Today's Picture to Ponder Photos
Butterflies in Butterfly World, Coconut Creek, FL

I particularly like the overall feeling of the backgrounds, contrasted with the butterflies and flowers in each of the above photos. The center photo, especially, offers me a sense of freedom and spaciousness. The white in the bottom photo may be the contributory factor here. (See FlickR for more photos, including ones of two mating butterflies.)

Self-Reflecting Queries
Four days this past weekend went by in a whirlwind, it seemed, as I shared my favorite Nature spots with my friend Rebecca Collins, from Dallas, of artpaw.com. I've known her for eight years and this is the first time we met face-to-face. Those of you who have been following the writing in Picture to Ponder over the years, may recall that Rebecca set up my first website - www.naturesplayground.com and continued to support me/tutor me in Dreamweaver and other business practices in subsequent years. We were introduced by a friend of hers who was, as I, a participant in an Omega workshop in New York State.

To satisfy my own curiosity, as well as, perhaps, some of yours, on the look of that site, I took the time to dig through old files and reconstruct the original home page as Rebecca had designed it. You can see it at Nature's Playground first page. The Echinacea you see was the flower photo/drawing on that home page. The other thumbnails on top are from later years. Clicking on any of the links will take you to current pages.

So how, did I get from butterflies to websites, you may be wondering? It's a leftover I think from this weekend, when I often lost Rebecca in conversation as I jumped from "story" to "story", often leaving off in the middle, forgetting the principle I once learned, and strive today to practice in communicating, "The point [of what I am about to say] is..."

In my desire to have one or more SRQ's today, I find myself still wandering, AND the point for today is undoubtedly about simplifying. What if I had simply included the three butterfly photos today, with very few words? What if my current sites were as simple as my first? I'd probably be left with the peaceful feeling that emanates from the photos.

Are there places in your life now where you feel some simplification may be in order? If so, are there things or practices from your past that, if revisited, might give you access to some new steps now? Remember, one step at a time!

Peace.