Jane Pettibone

Look! It’s there in the expressions of the two rushing forward in the just-rising sun, in the cool spring morning to the tomb reported empty, over ground called holy. See Peter’s hand over his heart, his other hand falling near his waist after gesturing toward something ahead. The folds of his weathered face are strained with emotional trauma and fatigue, and yet, his eyes shine alert, almost lamp-lit, as he hones something in front of … Read more

And so the question goes… Who doesn’t love a bluebird when it darts across the sky? In search of some great secret thing and of happiness, says the poet, perhaps one is looking for the bluebird. Whether it’s called azure or cerulean, the bluebird’s brilliant hue has inspired writers of verse, prose, song, and plays in various cultures throughout the ages. Often symbolizing happiness, the bluebird is also considered elusive. Interestingly, that elusive notion of … Read more

Sometimes one can look past a thing and see something else. It happened after celebrating Christmas Mass with the monks at St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, lunch in twinkling Aspen, and a snow hike in the North Star Preserve. On the drive home, late Christmas afternoon, beneath the great, towering stone walls of Glenwood Canyon, something seemed amiss in the snow-dusted cliffs on each side of the highway. Huge slabs of stone were missing from … Read more

 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven –Ecclesiastes 3:1 Harvest. Gather. Gratitude. Bounty. Gifts. Curiosity. Beauty. The beauty in receiving and being given. Sparkle of discovery. Finding the lost and glittering jewel. One asks: “What is it that I have to give? Is it fear that locks the doing?” Let us harvest in confidence…. mine to yours, yours to mine—in good will. What holds us back? The little … Read more

On a recent trip to the West Coast, it was almost as if the sea were sighing. In every reach of the broken waves and the lacey foam rushing up the sand, I sensed a heaviness. For me, that rhythm of weight epitomized what I perceived as Nature’s sighs, as if the earth, the ocean, the sky, were exhaling some burden of impending change. Sometimes the natural world, in all its creative wonder, expresses a … Read more

What sounds lift your heart? Merriam Webster defines sound as a particular auditory impression: tone; the sensation perceived by the sense of hearing; and the mechanical radiant energy that is transmitted by longitudinal pressure waves in a medium (such as air) and is the object cause of hearing. But there’s an emotional component when sound heightens our sensitivity just when we seem to need it the most—perhaps out of the doldrums into enlightened wonder. I … Read more

What is your wilderness? Maybe it’s an unadorned trip to the natural world without technology or the creature comforts of civilization, a place of organic, if not raw beauty, in an experience of communing with the environment. Or, maybe the term wilderness conjures up uncertainties of the future, perhaps incessant and taunting unknowns that pester one’s sense of security or identity (jobs, finances, relationships, achievements, material possessions, etc.). Still, some might equate the word wilderness … Read more

What was that? From afar, a geyser of water shot into the air from the frozen lake. It was the first morning of the New Year here in the northern hemisphere at Evergreen Lake in Colorado, and I didn’t exactly see any polar bears that could have made the splash (at least not real ones). What could it be? Oh, there were a few furry-clad walruses walking around, but as I looked more closely, I … Read more

While closing the bound pages of 2023 and looking to the virginal pages of 2024 fluttering on the horizon (as yet unwritten and unbound),  perhaps, one has to wonder . . . what is ahead? Remember, it is still the season of Christmas as we welcome the first pages of the New Year, and Light, even in the darkest skies, or perhaps, the most uninspired text, still shines. So, for those experiencing the slightest wisp … Read more

Can you feel the change? Over the landscape? Across the starry sky? Against your skin? Within your breath? There’s a coolness in the air and autumn has blossomed its full array of color to behold. The sun has gently reduced its summerly glare and there is this sense of ripened contentment amid the earth’s enhanced hues. It always touches my heart—this turning of season—when the rhythm of creation delivers a musical cadence to the earth. … Read more