Cilantro sprouts with such joie de vivre, a sentiment I share with the moonset in the west, sunrise in the east and my bare feet soaking in the finally 55 degree autumn earth. Next, I'm talking to a spider in my kitchen sink, " You're going to have to cooperate if you want to be free!" Spider is alive and well in the garden and I've received my lesson for today. #freedom,#beauty,#nature

Portals of Wonder. #curiosity,#wonder

Thank You Old Oak This week, after decades of caring stewardship, the difficult decision was made to remove an ailing oak, a neighboring tree whose wide expanse shaded two homes and hosted a wide variety of wildlife for generations. I kept several large branches. One of these sections shows an area of spalting, indicating the process of deterioration from within, but giving it a unique quality often appreciated by woodworkers. I don’t have such artistic plans, I simply wish to appreciate them as I work and relax. The tree may be gone, but the roots are still below in an array as grand as what has been lost above, their ecosystem ready to nourish what is to come. One such thing began as a fallen acorn 10 years ago, and is now reaching 25 feet and more towards the sky. Tonight I’m watching the sun set with gratitude and reverence for an old oak tree and its gift of the new. #trees,#oak,#gratitude ,#regeneration

Summer Falling into Autumn #autumn,#leaves,#raindrops

Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa) From the Rose (Rosaceae) Family and native to Southwest North America Fascinating to watch this one grow. Bees plunge through the pollen laden stamens to gather nectar deep in the flower’s center between the pistils. Each pollinated pistil elongates into a pink-toned, feathery extension that eventually carries a seed away via wind or critter. #nativeplants,#nature,#seeds

Native Bird Feeders California Fucsia ( Epilobium canum) Bladderpod (Cleomella arborea) White Sage (Salvia apina) #nativeplants,#birds,#nature

“ One man who stopped lying could bring down a tyranny” - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Totalitarian systems of all kinds rely on forced participation in falsehoods to maintain their control. Too often these falsehoods come in the proverbial sheep’s clothing. Yesterday I heard the Milgram Experiment referenced again. In this experiment, 65% of participants who were called “teachers” were willing to administer increasingly severe electric shocks to study participants called “learners” when they answered a question incorrectly. “Teachers” were directed to do this by the experimental scientist in the study. I wondered if anyone had ever identified characteristics of the individuals in the 35% who disobeyed the instructions. A list of factors found includes: less authority-compliant personalty and their levels of empathy, conscientiousness and moral conviction. Looking further, an even more influential factor was identified. Milgram’s Experiment 17 included 2 study confederates posing as “teachers” along with the study “teachers”. When the first confederate refused to continue 3 of 40 “teacher” participants dropped out. When the second confederate dropped out, 12 of 40 “teachers” refused to proceed. At the end of the study 4 of 40 “teachers” ,10% had continued to the end of the study. Just one, Just two. The dark side knows this. The naive and complacent mob acts this out in circles small and stages large. Large and small, our divine yes and divine no matter, perhaps more than we realize. Prayers for knowledge, wisdom and courage to use them in Love & Light. #truth,#liberty,#spirit,#courage

"My sister Emily loved the moors. Flowers brighter than the rose bloomed in the blackest of the heath for her; out of a sullen hollow in a livid hill-side her mind could make an Eden. She found in the bleak solitude many and dear delights; and not the least and best loved was — liberty. Liberty was the breath of Emily’s nostrils; without it, she perished." Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855), from the preface to the Collected Poems, 1850 #nature,#liberty,#booknotes