Well, it’s Sunday evening here in Sonoma Ca.
and I rode my bicycle with my friends today (as usual) around this amazing place. Actually Marin County and San Francisco, today. Saw things, felt things, pushed my body. I get so much from being out in this amazing place.
I’ve been doing this for a long time. It never gets old. I filled my tank for the coming week.
I saw the ocean, I saw the bay, rode in the fog, rode in the sun, I ran into a friend, I saw amazing bird life, I saw lots of people out enjoying themselves, I felt the power of my body (even with injuries) out there in the elements. It’s really all too much. Feeling so grateful that I’ve had the good fortune to have done so much of this in my life. 🙏
Dear Charlie T., thanks for sharing your day in the Bay Area. Sounds like a perfect day to me.
I love the Marin Headlands, Stinson Beach & Bolinas.
Spend lots of time there.
How lucky you are to have all this beauty at your fingertips. ❤️
Have a great day.
I find that I have a few places that nourish me. I love anywhere where I can watch the sunrises and sunsets. I love being with my family, so whether it’s at my parents’ or my grandparents’. I also find nourishment in my own home. There is peace and comfort. I am filled with love when I am in all these places. It fills me with joy and gives me a lot to be thankful for.
It is wonderful to be grateful, to recognize our many blessings! I love to watch the sunset especially over a body of water. I am not usually out and about yet at sunrise. ☺️
The ocean, sailing, sunshine, sunrise & sunsets, nature, live music, travel, hanging out with good friends/family. Last night I saw a beautiful rainbow from my backyard! 🌈
This great big beautiful world
is full of places that nourish my soul,
from the glistening seas
to the aromatic mountain tops,
and all of those special spots I’ve found
along the way.
I love them all . . .
basking in their suns,
and being drenched in their rain,
but I am always so very grateful
to put my hand on the latch
and return home.
Home
is where
I live like a bird in her nest,
dressing up the windows with lace curtains . . .
cheap now
as they are not so popular,
watering the plants on my windowsills,
feeding the cats
(who are happy to see me),
and eating salad
grown in the garden.
Painting my kitchen a sunny yellow,
my living room
a comfortable mossy green,
my studio
a sunset shade of lavender,
and the bedroom
the colour of the sea
on a misty afternoon.
Home
is where I rest most deeply,
curled up under my grandmother’s quilt,
stretching with pleasure
and sighing with release
at day’s end . . .
the moon shining outside my window
at certain times of year . . .
where I say my ‘good mornings’
and ‘good nights’.
Home is where I weep out my sorrows
and spill my joys,
where I contemplate
and think
and imagine.
Home is where I sink my teeth into the heart of gratitude
and taste the meat
of what a gift it is to be Alive. ♥
So many places nourish me.
The Pacific Ocean, walks on the beaches, Golden Gate Park, Redwood trees, forests in No. California filled with Redwoods, my neighborhood dotted with Redwoods, Art Museums.
My home, listening to classical music, my flower garden, pretty much any flower garden, my books.
The sky, watching clouds go by, the stars, the moon.
The great outdoors. ❤️
Mother Nature in all her glory. Thank you.🙏🏻
My home, peacefully doing day-to-day errands/chores, the desk in my home where I do this and study, my living room where I read, watch the television (with my cat), and take naps, my bed where I sleep, most exercise/fitness places I visit, and many places along the West coast of the United States where I hike and spend leisure time away from home (with friends and/or family), are a few places that nourish me.
I live near two parks. One, a small rhododendron park with trees and winding paths that make it feel bigger than it is, sits only a few blocks from our home. The other is much, much larger. It holds legacy forest (not old growth because it was logged, but long ago), trees dripping with moss; flowering bushes that line the road with color in spring; and access to the shore of Budd Bay, the southernmost end of Puget Sound. It’s a bit farther to the entrance but still within walking distance for me. I haven’t been there in too long–life too full of too many meetings–and this question is a reminder to go be among the trees. Our neighborhood backs up to this park and I see the trees out my kitchen window, so it nourishes me on every short walk around our neighborhood loop even if I’m not in among those trees.
