Living – Places: 37

"Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place."
– Iain S. Thomas, I Wrote This for You

2025

This morning gifted us with one of my favorite things in life: the first rays of sunshine of the day after a big snowstorm. In our increasingly grim and insane world, I really cherish these moments of quiet grace.

Looking up at towering Ponderosa pine trees that are covered in a dense layer of glowing white snow lit by the first rays of sunrise. Beyond is a clear, deep blue sky.


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It's that time of the end of autumn when the Rabbitbrush turns particularly beautiful, especially when glowing radiantly in the afternoon sun.

A view of a several clusters of flowers on a large Rabbitbrush shrub. The flowers have gone to seed. Whereas they were a beautiful yellow when they were freshly in blossom, they are now white and look like clusters of cotton balls with hundreds of little light tan spikes sticking up out of them. They are glowing in the afternoon sun.


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The teasel is equally beautiful glowing in the afternoon sun.

A cluster of teasel seed heads. On tall tan stalks are oval-shaped dark tan seed heads, each surrounded by light tan spikes radiating outward. The spikes are glowing in the afternoon sun that is behind the teasel plant.


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Peak autumn!

A giant cottonwood reaching up into a beautiful blue sky with just a few white clouds, all of its leaves glowing golden yellow.
Another giant cottonwood reaxching up into the blue sky with glowing golden yellow leaves, some tinged a burnt orange. This cottonwood lives next to and towers above a craggy redstone cliff, which can be seen outlined in shadow to the left of the tree.
A young oak tree reaching its beautiful red, orange, and peach-colored leaves up into a brilliant blue sky.


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We are having a beautiful autumn. After a rather dry summer of at times brutal heat, it has cooled down, and we have been graced with a few wonderful rainfalls. Things have actually greened up even as the leaves in the deciduous trees have begun to turn yellow, orange, and red.

Today we have some quite strong, gusty winds, the kind where I had to keep holding onto my cap I was out walking. The sun was just coming up over the hills that line the creek valley through which I walk. At one point, I looked up to see a glowing golden tree flash back and forth between brilliant illumination and darkness as the gusts blew it between the light of the sun and the shadows behind. An amazing show!

In a stand of trees, some brightly lit by the morning sun and others in shadow, and most of which still have green leaves, one young tree stands out with glowing golden autumn leaves, caught just at the moment when a strong gust of wind pushed it into the sunlight.

Because of the wonderful rainfalls we've had, we're also seeing an autumn crop of mushrooms. At one point as I was walking along, I noticed this line of young mushrooms pushing up through the green wildgrasses. Normally, there are just a couple of this type of mushroom in any given location, so it was a treat to see so many lined up like this.

Popping up through a richly green autumn growth of wildgrasses is a line of young, ball-capped mushrooms. The caps are white with patterns of tan.

A week later, this exuberant line of mushrooms have opened up fully. Some of the larger ones are 4 inches across (13 cm).

Popping up through a richly green autumn growth of wildgrasses is a line of mature, round-capped mushrooms. The caps are large, flat, and tan, with circular patterns of darker tan.


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For a few moments this morning, this was how dawn greeted us. I think we're going to have a beautiful day.

A beautiful sky partially filled with clouds that are lit in shades of pastel pinks, purples, and oranges by the early morning sun. The lower foreground is still dark, showing just the outlines of the hills and a few Ponderosa pines.


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We live in a forested wildland area on a couple acres filled with beautiful Ponderosas. Since areas like this are prone to wildfires, we have been doing wildfire mitigation work for a couple decades now, trimming the lower limbs and any dead limbs out of the trees so that a grass fire would be less likely to jump up into them.

As our climate has been warming, the risk of wildfires has increased, so this year we took the additional step of having our home's wooden siding, trim, soffit, and fascia removed and replaced with a fireproof cement-fiber product called JamesHardie. It took a quite unpleasant and anxiety inducing week of continuous loud hammering, but we got through it and the results are really nice.

We were surprised the next day when an inspector showed up to review the work. Fortunately, the inspector was as pleased as us with the result.

Clinging to new tan colored siding, a brown and dark tan mantis looks directly into the camera with its triangular-shaped head with two large oval eyes.


