As long as you make an identity for yourself out of pain, you cannot be free of it.”

— Eckhart Tolle

*Male house finch, September 2025 - In the back yard*

If you have read this blog for any amount of time, you no doubt have found it a bit depressing at times. For years depression was at the forefront of the images I took. I needed some daily beauty to lift me out of the hole I wallowed in. Luckily my camera fit the bill. It helped to switch off the hopelessness I often felt, replacing it with creative curiosity.

I have come to understand that if we live long enough we are going to suffer pain. A good life, a life well lived, is not always blissful or beautiful, but rather sprinkled with questions, obstacles, fear, uncertainty, pain and bad decisions. The only way to get through unscathed, is to do nothing. To just close your self off and wait. I have tried that, along with too many other things that I won’t mention here. But somewhere in the middle of all that searching for a cure I have come to understand I must embrace both the good and the bad, for we don’t measure a life worth living by comparing our suffering and joy.

For some reason I landed here some 15 years ago, and am still here, with no intention of stopping, for I see the work is not a done deal. But let’s just say I see things a little differently today. Relishing in the fact that I am still around to grumble and have a say about my life is a gift. One I don’t intend to take for granted any longer.

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