My own yard and garden nourish me whether I’m sitting outside reading, or working to prune tomatoes or harvest herbs. Yesterday I did yoga on the deck. Lying on my back I looked up through the leaves of the tree above me to see blue sky, while bees busily worked in the tree and a light breeze rustled through the branches.
The ocean nourishes me when I’m able to get there and listen to the unending sounds of the waves. Anyplace with water, really: streams chuckling, lakes lapping at the shore, waterfalls crashing down in infinite variety, rain on the roof.
I’m nourished by the streets and trails of the town I live in when I see people biking or walking there and we wave and connect with a friendly smile. This is also true of our farmers’ market in downtown, where so many people gather to share and appreciate the abundance of the earth and the skills of the artisans.
Bookstores and libraries! I love being surrounded by books, picking them up and imagining the possibilities that live inside. I just ordered two more bookcases yesterday because I’m overflowing the shelves we have. I love our little house but I’m running out of places to put books.
One of the places that nourishes me is a nursing home, where I see many people, but loneliness still exists in some way. Especially for those who do not communicate in the main language used in the community. There have been several times I visited nursing homes in California and Minnesota. I sang Vietnamese for the elderly. Nursing homes nourish my empathy, the value of family, and love regardless of capability, language, and stage of life.
My Ngoc, we’ll eventually get there. It’s really lonely. People generations ahead of us have passed away. The younger generations have their own lives too. Our peers are growing ill and are leaving us too.
The Rockies. Depending on how high you go, you’ll. see piñon pines and bluejays, aspen groves with leaves that sound like rain, blue spruce sheltering amanita- and porcini mushrooms, ancient bristlecones, or high alpine tundra, with tiny flowers and big-eared pikas scuttling from the scree. The sound of a creek roaring down rocks, curve of cliff beside steep trails, the surprise discovery of fern and moss in the dry woods … every visit has something new and special to offer. One time, on a popular foothills hike, I saw a cave, sat inside it, and was surprised that nobody noticed me. On future hikes I never saw the cave again! Our visits to the mountains are like that. Always something new and unique, something we may never see again.
I lived in the foothills of the Rockies for a time,
dear Drea,
and your descriptions
bring my love of them
all back to me now . . .
I have a seashell fossil
that I dug up there,
sitting on my windowsill.
Thank you for sharing this. ♥
Kind of funny about sitting in a cave and not being noticed! What a neat experience.
Thanks for all the visuals. I haven’t been to the Rockies (yet) but have heard nothing but wonderful things.
The ocean. Not in the heat of a summer day, but in the evening, after the sun has gone down. People walking their dogs, runners moving through the sand, an occasional group doing yoga. It’s a quiet, spacious place, apart from the concerns of the day. A cool breeze tousles my hair, warm sand underfoot, and cool water rushes over my feet, as I step into the edge of the sea. Nature is so big out here, sea and sky as far as the eye can see, tiny shells glistening on the sand all around me, waves retreating back into the ocean in their endless rhythm. Tiny shapes on the horizon, blurred and barely visible, are ships sailing the sea. Like these ships, I am so tiny, as I stand at the edge of the ocean. I deeply breathe the salted air into my lungs and feel as though I could almost dissolve into the air.
Mary, I was intending to reply to you but did it at the wrong place. I somehow replied to Antoinette’s answer but deleted it. Now, I’m at the right place. But anyways, my family loves going to the beaches early in the mornings and evenings when its less bright out.
So many places…My bed, when I first crawl in it at night; the Oregon coast; the Continental Divide at Wolf Creek Ski area; Lake Michigan; my back yard; anywhere with my oldest grandson; a woodsy cabin with a river or creek trickling by; Palo Duro Canyon near where I grew up and attended church camp as a kid; SMU/Perkins School of Theology; anywhere with my 2 best friends for life.
Being home nourishes me. I have routine and relaxation. My basic travel needs of: family, food, AC, and a place to stay can be found easily at home too.
What place nourishes me? The NOW…I know it’s a space not a place but when I live in it, I am in the best place, a place that nourishes me and provides me with the strength and the grace to hopefully become my best self.
Thank you especially,
dear Carol Ann,
for posting Richard Rohr’s message . . .
I missed it yesterday,
but am happy that I came back to look today.
