of the Road, Winter Sunshine, 1875
(Chesapeake Bay. January 2007. Photo by Robin)
Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world. ~ Hans Margolius
(April 2006. Photo by Robin)
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. ~Lao Tzu
I set out on a new journey, a meditative journey, my knapsack over my shoulder, looking like the Fool dancing on the edge of a cliff, ready to take a giant leap of faith.
Why is it The Clash is running through my head?
Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double…
I leap…
And find myself at a doorway, a portal to another land. I can clearly see the pathway, but have no idea where it will lead.
Should I stay or should I go now?
13 March 2012 update: Funny how this old post is just as appropriate for me today as it was in 2007. Life just keeps cycling from beginning to ending to beginning to… well, you get the idea. New journeys, new adventures, happening all the time.
Bountiful Healing 