Photo:Engage

  “ Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer and often the supreme disappointment. ”  - Ansel Adams How often we flail about trying to influence things we have no control over. What a great waste of our energy and time. Better to focus on the things we do control: our thoughts, our words, and our actions. Imagine how effective we can be then! As I wrote in a poem of my own in my post on February 11, 2023... I saw a twisted tree today with branches in every direction and thought how like some people it is. Unlike, I thought, most trees that grow naturally true and tall or animals that behave instinctively  like the particular animal they are.  People, gloriously infuriating and wonderfully complicated and emotional, wave about like fan-powered air dancers seeking to grab attention. The tree, limbs flailing about, is how like so many we folk are still seeking a direction in life as the tree searches for the sun. Clicking on the image will...

  “ The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. ”  - Marcel Proust     Our old friend Marcus Aurelius's favorite poet, Heraclitus, once said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.” We all change throughout the years and who we were once is not who we are now. Neither are the places we've been before. Change is the hallmark of time's passing. May we all accept that change with gracious kindness and hopeful anticipation. As I wrote in my post on December 31, 2022...      Out with the old and in with the new, just like the rising of a vibrant dawn after the darkness of night reveals fresh possibilities. As we cross the bridge from one year to another, may the joys and heartbreak that marked our lives in the past year yield happily into the opportunities for love and growth possible in the new one. Happy New Year, my friends, and peace be with al...