A Sentient Being

It is SW Iowa Hot Air Balloon Days in Creston this weekend and the weather is not cooperating. 
I probably won't see/photograph any going over our house and pond this year as I have been able to in the past, so I'm grateful to see pictures of ones that were flying last night. 

This photo is from our local newspaper's FB page.

Oliver Sacks (1933-2015) was a neurologist, naturalist, historian and writer. I recently read these quotes of his on gratitude:

"I cannot pretend that I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and I have given something in return; I have read and traveled and thought and written. I have had an intercourse with the world, the special intercourse of writers and readers.

Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormouse privilege and adventure."

And this one: "I find my thoughts, increasingly, not on the supernatural or spiritual, but on what is meant by living a good and worthwhile life -- achieving a sense of peace within oneself."

Someone shared this gorgeous photo on FB. The clouds I'm seeing out my window this morning look very much like those.

Family members can most likely identify the first thing I noticed in the photo - the rocks. I wish I could just reach in and pick them up and examine them - picking out a few special ones to cart home. 

I'm ready - wearing my "Wait, I see a rock" tee shirt.

I'm grateful for all the years and all the adventures I had hunting rocks.