Yesterday, Elisabeth and I met up with our friend, Brittany, for lunch and to visit Natura Obscura, a museum exhibit at the Colorado Museum of Outdoor Art. Brittany had told us about this exhibit months ago so when she mentioned she still wanted to go to it, I figured I should give it a go. Spending time with friends and having new experiences is good, you know. I am so glad we went. My expectations were relatively low based off of the website’s pictures (I thought it looked kind of cheap and small) but I went in with a positive attitude and was surprised by how much I loved it. We spent a little over an hour in the exhibit. The majority of the exhibit was utterly magical for me. Much of the space is darker, lit with shades of blue or red. Each given a black light flashlight, we scanned the space as we went in search of hidden messages and forest spirits and drawings. I fell in love with the clay forest spirits scattered and hidden throughout and made it my goal to find all of them. There were also larger spirits, carved into wood disks, that came to life virtually if you used the Natura Obscura app. It was creative and clever and so much fun.
There was a cloud room where you could swing and feel as if you were in the sky. There were trees with clay leaves that had quotes and sayings written on them. One tree even had a quote/poem written on it by Kahlil Gibran that really got me:
“Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.”
I’m not exactly sure how I feel about it but regardless it speaks to me. There was another saying hidden on the floor that said, ” Sometimes in the winds of change, we find our true direction” and that perhaps spoke to me the most out of all the words I read. It was encouraging and filled me with energy.
We wandered through the permanent hall of curiosities which was much more fun than I thought it would be (this place kept exceeding my expectations). There were mirrors on one wall with words under each one like “Imagination” and “fantasy” and “beauty”. I really liked those for some reason. There were lots of Alice in Wonderland figures and inspired pieces and a grandfather clock that Elisabeth quite enjoyed. At the end of the hall was a meditation room playing a 30 minute video titled “A Monk’s Dream”. We didn’t stay for the entirety of it but the part we saw I liked very much and felt such peace.
So I enjoyed my time at the museum, much more than anticipated. This place really got me. If I ever become a mega rich person, I’m going to make a room or two in my mansion be similar to parts of this exhibit. Cloud room with a swing? Yes, please.
After the museum we had a couple hours at home before going back out and having dinner at a friend, Tiffany’s, house. That’s right, Tiffany’s fiance made me dinner and it was wonderful. I so enjoyed not only not making food but being able to sit and visit with the two of them. They were funny and interesting and the evening was great. Once we get our couch (Wednesday!!) then Elisabeth and I would like to start inviting people over too because it’s a lot of fun and it’s a nice way to solidify friendships and show appreciation.
Then this morning I met up with my another friend, Josh, at a brewery. A vegan food truck sits outside of it every Sunday as a partnership so I tried some vegan biscuits and gravy and scrambled tofu “eggs”. Perhaps not my normal style but at least I tried it, and I was there for the company anyway. It was good to catch up with him and to get out in the sun for a bit, today actually felt relatively cool and pleasant, a lovely change from the 90 plus degree weather we’ve been having.
Hopefully the rest of this evening will be filled with mounting our TV (fingers crossed) and hanging up artwork (finally) in the main room. Overall this weekend has proven itself to be quite lovely.
I leave you with one of the sayings that was written on a leaf in Natura Obscura:
“Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.”
Just Lauren 