Tag Archives: Dancing in the moment

Gratitude

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Sometimes, but not often enough I “get over myself”and just relish the dance in the moment. Last week I joined a photography “Meetup” at the Denver Botanic Garden for a member’s only 7:00 a.m. entry before the general public admission at 9:00.  How delightful to be able to “capture” morning’s soft light offering and it’s cool breeze.  When I put the camera to my eye to frame a shot, all of the tensions of a hundred details attended to in the previous week, float away, and  the music of intentional seeing starts its tune.  Here a color, there a texture, water flowing, interesting patterns, butterflies landing,bees pollinating, reflections on the pond, water lilies opening on their own schedule …. and I’m released from mine.

 

Todays image could be cropped to capture only the most beautiful  strong proud “pick of the litter” (I live in Denver where there are almost as many dogs as flowers … I digress) and that’s where the focus usually is, but if you saw the image in full size you’d see the most beautiful light illuminating the bent stems of the drooping flower.  The flowers are still alive, but just not strong enough to stand upright.  A reminder perhaps that sometimes we have to take a leave of absence  from our, activities, challenges, schedules, burdens, losses, and incessant doings. A  garden to dance in and to wait, watch and listen as one season follows  another, one flower dies another shoots up new life.  Meanwhile the light shines in the darkness and the early morning light.  How divine.

 

IBK

Posted in Aging, Letting Go, Seeing In New Ways Also tagged , , , , , |

Change It UP

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Before moving to Denver , my hikes occurred on summer vacations. Yesterday  a friend and I went on a spring hike.  The trail started from a parking lot about 15 minutes from my house. Soon we were climbing higher and  proceeded up a series of switchbacks with a generally smooth path along with patches of rocky terrain. We hiked to the top, sat on rocks to eat our snack and then completed the loop of 4 miles back to the car.  I was home by lunch. OK, so what?

Well the rest of the story is that with minimal effort, I saw purple,teal,and fuchsia spring flowers that I had never seen before, hiked up the back of the well known Red Rocks Amphitheater, AND saw numerous nests of caterpillars in their silken  nursery tents  (see today’s image), resting  – perhaps after munching on their host plant’s leaves.  Take that you boring treadmill at the fitness center.

I had so much energy and a great attitude when I got home, that I planted most of my small backyard garden and added some new scented flowers by the front steps in anticipation of the rain which didn’t come until tonight.  Then I got to see the new plants dancing in the rain.  I would have missed this latest delight because I had planned to watch some T.V. after my big day … thankfully the cable was out and I had hours “to be”.

A personal note: Please pray for a young man name Ty who is in a major battle with his enemy, Non Hodgkins Lymphoma.

IBK

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Seasons, Seeing In New Ways Also tagged , , , |

A Moment in Time

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The camera can never fully capture what the eye sees and adjusts for and the heart remembers. But as a photographer I have the privilege of trying to capture a moment in time that will remind me of a place I have been or to document an experience of some kind or to record a gift I have been given.  Moments are just that … a brief time when we can make a decision to observe, ignore, squander or embrace. Being present to engage with a moment is surely one of the blessings of being human.

In the image above, an ordinary tree when illuminated during the golden hour – that time for a photographer about an hour before sunset – becomes an extraordinary gift perhaps even sacred. How many moments are we missing that will never present themselves again, because our fears, ambitions and distractions cause us to squander the opportunity for engagement?

IBK

 

Posted in Seeing In New Ways Also tagged , , , |