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Optimism Rests on Gratitude

This winter has been very unusual here in Minnesota with strangely mild weather and very little snow. In fact, according to one weather reporter, Nashville, Tennessee has had more snow than Minneapolis so far this winter. To me It Feels Like Spring already and though I’m enjoying it, there is a part of me that feels strangely ill at ease. Though I almost always wish for an early spring, this is a bit earlier than I had in mind. It’s as if I’m unwilling to believe it fully or that I’m worrying about what the deeper meaning of this mild Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

Witness

Most mornings I try to take some time to sit and meditate before beginning my day. And when I sit in meditation I get a chance to Witness my mind and how it works. Some days I find great peace in my sitting time. Other days I feel as if a monkey is chasing through my brain. I keep getting caught up in one thought chasing another and I totally forget my intention to simply witness the mind. I’m learning to accept and witness whatever is happening in my mind without judging it. Instead, when I notice that I’m thinking Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

Deep Sky Astrophotography

One of my friends from the photo club I’m a member of has been doing Deep Sky Astrophotography from her tiny backyard in south Minneapolis! The photos that she has created in her postage-stamp sized yard amongst all of the light pollution of the city amaze me. So I asked her if I could share some of her photographs here in my blog. And she said, yes but she prefers to stay anonymous so I won’t share her name here. She made all three of the photos in today’s blog post. The photo at the top of this post is Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

Bright Spot

In a series of gray damp days this morning I had a wonderful surprise outside my office window. It was an unexpected Bright Spot in a gray week. As I opened the blinds to my office window I saw a female downy woodpecker at the bird feeder. She froze in the position you see her in above and stayed that way until I had finished photographing her, put the camera down, left the room. Her freeze lasted long enough for me to pick up my camera, change to my 100-400 telephoto lens, lift the camera, discover a problem focusing, remove Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

Light Stuff

Lately I’ve been thinking about life, the universe, everything… You know— Light Stuff —like thoughts about the nature of reality and what everything is really all about. Recently my husband Jon told me that cosmologists discovered a distant galaxy with no stars in it, only masses and masses of gas. Photos of far distant galaxies spark a wonder inside me. This wonder helps me on dark days here on earth in our small galaxy with our beautiful blue planet that is filled with tribes of all too violent and self-centered humans. How can you look at the galaxy and not Read more…

By Marilyn, ago