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My heart has been overwhelmed lately with everything that is happening in our world, our country, and even in our local life. This morning I took a walk along the beautiful way I have wandered a thousand times before. It's an amazing experience to walk somewhere like that: in some ways everything is familiar, yet I almost always see some things with fresh eyes. We're right on the verge of autumn: some trees and bushes are turning, and there already are some yellow leaves rustling underfoot. Yet many trees and bushes are still vibrantly green. The sun is getting lower in the sky, so it is gentler. At one point, I stopped at a favorite place where I can look out across the valley through which South St. Vrain Creek flows to the hills and sky beyond. Because the sun is lower, the near side of the valley was in shade, but the trees along the creek and the hills beyond glowed in the sunshine, and the sky above was a beautiful blue. It was so good for my heart to gaze out at this gorgeous view.

View across a valley filled with wild grasses and shrubs. Further out is aline of trees growing along South St. Vrain Creek. Beyond are sunlit hills with rocky crags at their tops.

Another thing that soothed my heart was a favorite Virginia creeper vine. All summer long, its leaves are the same green as the tree it winds its way up, so it is almost indistinguishable from the tree. Then in autumn, its leaves turn the most beautiful, vibrant, deep red, so that it is glowing within its host tree. The further into autumn we get, the more deep red its leaves become, even as its host tree's leaves turn yellow. What a treat!

A view of Virginia creeper that is entwined in the branches of tree. Its pointed palmate leaves have turned a bright, deep red, making them glow within the surrounding tree.


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An abundance of chokecherries (Prunus virginiana) are ripening along the way of my daily walk. They look so deliciously beautiful. Someone else has noticed … I saw the first bear scat of the season along the way, and it was full of seeds. They come out mainly at night to feast on the berries, and a few of the bushes had been stripped clean of their tasty treat.

A vibrant bush dense with small, round, dark purple (almost black) berries.


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The early sunlight was exceptionally beautiful this morning. It made the lovely green hues of the young wild grape leaves especially vivid.

A cluster of large, heart-shaped grape leaves with serrated edges are facing the morning sun. The leaves are a variety of springtime fresh hues from light to deep green.

Here's the beautiful early morning sunlight sparkling on the dancing surface of South St. Vrain Creek as it flows down out of the Rocky Mountain foothills.

A shallow crystal clear creek about 20 feet/6 meters wide is flowing away downstream over a bed of rocks that are various hues of brown. In places where the creek is dancing around bigger rocks, the surface is sparkling white. There are green bushes and trees on both sides of the creek, and in the distance, a glimpse of a clear blue sky above.

Another gift, the experience of looking up at the beautiful green crown of a giant cottonwood dancing in a clear blue sky.

Looking up into a clear blue sky half filled by the crown of a very large cottonwood with thousands and thousands of bright green heart-shaped leaves.


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At a time like this when so much of the world seems a bit dark and bleak, it's such a gift to see these beautiful Alyssum in bloom in the rock garden next to our home.

Nestled among craggy redstone rocks is a cluster of hundreds of small, bulbous, bright golden yellow flowers, each made up of dozens of individual petals, rising up from a very healthy looking, low-growing plant with tiny vivid green leaves.


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We're having an unusual spring with repeated cycles of several cool, rainy days followed by several hot, sunny days. Different kinds of mushrooms have sprung up all over. This is one of my favorites. It's about 4″ (10 cm) across and 6″ (15 cm) tall. Seeing all these mushrooms makes me happy, especially thinking about the likely beneficial mycorrhizal relationships between the myscelium (mushroom roots) and the roots of the Ponderosa pines and other trees and bushes in the area.

A dome-shaped mushroom. The primary color of the outer portion of the mushroom is dark brown and tan, but as it grew, the portion split into many small pieces, revealing the white mushroom behind.

Two days later and the mushroom has opened to more than 7″ (18 cm) across, as big as my spread open hand.

An umbrella-shaped mushroom displaying what looks like white feathers or scales with dark brown and tan outer edges.

Here's another one nearby that opened on its side, giving a nice view under the cap.

Another umbrella-shaped mushroom, but this one grew in a manner that it's lying on its side. The thick whitish stalk is shaped a bit like a backwards S. In the middle of the stalk is a ring where the dome broke away. The view of the underside shows hundreds of delicate white gills.

A few days later, some cool and rainy, others sunny, and these amazing mushrooms appear to be maxing out at over 10″ (25 cm) across, like a big dinner plate!

Now the mushroom is flatter and just so big! Mostly tan scales with dark brown edges.

And here's another type of mushroom that grows in clusters, I think where there is wood rotting beneath the surface, because the clusters tend to grow in lines.

A cluster of about 20 smaller mushrooms with an umbonate cap (kind of like a sun hat with a shallow rounded top and a wide brim hanging slightly down).

