59: Wondering

(View from the airplane window.)

I wonder.  I wonder a lot.  I even wondered about the word wonder and had to go look it up just to see if it is all the things I think it is and I was delighted to find it’s true:  Wonder is a wonderful word.

(Looking to see what’s out there.)

To think or speculate curiously

I wonder about blogging and life.  I wonder about the ups and downs of it.  I have a few blog mates that have dropped off the blogosphere for a while.  Some have come back for NaBloPoMo.  Some have made brief appearances for NaNoWriMo.  And others are showing up in comments here and there remarking about how this is the first year they have missed NaNo or NaBlo.

(Looking up while standing inside of a sculpture.  Shelter Island.)

I wonder about some of those folks.  Is life keeping them so busy that they no longer have time to blog?  Did they grow tired of it?  Have they moved on to some other aspect of online life?  Or are they so immersed in life that blogging about it doesn’t even enter their minds anymore?  (I like to think it is the last option because I want to imagine them happily going about life.)

To be filled with admiration, amazement or awe

Some of those I am missing from blogland are people I admire, people who amazed and awed me with their use of words.  I’ve often wished that I could put together letters, string together words, and make sentences and paragraphs the way they do.  I know there is a certain amount of skill involved in writing as with any art, skill that comes from knowing the basics and practicing them, but I also know there is a gift to it as well.

(Balanced rocks.)

I miss their gifts and I hope they are still sharing them somewhere so that others can experience the wonder of their use of words and their ability to draw one in to a story or a poem.

To doubt

I’m committed to this — blogging and the outdoor adventures challenge — for a good long while and I have to tell you, I wondered (a lot!) after making the announcement if I wasn’t making a great mistake.  A whole year???  How crazy is that??  Did I aim too high?

(Becoming part of the sculpture.)

But day after day it has become easier, mainly because it has become part of my daily routine.  I am habit building.  A day without some outdoor time doesn’t seem normal anymore.

I also wonder if I’ll be able to catch up.  I tried to keep up with blogging and my blogging friends while in San Diego but I could only devote so much time to it as my days were filled with enjoying being in San Diego.  So I think I’ll give up on catching up and start from where I am.

Today’s Walk

Today’s walk was filled with wonders, too.  It always is.  Today I admired the silvery sheen of the sunlight and clouds, especially as they were reflected in the water of the pond.

(Today’s view of the pond.)

The sky has been milky today.  Even the blues, when they were showing, looked washed out.  It’s an unseasonably warm day.  Perhaps that is what is causing the haze and milkiness.

(Reflections through the grasses.)

M has been outside using his new toy, a chain saw.  I can’t get quite as excited about it as he is, but I am glad he has a better chain saw than he had in the past.  It should make it easier and quicker to cut up all the wood lying about out there, especially the huge chunks of elm left from when we had to have the dead elm trees cut down.

One of the places I be sure to visit each day is the back of the pond where a big, old maple tree hangs over the water.  We are going to have to remove it sometime soon.  A strong wind could bring it down, roots and all, and that could/would undermine the dam.  I feel awful about it.  It’s a beautiful tree.  I took a few photos but they all came out blurry (sort of how I look at the tree now, feeling teary-eyed about having to cut it down).

I’ll try again tomorrow to get some decent shots of it.  I will be visiting the tree every day until we finally do the dastardly, but necessary, deed.

I also wondered at and admired the browns.  I know most people don’t think of brown as a beautiful or wonderful color.  I like it.  There are so many different shades of brown now that most of the other color has dropped away.  Sometimes I try to see how many of those shades I can get into one photo.

That’s about it from the Bogs for now.  Thanks for stopping by.  🙂


The Children’s Garden

If my heart can become pure and simple like that of a child, I think there can be no happiness greater than this.

~ Kitaro Nishida

I’ve been going through the photos I took in the children’s garden at the Cleveland Botanical Garden, enjoying the sculptures, colors, and whimsical qualities.  Since I have nothing else to write about today, I thought I’d share a few of the pictures with you.  (Don’t forget you can click on the photo for the larger view.)

(If you follow me over at Bountiful Healing, the horse probably looks familiar.  It made an appearance over there in another photo.)

I’ll be back with a few more tomorrow.

(The completed puzzle.)

Project Patio is on hold for a few days.  M is back at work and I’ve moved indoors to catch up on all the things that need doing around the house (cleaning, laundry, ironing, etc.).  It’s not quite as exciting or picture-worthy as Project Patio so I’ll be searching for some blogging prompts once I finish with the children’s garden.  All suggestions are welcome.  🙂


Hi!

(Sign on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. April 2008)

After a whirlwind trip that took us to Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Ocean City (NJ), and hiking in the mountains of Pennsylvania, we’re home.

At last.

The plan is to stay for a while. It’ll be nice to get settled back in. My house is a bit of a tip after all the traveling. It will get worse next week when we have a little remodeling done. We’re finally going to put up shelving in our spare bedroom — which we’re turning into a library/guest room — but before that happens we’re having new windows installed. The current windows do not give a good view of the pond unless you’re a tall person. They’re small and high up. The new windows are picture windows so the view will improve drastically.

While we’re at it, we decided to have patio doors installed where there are currently picture windows in the dining room. The long-term plan is to build a deck back there. Having the doors installed might spur us on towards realizing that plan/dream.

So, I have a bit of work to do in terms of getting caught up around the house and cleaning out the spare bedroom. In between, I’ll work on posting some more photos from San Diego.

One of the first things we did when we arrived in San Diego was visit something we missed the first time around:

(Unconditional Surrender. Port of San Diego, CA. April 2008)

(Closer view of Unconditional Surrender.)

Because we couldn’t check into our condo until later in the day, we wandered around the waterfront for a little while, and then drove to Point Loma and Cabrillo. The contrast between our visit to Cabrillo in November 2007 and this visit was astounding. I had no idea of the view that was hidden behind the clouds and fog of November. I’ll have some photos for comparison posted soon.

In the meantime, I leave you with a few more photos taken from the Port of San Diego. Enjoy.

(The USS Midway. April 2008)

(Tribute to Bob Hope.)

(Another view of the USS Midway.)