Over the river

Big Four Bridge

The former railroad bridge is built high above the Ohio River at Jeffersonville, Indiana.   The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway operated the railroad for an interval of time. That railroad line has been called the Big Four.  Because of that the bridge is known as the Big Four Bridge. The crossing makes a Louisville, Kentucky - Jeffersonville, Indiana path.  This provides a place for walking.  This place is an appreciation of the Ohio, a large inland river in America.  Another opportunity to appreciate a miracle that is here.

Wildflowers are a miracle



Jefferson Memorial Forest, Jefferson County, Kentucky

We take for granted the miracles we have in the here and now.

This wildflower was on the way to the trail head at the Purple Heart trail in the Jefferson Memorial Forest.



We breathe in and hold in awareness our body and experience that we are alive.

We breathe out and hold in awareness that we are in the light. 

The dragonfly is one of our best flyers.  This one was flying all around near the Tom Wallace Lake in the Jefferson Memorial forest.

Making peaceful steps on the earth

Peace can be practiced with every step on the earth that you touch.  When you breathe in with your heart open you see the miracle that that surrounds you now.  When you breathe out with awareness of  your experience you feel the miracle that that is here now.  This life does have suffering for each being. When you experience the energy of holding your present experience in awareness you suffer much less.  When you look upon those in your community and others in lands all over with brotherhood you can help bring peace to your community and the world.

When you look upon another though eyes of compassion you suffer much less.

This trail is in the Lynx prairie in southern Ohio.  E. Lucy Braun wrote about this beautiful prairie. Lynx prairie is preserved for you and I to experience now. 

Name for humans

Bardstown, Nelson County, Kentucky

The scientific name for today's humans is Homo sapiens sapiens.  This is from Latin for one who tastes.  So the idea is one who senses in the body.  Do we live our name?  Are we tasting fully now?
“I believe that life should be lived so vividly and so intensely that thoughts of another life, or of a longer life, are not necessary.”
-Marjory Stoneman Douglas

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation."
-Henry David Thoreau

The photograph is an ash tree on a bright day in Kentucky.

Seeing places



Cave Run Lake, Kentucky

We take much of our lives for granted. We are surprised when change comes and we struggle with dealing with the change.

When we open our heart and hold a moment in awareness we find the hurried rush of our lives diminishes.  When we pay attention our life unfolds in a moment; we see the miracles around us.

This scene is from the Daniel Boone National Forest, a land of cliffs and valleys that wants to be beautiful if allowed to be itself.  The water side is Cave Run Lake.

The heart

It has been said that in many languages the word for heart and mind are the same word.  So being mindful is like being "heartful."  And letting the winds of wild places fill you does something good for you.  When you stand on the peak of a mountain you feel the immensity of the land and the reinforcement that the land has been and is a miracle.  And you are a part of the mountain.

The picture of the fossilized animals was taken at the Sisters of Loretto community in Marion County, Kentucky.

A little

The film Seabiscuit included the following thought, "You don't throw a life away just cause he's banged up a little."  There are people with bad feet and bad shoulders and hands and various physical challenges.  And most of these people can pack a cloth bag with some water and trail food and see this land.   Some cannot race along the trail.  And this land does not ask for one to race.  This land has some things to take one's breath away. In a good way. 

This place is the highway rest stop in Maryland that is Sideling Hill.  The traveler on I-68 can stop and walk along these rocks.