“…but it is never Franciscan mysticism. Francis knew that only love is big enough to handle and hold truth. Truth which is not loving, joyful, and inclusive is never the Great Truth.”
Such clarity Father Rohr
brings to his subjects . . .
this particular study
resonates strongly with me,
and I shall keep it as a constant reminder
when I need that wind in my sails.
Namaste. ♥
Give yourself the gift of free bi-monthly inspiration including uplifting articles, diverse stories, supportive practices, videos, and more, delivered with heart to your inbox.
Well, it’s Sunday evening here in Sonoma Ca.
and I rode my bicycle with my friends today (as usual) around this amazing place. Actually Marin County and San Francisco, today. Saw things, felt things, pushed my body. I get so much from being out in this amazing place.
I’ve been doing this for a long time. It never gets old. I filled my tank for the coming week.
I saw the ocean, I saw the bay, rode in the fog, rode in the sun, I ran into a friend, I saw amazing bird life, I saw lots of people out enjoying themselves, I felt the power of my body (even with injuries) out there in the elements. It’s really all too much. Feeling so grateful that I’ve had the good fortune to have done so much of this in my life. 🙏
Dear Charlie T., thanks for sharing your day in the Bay Area. Sounds like a perfect day to me.
I love the Marin Headlands, Stinson Beach & Bolinas.
Spend lots of time there.
How lucky you are to have all this beauty at your fingertips. ❤️
Have a great day.
When it’s really beautiful like that Charlie, doesn’t it feel “all too much?” My cuprunneth over.
That sounds like such a wonderful day! ♥️
♥
I find that I have a few places that nourish me. I love anywhere where I can watch the sunrises and sunsets. I love being with my family, so whether it’s at my parents’ or my grandparents’. I also find nourishment in my own home. There is peace and comfort. I am filled with love when I am in all these places. It fills me with joy and gives me a lot to be thankful for.
It is wonderful to be grateful, to recognize our many blessings! I love to watch the sunset especially over a body of water. I am not usually out and about yet at sunrise. ☺️
The ocean, sailing, sunshine, sunrise & sunsets, nature, live music, travel, hanging out with good friends/family. Last night I saw a beautiful rainbow from my backyard! 🌈
I always love a rainbow!!
This great big beautiful world
is full of places that nourish my soul,
from the glistening seas
to the aromatic mountain tops,
and all of those special spots I’ve found
along the way.
I love them all . . .
basking in their suns,
and being drenched in their rain,
but I am always so very grateful
to put my hand on the latch
and return home.
Home
is where
I live like a bird in her nest,
dressing up the windows with lace curtains . . .
cheap now
as they are not so popular,
watering the plants on my windowsills,
feeding the cats
(who are happy to see me),
and eating salad
grown in the garden.
Painting my kitchen a sunny yellow,
my living room
a comfortable mossy green,
my studio
a sunset shade of lavender,
and the bedroom
the colour of the sea
on a misty afternoon.
Home
is where I rest most deeply,
curled up under my grandmother’s quilt,
stretching with pleasure
and sighing with release
at day’s end . . .
the moon shining outside my window
at certain times of year . . .
where I say my ‘good mornings’
and ‘good nights’.
Home is where I weep out my sorrows
and spill my joys,
where I contemplate
and think
and imagine.
Home is where I sink my teeth into the heart of gratitude
and taste the meat
of what a gift it is to be Alive. ♥
Your home sounds wonderful, so many colors from nature.
And I love lace curtains in a window!
I love lace curtains too,
dear Mary . . . ♥
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
This Life
truly IS beautiful,
isn’t it,
dear Charlie? ♥
Tis a gift, this life, Tis a gift.
No bow
big enough
to contain it,
dear Joseph . . . ♥
So many places nourish me.
The Pacific Ocean, walks on the beaches, Golden Gate Park, Redwood trees, forests in No. California filled with Redwoods, my neighborhood dotted with Redwoods, Art Museums.
My home, listening to classical music, my flower garden, pretty much any flower garden, my books.
The sky, watching clouds go by, the stars, the moon.
