Afternoon Delight

 So much rain here in central Illinois everything is extremely green, something I truly missed during our short stint in Colorado (maybe the only thing I missed :) Have you seen the blue of the Colorado sky? Anyway, had to shoot these in color. I heard once that the human eye can distinguish more shades of green than any other color. Lots to see here.

Prehike Moment

My husband and I recently had the opportunity to hike in Southern Indiana with my brother and his wife on the Knobcreek Trail. It was a wonderful backpacking experience through a very quiet forested area of Indiana. My back full, I decided not to carry my camera with me, but the night before our journey I shot these as the last bit of sunlight spotlighted the lake next to our tent.

As I look at these now I see a theme.... perhaps a kind of  "heads up". This was a remarkable unforgettable trip for me and part of the reason for that was discovering that I had lost my car keys 7 miles into our hike. While initially I was anxious and somewhat panicked about the hassle that would create for everyone, as the day went on I was able to let go of it. I took an "everything will be alright" attitude. I held onto this feeling so securely that as we drove from the end of the trail back to where my car sat at the trail head I felt an enormous sense of relief. I left myself feel huge gratitude for finding the keys. When we returned to my unlocked car to find, my purse, my brother's and sister in law's wallets and ipads still there the relief I felt went deeper. And when my husband looked down at the back bumper of my car and discovered that someone had found and returned the keys I was elated. It felt like magic.

Recently I've read about the cause and effect relationship and the magic of the fact that the opposite  is also true. Maybe it really is true that sometimes, the effect can create the cause. I believe it :)

Curious?? Read the article I read here: http://consciouslifenews.com/law-magic-effect-base/1169605/

Solo Kayak

My first solo kayak trip of the year and apparently my first blog since 2014 and it's already May. Oh well, as this is my last month of teaching perhaps I will be more vigilant in keeping this up. I'm pretty sure I just got lazy and posted to Facebook though I much prefer this venue. My first kayak trip of the year was a surreal one. I went with friends to a piece of Lake Sangcris that was going to lead us to a small creek. It was a gorgeous 60 degree sunny day and after a long cold spell the sun felt especially warm on my naked arms and legs. We took off and paddled a fair distance, probably 15 minutes into our trip we noticed the lake looking particularly reflective. As we paddled closer we were soon consumed by an icy mixture much like paddling through a giant Sonic slushy. The sound was wonderful even it if did make it a bit more difficult to paddle. But as we continued on we got to a point of totally frozen lake with at least an inch thick of ice. We laughed and worked to break our way through. Clunk, Clunk, Splash, push. It made the trip extremely difficult as we had to first break the ice with our oars and then try to push ourselves forward. Thinking the creek of moving water wouldn't frozen we forged forward making our way along the edge of the water where the ice wasn't quite as thick. After almost an hour of hard paddling we stopped and decided to turn back as we were still far from the creek. Ten or fifteen minutes into our return we discovered that the ice that had covered the lake was entirely gone. It vanished in an instant. Wish I had carried my camera that day. The sun sparkling on the ice covered lake was like a path of diamonds.

From yesterday's trip on Lake Springfield into Sugar Creek I saw four snakes, three deer laying by the water and tons of turtles. It was an overcast day except for a blast of sun every so often. I made it out before the storm hit but got to see the dark clouds roll in quickly.

I was so relaxed on this trip I fell asleep and ended up under branches of a red cedar like this one.

Playing with Light and Water~ a walk by the creek

Frosted Morning~ Feeling Gratitude

Winter's Walk

 A much needed walk takes me down my lane to find the unfamiliar. Walking with camera in hand after such a long time away from it, brought me the peace I sought. It was in stillness I took this, my favorite shot of the day.

In my moment this morning

I stood at the sink noticing the low light from the sun coming in my back window. I stood there for several minutes watching the light reflect off the water and the bubbles form on my hands. My senses awake to the feel of the water, space opened and awareness took hold. I am missing my meditation and yoga time these last couple months so brief as it may be these days, a moment of clarity feels like a great gift.

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