IN Search of...

HARMONY

I have to apologize for the length of my posts lately I want to show the world what a beautiful place I'm in right now...of course it's not all hunky dory as daily Mom continues to forget who we are, where she is, and how to go about her daily life.  All the things we learn as we grow up and age, if we live long enough, we forget  in almost the exact way.  She asked me yesterday, "what is your mother's name?" Sigh

We enjoy breakfast in our jammies on the back deck

So every single thing I can see that brings more beauty, harmony,  and balance into my life I want and need that.  I am trying hard to stay balanced but it is difficult.  It is not like having a two year old because as I have mentioned before a two yr old learns, you can show them, tell them, or help them and before you know it they are doing that all on their own, it is the opposite with an Alzheimer adult, each day they forget something and each day they do less for themselves and you have to take up the slack...   

My journey for harmony, balance, and beauty continues! Hozho as the Navajo call it.   And in that search we found Divide Creek on Saturday, and West Rifle Creek WMA  on Sunday.  Here's what we saw...

                                                                          (beauty)

the mountain views are always there each one beautiful in it's own way...look at this cemetery what a place to spend eternity...

(harmony)

For all the cemetery-ing that I have been involved in I plan to be cremated! I could def see sprinkling someone's ashes here as well.  And right next to the cemetery is this awesome hay field.  Hay growing and rolling is in full swing here as the rains have spurted growth!

there is an abundance of life everywhere we look...

and the promise of continuance helps me with this balance of life and loss that plagues my thinking...

This photo is a little shaky as I tired to swing the camera around but the deer were quickly running for cover... look at the velvet...soon they will not be best buds they will be defending a territory against each other and those antlers will be sharp and unfriendly...and is that not the way life is sometimes, one day we are surrounded by velvet the next sharp pointy objects!

NOT just another Red-Tailed Hawk, but part of the grand scheme, an individual with a life, a family, a purpose... they don't get the red tail till they're about 3 yrs old...and I read they can live to 13-ish or so years...

 this inanimate object below seems to clutter the landscape for eons...wonder how long this old ford has been in this gully??

...and we wondered how it came to be here in the first place?

ahhhh there is that beauty again....

The mountain stands tall and protects the smaller rounded hills and the trees on it, then the grass waves in the wind outlined with fragrant sage. Balance. 

One thing I like about fencing is it provides a spot for birds to perch (look for the positive when possible)...I found these 2 birds.  

I am no expert, far from it, never professed to one, but it does not stop me from trying to figure out what the heck these birds are called...I came up with Gray Flycatchers.   If I find our later it's called by another name I will retract that ID.   (so far ebird is happy no response is a good response?)

In the big scheme of things birds have no name at all...they know who they are without our labels.

heavy crop here

in fact in the real scheme of things this may not be a bird at all!  Who knows how they think of themselves? I sure don't.  They probably hold the secret to life but we will never know that...that's why I need to see as many as possible  maybe one of them will let me in on the real meaning of life on Planet Earth. 

This beautiful Kestrel sure brought me into the moment with his gorgeous feathers, his piercing look ...

I read over at Laura Erickson's Blog about how Kestrels get shot at a lot...go read it and see what she has to say...kinda got me to feeling like saving our birds from the right is almost an impossible task as harmony, balance, and beauty is celebrated in a different way they collect the heads, the skins, the feather, I just count them!  NOW she is an expert so take her word for it not mine. Our political lean matters!!

...and this red tail has some raggedy feathers but he is still out there making hawk majik all over this awesome place!  Yep he's not perfect but he knows in the big scheme that doesn't matter in the least.  Imperfect is not worthless or something to be discarded, covered up, or denied life!

ooops don't fly out of my frame please....

so here we go up the West Rifle Creek area...there's land for sale up here...no idea what it is worth in terms of paper money....much more than I can imagine I'm sure but for me in this moment it is a gift straight out of a fairy tale. 

Do you see yourself in this cabin, shaking off the dust, opening up those long ago closed windows?

What if a flower was the center of your world.... if your entire life could be spent on top of a flower...wow

or safely hidden in the reeds near a mountain fresh stream...when a cool sip of water is all that is on your mind...now that is peace. 

...all too soon it's time to go....the road continues but we make a right and head back to the highway...

...don't forget there is beauty out there sometimes you have to go look for it!  

PEACE

Every day is a new adventure!

GRAND Mesa Part II

Boy I was hungry!  I heard thunder in the distance and figured it was the perfect time to get out and have the sandwich  I packed before the rain caught me. 

 

I found the perfect perch to sit and admire the view while I ate...I walked out to the end of this path and found the right spot!

I watched a hawk soar across the valley while I munched...pretty awesome!!

Back on the drive...there was a cow jam! They literally were milling around right in the road...I inched

through them...I found this brand especially disturbing...

only a deranged mind could do such a thing to a beautiful animal...*sad*

at the end of this 12 mile gravel road is the old observatory visitors center...it is no longer open, sadly but it is still a beautiful spot at the end of the mesa...and beyond is an actual weather observatory...but it off limits. 

I saw this road leading down off the Mesa...hmmm and 

Upon closer inspection I saw a waterfall!!

can you see it?? 

I decided that I wanted to see that waterfall!!  The main road drove right beside the brink of the water...

and then the road continues...to the old visitors center...

stunning views...

complete with a resident Clark's Nutcracker...

and some cute little beggars....

I left and headed for the Switchback road seen above...I had intended to go only as far as the waterfall...sorry bout the quality of this photo...my camera is not doing well... had a system error message! 

here is the first switchback...

I had to make 3 of the switchbacks to actually see the waterfall...but there was no place to turn around and the weather was swiftly changing!

SO I just kept going....down... using 1st gear practically all the way...



the road is gravel and it's not really bad lower down the upper section was very narrow..

then it widened and the aspens came in on both sides..

slowly but surely the storm keep building...

the rain was falling in the distance and back toward the way I had entered the Mesa..on the Scenic  Byway so kinda was happy I did NOT go back that way...it took me about an hour to get down.



I finally got back to blacktop road, and now it was a race to outrun the storm...

In some spots it was SNOW instead of rain!

I had such a great day up on the Mesa, I want to go back to do the upper area beyond the Land's End turn off, there is SO Much more to see up there.

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.