The great outdoors. ❤️
Mother Nature in all her glory. Thank you.🙏🏻
RIP Jerry.🖤🎶 31 years ago today.
yes, RIP Jerry. I hope one day I will get to see the Redwoods 🙂
Beautifully written, I can see it all. Thank you PKR!
Yes, Redwoods are so special. They certainly have a special place in my heart.
Yes PKR, RIP Jerry
Ah yes,
dear PKR . . .
the redwood forests
are truly, truly
sacred. ♥
Any thing around water makes me happy and all of nature makes me happy . The earth and the sky make me happy . I’m so grateful. ☺️
I know you are, dear Antoinette! ♥️♥️♥️
Thank you Mary . 💓
My home, peacefully doing day-to-day errands/chores, the desk in my home where I do this and study, my living room where I read, watch the television (with my cat), and take naps, my bed where I sleep, most exercise/fitness places I visit, and many places along the West coast of the United States where I hike and spend leisure time away from home (with friends and/or family), are a few places that nourish me.
I live near two parks. One, a small rhododendron park with trees and winding paths that make it feel bigger than it is, sits only a few blocks from our home. The other is much, much larger. It holds legacy forest (not old growth because it was logged, but long ago), trees dripping with moss; flowering bushes that line the road with color in spring; and access to the shore of Budd Bay, the southernmost end of Puget Sound. It’s a bit farther to the entrance but still within walking distance for me. I haven’t been there in too long–life too full of too many meetings–and this question is a reminder to go be among the trees. Our neighborhood backs up to this park and I see the trees out my kitchen window, so it nourishes me on every short walk around our neighborhood loop even if I’m not in among those trees.
My own yard and garden nourish me whether I’m sitting outside reading, or working to prune tomatoes or harvest herbs. Yesterday I did yoga on the deck. Lying on my back I looked up through the leaves of the tree above me to see blue sky, while bees busily worked in the tree and a light breeze rustled through the branches.
The ocean nourishes me when I’m able to get there and listen to the unending sounds of the waves. Anyplace with water, really: streams chuckling, lakes lapping at the shore, waterfalls crashing down in infinite variety, rain on the roof.
I’m nourished by the streets and trails of the town I live in when I see people biking or walking there and we wave and connect with a friendly smile. This is also true of our farmers’ market in downtown, where so many people gather to share and appreciate the abundance of the earth and the skills of the artisans.
Bookstores and libraries! I love being surrounded by books, picking them up and imagining the possibilities that live inside. I just ordered two more bookcases yesterday because I’m overflowing the shelves we have. I love our little house but I’m running out of places to put books.
Oh yes, bookstores and libraries are wonderful and nourishing. I’m so glad these places exist.
”I love our little house but I’m running out of places to put books.”
I know the feeling,
dear Barb. 🙂
All sound wonderful.
Your post is nourishing! And I so agree that bookstores and libraries are great places of nourishment.
One of the places that nourishes me is a nursing home, where I see many people, but loneliness still exists in some way. Especially for those who do not communicate in the main language used in the community. There have been several times I visited nursing homes in California and Minnesota. I sang Vietnamese for the elderly. Nursing homes nourish my empathy, the value of family, and love regardless of capability, language, and stage of life.
I bet the people in the nursing home appreciated you so much!
What a glorious thought. Thank you for doing this.
You are a kind and caring human, Ngoc. Thank you.
My Ngoc, we’ll eventually get there. It’s really lonely. People generations ahead of us have passed away. The younger generations have their own lives too. Our peers are growing ill and are leaving us too.
But you are here now, Loc. Just stay connected with others. You are doing well.
Bless you for this kindness, dear Ngoc.
What a beautiful gift you give,
dear Ngoc,
when you sing in these places . . .
you are right–
a lot of loneliness resides there. ♥
What a gift you gave to all who heard you sing.
A beautiful and generous answer, Ngoc.
Yes, Barb, beautiful and generous!
The Rockies. Depending on how high you go, you’ll. see piñon pines and bluejays, aspen groves with leaves that sound like rain, blue spruce sheltering amanita- and porcini mushrooms, ancient bristlecones, or high alpine tundra, with tiny flowers and big-eared pikas scuttling from the scree. The sound of a creek roaring down rocks, curve of cliff beside steep trails, the surprise discovery of fern and moss in the dry woods … every visit has something new and special to offer. One time, on a popular foothills hike, I saw a cave, sat inside it, and was surprised that nobody noticed me. On future hikes I never saw the cave again! Our visits to the mountains are like that. Always something new and unique, something we may never see again.