The other abundance we're seeing is millions of Boxelder samaras (or, what I have called twirly whirlys since I was a kid). The beautiful ruby grapefruit color of these young seeds absolutely glows as I walk past each day.

Clusters of beautiful, glowing, double-winged Boxelder seeds, looking almost like moths with wings in the reddish color of a ruby gratefruit. They are hanging on long stalks beneath green leaves. There are perhaps a dozen double-winged seed in each cluster.


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This cluster of bright wild yellow asters against the deep green background of wild grasses stopped me in my tracks on my daily walk. The feasting bee was a nice bonus. Given the climatic degradation happening, I'm always so relieved to see bees working away.

Two clumps of small, golden yellow flowers with about 8 or 9 thin petals each and a bright orange pollen disk in the center out of which fine orange pistils and stamen sticking up. On one flower, a small bee is feasting. The background is a tangle of deep green wildgrasses, slightly out of focus.


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We've had such a beautiful spring, made possible by regular gentle rainfalls interspersed with days of gorgeous sunshine (we don't always enjoy so much rainfall here). After months of winter, it has been so nourishing to see things turning green. And so many flowers! First, the Wild Plums flowered (they flower first, and then leaf out). Then the old apple trees blossomed with more flowers than I've ever seen before. And today, the delicate western chokecherries burst into flower. Wow!

Several long, narrow clusters of tiny, white, 5-petal flowers with delicate yellow stamen sticking up from each.

Ah, springtime in the Rocky Mountain foothills! Yesterday, the flower buds on the old apple trees in the area were just on the verge of popping open. Such a beautiful sight. Today, we woke up to 4″ inches of fresh snow. Also such a beautiful sight!

A closeup of cluster of five apple blossoms buds. Four are tightly closed and red. One is just starting to open and is pink on the outside with a bit of its white petals showing inside.

A few days later. The snow has melted away and springtime is in full bloom again.

A closeup of cluster of apple blossoms buds. Two are fully open and one is partially open. The buds are rich red. The blossoms have white petals with tinges of pink.

A few more days later: I just can't get enough of the apple blossoms this spring! The bees are very joyful, too.

A cluster of white apple blossoms with light pink showing on the ends of their white petals and delicate yellow pollen stalks reaching up out of the center of each. One reddish bud is poking out of the center of all the blossoms.

I think it is going to be an amazing year for apples.

One section of an old apple tree that is in bloom with hundreds and hundreds of beautiful pinkish white blossoms.


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I love springtime so much! Wild Plum bushes are among the first to bloom here. Their blossoms are incredibly fragrant and beloved by small bees.

A cluster of Wild Plum blossoms on a branch against a darker background. Each blossom is four white petals with a bunch of stamens reaching up from the center, each of which has a little round ball of golden pollen at the end.


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It's so amazing how such an incredibly small thing can bestow such a huge gift! This is the very first flower I've seen this year, a Spring Beauty, so small it is dwarfed by the Ponderosa pine needles and little pebbles it is emerging amongst. Catching sight of this tiny harbinger of spring filled my heart my joy!

A small (perhaps a half inch/1.27 centimeter across) flower with five delicate, rounded petals and five tiny stamen in the center (thin stalks with yellow heads of pollen). The flower is surrounded by and dwarfed by dried Ponderosa pine needles and colorful little pebbles.


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We're enjoying our first sunny morning (0 ° F / -18° C) after a few days of cloudy, foggy, very cold weather. Seeing the early morning sun shine on the ice frosted Ponderosa trees makes my heart feel so good.

Looking up at the crown of a large, old Ponderosa tree. All the needles are frosted white. Beyond is a beautiful, deep blue sky.


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My body aches all over from hours of shoveling the dense-grained snow that fell heavily the night before yesterday, and then very lightly most of yesterday. But today, my heart sings as the clouds clear and the sun lights up the snow-covered Ponderosa pines. The temperature fell well below 0° F (-18° C) last night. When the sun rose this morning and it warmed up to a balmy 6° F (-14° C), I ventured outside to take a quick pic. I'll never tire of scenes like this.

Looking out through a stand of snow-covered Ponderosa pine trees. In the distance, a partially blue sky can be seen through a few remaining clouds.

The next night, the temps fell well below zero again and it snowed a bit more. The next day, it didn't quite warm up as much, but the sunshine was brilliant in the cloudless blue sky, so we decided to go out for a walk to appreciate the incredible beauty of it all.

Looking down a line of craggy redstone cliffs frosted with fresh snow beneath a brilliant blue sky.


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