This video is awesome too. But...in a different way.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Happy Feast of the Ascension!
Today is one of the major feasts of the Christian year, where we celebrate the fact that Jesus is ascended to the right hand of the Father in glory. It's a day to recognize the victory of Christ over the powers of this world, and it is good to remember that we are the inheritors of that victory.
A fitting prayer:
Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God,
that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son
our Lord Jesus Christ
to have ascended into the heavens;
so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend,
and with him continually dwell,
who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost,
one God, world without end. Amen.
-'28 BCP Collect
On a personal note, the Lenten season passes much more slowly than the Easter season. Even recognizing it's shorter by, what, six days?, this 40 day period has galloped by.
A fitting prayer:
Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God,
that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son
our Lord Jesus Christ
to have ascended into the heavens;
so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend,
and with him continually dwell,
who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost,
one God, world without end. Amen.
-'28 BCP Collect
On a personal note, the Lenten season passes much more slowly than the Easter season. Even recognizing it's shorter by, what, six days?, this 40 day period has galloped by.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens
This Saturday, Libby, Bethany, Wade and I joined the Ornithology class from Biola for a final birding trip. We went to the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens, a very nice place to take a walk. It's run by one of the Claremont colleges, not sure which one, but it abuts Claremont School of Theology. It's got a wide collection of plant life, but its bird life didn't seem very varied. It is a great place to see Phainopepla, though, and we had four species of hummingbirds without any migrants, so that's a pretty good sampling for Southern California. There was a single Costa's using a small sage flower garden, along with a couple of Allen's females and an Anna's male. In fact, there were very few migrants, we only had two warblers and some Black-headed Grosbeaks.
It's worth the drive, though, because it's beautiful. There are a lot of neat flowers, shrubs, fountains, trees, etc. There were some agaves, as well as some giant blooming yuccas. Claremont is a pretty area, too, lots of big old houses with pretty landscaping along Indian Hill Blvd. I'd definitely recommend it as a visit.
That evening we went over to my parents' house and introduced them to the Wii as well as celebrating Mother's Day with my mom. We had some yummy rice with peppers, onions, and some other stuff topped off with lime juice and peanuts. I really liked it!
Yesterday, we went out to Highland to celebrate Libby's mother. We ate at Souplantation, and had a good time. We really enjoy spending time with our families!
It's worth the drive, though, because it's beautiful. There are a lot of neat flowers, shrubs, fountains, trees, etc. There were some agaves, as well as some giant blooming yuccas. Claremont is a pretty area, too, lots of big old houses with pretty landscaping along Indian Hill Blvd. I'd definitely recommend it as a visit.
That evening we went over to my parents' house and introduced them to the Wii as well as celebrating Mother's Day with my mom. We had some yummy rice with peppers, onions, and some other stuff topped off with lime juice and peanuts. I really liked it!
Yesterday, we went out to Highland to celebrate Libby's mother. We ate at Souplantation, and had a good time. We really enjoy spending time with our families!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Adam Bede
I took my first foray into George Eliot's fiction via this tasty morsel of 19th century prose in April. I found it a trip well worth taking, as it is full of vistas not only into bucolic country scenes, but into the hearts of men and women like you and me.
The namesake protagonist is a peasant carpenter in late 18th century England (the book was written, however, in the mid 1800s). He's a man whose station is improving; he's learning letters and figures from a schoolmaster, and his strong, even temperament puts him in good stead as far as future prospects go. However, he is in love with a silly girl. This same silly girl is seduced and wronged by the Squire of the local estate.
I certainly didn't find the book perfect. Some of the characters were caricatures, and some of the drama didn't quite ring true. I wish the book had ended differently than it did, I didn't think the last section really lived up to the former sections. If you've read, perhaps you know what I mean.
The strengths of the book, however, were powerful. The portrait of the squire in particular was excellent. He is shown to be a human with understandable failings. I felt that his soul was revealed as powerfully, if not quite as darkly or strongly, as a character from Dostoyevsky's novels. The consequences of these failings are clearly revealed. This was excellent.
Also, there are a few emotionally charged scenes that are worth picking up the book for. I liked some of the book's key confrontations, and I felt powerfully the book's one execution scene. I think that scene alone is golden - approaching the peak of prose's power to impress feeling. It's the kind of moment that books are remembered for, and it's much like the Tale of Two Cities here.
Another wonderful element of this book is that one of the main characters is a strong Methodist, whose faith is richly evangelical and vibrant. The whole book is full of the tensions of Christian life, and does so really well. This adds, I think, another impetus for reading it. It's a good Christian novel.
So, over all, not perfect, but quite good. I'd say 3.5 of 5 stars - with moments approaching 4.5. If it wasn't for the ending, I'd rate it higher.
The namesake protagonist is a peasant carpenter in late 18th century England (the book was written, however, in the mid 1800s). He's a man whose station is improving; he's learning letters and figures from a schoolmaster, and his strong, even temperament puts him in good stead as far as future prospects go. However, he is in love with a silly girl. This same silly girl is seduced and wronged by the Squire of the local estate.
I certainly didn't find the book perfect. Some of the characters were caricatures, and some of the drama didn't quite ring true. I wish the book had ended differently than it did, I didn't think the last section really lived up to the former sections. If you've read, perhaps you know what I mean.
The strengths of the book, however, were powerful. The portrait of the squire in particular was excellent. He is shown to be a human with understandable failings. I felt that his soul was revealed as powerfully, if not quite as darkly or strongly, as a character from Dostoyevsky's novels. The consequences of these failings are clearly revealed. This was excellent.