I would definitely be drawn here too!
I lived in the foothills of the Rockies for a time,
dear Drea,
and your descriptions
bring my love of them
all back to me now . . .
I have a seashell fossil
that I dug up there,
sitting on my windowsill.
Thank you for sharing this. ♥
Kind of funny about sitting in a cave and not being noticed! What a neat experience.
Thanks for all the visuals. I haven’t been to the Rockies (yet) but have heard nothing but wonderful things.
The Rockies are really diverse, too! The Canadian Rockies aren’t like the Colorado Rockies, and so on. There’s a lot to explore.
Thank you for the vivid description, Drea. I was there with you. (Just don’t confuse the amanita and the porcini!)
I won’t! Luckily they look very different.
The ocean. Not in the heat of a summer day, but in the evening, after the sun has gone down. People walking their dogs, runners moving through the sand, an occasional group doing yoga. It’s a quiet, spacious place, apart from the concerns of the day. A cool breeze tousles my hair, warm sand underfoot, and cool water rushes over my feet, as I step into the edge of the sea. Nature is so big out here, sea and sky as far as the eye can see, tiny shells glistening on the sand all around me, waves retreating back into the ocean in their endless rhythm. Tiny shapes on the horizon, blurred and barely visible, are ships sailing the sea. Like these ships, I am so tiny, as I stand at the edge of the ocean. I deeply breathe the salted air into my lungs and feel as though I could almost dissolve into the air.
Mary, I was intending to reply to you but did it at the wrong place. I somehow replied to Antoinette’s answer but deleted it. Now, I’m at the right place. But anyways, my family loves going to the beaches early in the mornings and evenings when its less bright out.
Yes, I agree. Early morning and evening is best.
”I deeply breathe the salted air into my lungs and feel as though I could almost dissolve into the air.”
I too,
know this feeling well,
dear Mary.
Thank you for the visuals . . .
the Divine in me
bows to the Divine in you. ♥
Thank you, dear Sparrow. ♥️
🙂
I sent you a message thru the Community here… didn’t say much, just wanted to see if it was you! Let me know if you got it.
Got it, SunnyPatti! ☀️☀️☀️
Thank you! I will look and let you know.
Oh, I do miss the ocean. Chose the mountains as home, but grew up near the ocean. There’s nothing like it, and the oceans themselves are so different.
That’s interesting, Drea. I only know the Atlantic. 🌊🐟 🌅
But I have known it for a long time. 🥰
So many places…My bed, when I first crawl in it at night; the Oregon coast; the Continental Divide at Wolf Creek Ski area; Lake Michigan; my back yard; anywhere with my oldest grandson; a woodsy cabin with a river or creek trickling by; Palo Duro Canyon near where I grew up and attended church camp as a kid; SMU/Perkins School of Theology; anywhere with my 2 best friends for life.
Being near a body of water is very luring to me.
The water is almost magical, and we as humans are so drawn to it!
Being home nourishes me. I have routine and relaxation. My basic travel needs of: family, food, AC, and a place to stay can be found easily at home too.
What place nourishes me? The NOW…I know it’s a space not a place but when I live in it, I am in the best place, a place that nourishes me and provides me with the strength and the grace to hopefully become my best self.
I found Richard Rohr’s daily meditation today very helpful to me. https://cac.org/daily-meditations/grace-and-connectivity/
Thank you especially,
dear Carol Ann,
for posting Richard Rohr’s message . . .
I missed it yesterday,
but am happy that I came back to look today.
“…but it is never Franciscan mysticism. Francis knew that only love is big enough to handle and hold truth. Truth which is not loving, joyful, and inclusive is never the Great Truth.”
Such clarity Father Rohr
brings to his subjects . . .
this particular study
resonates strongly with me,
and I shall keep it as a constant reminder
when I need that wind in my sails.
Namaste. ♥
The now! Thank you for this reminder, Carol Ann. Now I’ll go look at the writings of Richard Rohr. 😊