Also, there are a few emotionally charged scenes that are worth picking up the book for. I liked some of the book's key confrontations, and I felt powerfully the book's one execution scene. I think that scene alone is golden - approaching the peak of prose's power to impress feeling. It's the kind of moment that books are remembered for, and it's much like the Tale of Two Cities here.
Another wonderful element of this book is that one of the main characters is a strong Methodist, whose faith is richly evangelical and vibrant. The whole book is full of the tensions of Christian life, and does so really well. This adds, I think, another impetus for reading it. It's a good Christian novel.
So, over all, not perfect, but quite good. I'd say 3.5 of 5 stars - with moments approaching 4.5. If it wasn't for the ending, I'd rate it higher.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Easter Pictures
I know Easter was a month ago, but I finally uploaded all our Easter pictures to Flickr. Did you know Flickr free accounts only let you display 200 pictures at a time? I didn't! Anyway, now I do.
There aren't 200 pictures from Easter, though, so don't worry about that. There are lots of pictures of our nephew's Easter egg hunt and egg dyeing adventure. Here's a small sample:
No, Jonathan, I am trying to take your picture. I do not want your basket of eggs. But thanks.
Action shot!
How did a little boy get in a tree that high? Notice that this elevation is non-plussing. He's a funny kid. I didn't get any good pictures of Thomas on Easter, but there are some fuzzy ones you can see in Flickr.
There aren't 200 pictures from Easter, though, so don't worry about that. There are lots of pictures of our nephew's Easter egg hunt and egg dyeing adventure. Here's a small sample:
No, Jonathan, I am trying to take your picture. I do not want your basket of eggs. But thanks.Action shot!How did a little boy get in a tree that high? Notice that this elevation is non-plussing. He's a funny kid. I didn't get any good pictures of Thomas on Easter, but there are some fuzzy ones you can see in Flickr.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Big Morongo Canyon
Every birder that lives in Southern California has heard of Big Morongo Canyon. Every birder ought to go there. Libby and I made our first trip out there yesterday, and it was a lot of fun.
Big Morongo Canyon is one of the largest natural oasis in the California deserts. It's a 4.5 mile long creek formed by water seeping up from a fault line just outside of Joshua Tree National Park, and as such, is a magnet for desert animals seeking water. During migration, that includes birds. Basically, it's a bird magnet, and throughout the years people have been birding there, they've seen an amazing number of rare species - largely Eastern warblers - that have gone astray. It's well known as a usual place to see the unusual. There was one Black and White Warbler there while we were, but we were unable to find it.
It's also home to some breeding species unusual to Southern California. It has Summer Tanagers (the males are a brilliant red from head to tail), Vermilion Flycatchers (also brilliant red) and Brown-crested Flycatchers in numbers unrivaled anywhere else in California. It's the closest place to see some desert birds that you would otherwise have to visit Arizona for. It's also near where the Pacific birds meet their similar inland species. You can find both Nuttall's and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, for example.
Our trip was a delight. The temperature was mild, in the 70s all day, there was only an occasional wind gust, and the birds were fairly cooperative. We had over 50 species, though nothing rare, and two lifers - Dusky Flycatcher and Brown-crested Flycatcher. There were flycatchers everywhere, every field was full of Gray Flycatchers and Western Wood Pee-wees, with a sprinkling of Dusky, Hammonds, Pheobes, and both California Kingbirds. We had 11 species of flycatchers, with one possible Olive-sided Flycatcher that we didn't examine because we were eating lunch. That would have put us at 12, which is pretty amazing for California.
The oasis is also probably worth visiting in the Spring if you're not a birder. All of the trees' leaves were bright green. The Cottonwoods were shedding their cotton in the wind, and sitting in the shade surrounded by a dappled marshland was wonderful, especially when you looked through the trees at the scrubby brown hills. A recent fire has thinned the vegetation somewhat, but that only added to the charm because the plants are really recovering beautifully.
Big Morongo Canyon is one of the largest natural oasis in the California deserts. It's a 4.5 mile long creek formed by water seeping up from a fault line just outside of Joshua Tree National Park, and as such, is a magnet for desert animals seeking water. During migration, that includes birds. Basically, it's a bird magnet, and throughout the years people have been birding there, they've seen an amazing number of rare species - largely Eastern warblers - that have gone astray. It's well known as a usual place to see the unusual. There was one Black and White Warbler there while we were, but we were unable to find it.
It's also home to some breeding species unusual to Southern California. It has Summer Tanagers (the males are a brilliant red from head to tail), Vermilion Flycatchers (also brilliant red) and Brown-crested Flycatchers in numbers unrivaled anywhere else in California. It's the closest place to see some desert birds that you would otherwise have to visit Arizona for. It's also near where the Pacific birds meet their similar inland species. You can find both Nuttall's and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, for example.
Our trip was a delight. The temperature was mild, in the 70s all day, there was only an occasional wind gust, and the birds were fairly cooperative. We had over 50 species, though nothing rare, and two lifers - Dusky Flycatcher and Brown-crested Flycatcher. There were flycatchers everywhere, every field was full of Gray Flycatchers and Western Wood Pee-wees, with a sprinkling of Dusky, Hammonds, Pheobes, and both California Kingbirds. We had 11 species of flycatchers, with one possible Olive-sided Flycatcher that we didn't examine because we were eating lunch. That would have put us at 12, which is pretty amazing for California.
The oasis is also probably worth visiting in the Spring if you're not a birder. All of the trees' leaves were bright green. The Cottonwoods were shedding their cotton in the wind, and sitting in the shade surrounded by a dappled marshland was wonderful, especially when you looked through the trees at the scrubby brown hills. A recent fire has thinned the vegetation somewhat, but that only added to the charm because the plants are really recovering beautifully.
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