A fast, cold trek on the penultimate day of 2008

I admit it—I’m not a big fan of winter hiking, in the woods or anywhere else. I don’t think my body is well adapted for it. I shiver; I turn various shades of red, purple, blue and mauve (never have been sure of what mauve is exactly, but it was probably in my epidermal palette today).

But on this penultimate day of the year, I made a quick jaunt around the trail at the Celery Farm—well, actually, I made it about a third of the way around, climbed Pirie platform, was hit by frigid wind gusts and turned back. I think one of the reasons for making the trip on December 30th is that I just like the word penultimate—sounds sophisticated.

Along the (short) way, I did click the shutter of the 40D a few times and was thankful for the image stabilizer on the Canon 100-400L and its ability to minimize the effect of my shivering and quivering.

Of course, I’m exaggerating here—it was an enjoyable, if attenuated little trek. The air was bracing and the Celery Farm always, even in the dead of winter, offers some enjoyment of the Creation and photographic opportunity.

After getting home and warming up—maybe even before warming up—I snatched the CF card from the camera, cussed the computer for its repeated error messages, and managed to get some jpeg files into a folder. Then, as is always true with my amateurish photography, came the fun part—making lemonade out of some pretty photographically rotten lemons. A few of the results appear above, for what enjoyment or criticism they may bring.

The chorus line of gulls (they certainly would fail in Rockettes tryouts) all aligned into the prevailing wind, was the only bird life evident (at least to my non-birder eyes) in or around Lake Appert. A few flew in and left during my brief visit, so I know at least a few were not frozen in the ice.

Ice is nice, especially when coming or going—offers some intriguing postmodern patterns and subtle pastel-ish hues (OK, I did un-subtle-ize some of the hues just a tad). And combine it with rocks and logs and it makes for something moderately interesting to stare at. In fact, it can be absolutely fascinating. Don’t get me started on the unique properties of water and our total dependence on them (the properties, that is). The Creator done it right when He invented the stuff.

Bark is nice, at any season—texture, texture, texture! It’s not just cork!

Of course, most everything (besides the gulls) is in a dead or dormant condition in late December, so to see a flash of green was a thrill. How those honeysuckle leaves manage to look like they’re actually doing some photosynthesizing is beyond me. But they sure look healthy and crisp (not in the same way my hands and toes were by that point in my walk).

Now I conclude, before the midnight chime strikes and the day is no longer the penultimate.

Enjoy staring for a while—and don’t forget Who made it all and sustains it even in the midst of a cold New Jersey winter. Happy New Year!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Finished (mostly)!

Here we are. Gifts are wrapped (mostly)—if what you call what I do wrapping. Well, what do you want? I didn’t have any (w)rap music to listen to while doing it. (By the way, if anyone is peeking, those tall green things are definitely not alcoholic.)

The minimalist decorations are up—with the smallest tree you’ve ever seen. No, it is not my custom to display a big organic conifer, ever since Willy the cat died around 1955. You see, it was Willy’s job to find exactly the same spot on the white sheet under the tree on which to sleep, every Christmas for fourteen years—and to knock the same ornaments off with his vertically oriented tail. So ever since, out of respect for Willy, I have enjoyed other people’s trees but have kept my decorations simple and inorganic.

And the cards are mailed, mostly, later than ever. With regards to addressing envelopes and signing cards, I am not a procrastinator; I’m a PRE-crastinator. I make up my mind in advance that I’m going to put it off until even past the last minute.

With all that said and done, it’s time to relax and reflect on the real meaning of the season. Let’s remember that the first Christmas gift was a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, rather than brightly colored paper. And that that gift was laid in a feeding trough made of wood that He Himself had created (See John 1:1-3) . And let us remember that, thirty-three years later, that perfect gift gave His life on a tree—and that, unlike my procrastinating performance, His timing was perfect, as it always is and ever shall be-- and that, if we bow the knee to Him as Savior and Lord, we are wrapped in the white robes of His righteousness (wrapped around our still sinful flesh.)

So let’s take some time to read about these important matters, in books written by those who were there—you know, those guys whose names begin with M, M, L and J.

My imperfect Christmas wrapping and mailing plans are finished (mostly) and God’s plans are finished (mostly). His perfect sacrifice on Calvary finished His plan of salvation of those He came to save, (Matt. 1:21); but His final gift, that of returning for His people, is yet to be given. But it will be— soon!

Merry Christmas!

A Day Late and a Connection Short!

It’s getting dangerously close to a month between blog posts—and past my promise to escape from the political and to get back to the biological and theological. So here’s a little something.

Last Friday was Members’ Night at Fyke Nature Association. It was a fun meeting with eight or nine members presenting small sets of photos or other bits of handiwork related to nature. There were some outstanding examples of photography and even videos of Celery Farm birds.

For my part, I did a little study of Queen Anne’s Lace and its various stages of development, with a bit of comic relief at the end, showing a couple of pictures of a not-too-favored bird, the European Starling. I Introduced those images with a statement about the total non-connection between the two species, Daucus carota and Sternus vulgaris.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, I missed the perfect opportunity to make a connection between the two. You see, the very next day I was doing some additional research on Wild Carrot for a little book I am trying to get finished—and up pops the tidbit that starlings (at least in their home continent) actually line their nests with the leaves of Queen Anne’s Lace! It seems that the plant produces a natural insecticide that kills the mites that habitually infest starling nests. What a great segue that would have made!

Yep, It was indeed a day late and an educational opportunity lost. But at least I learned one more fact about the amazing intelligence with which the Creator has endowed His creatures, as well as the advanced biochemistry degrees He has awarded to all plants. And learning something new about the Creator's wisdom is always a blessing.

You learn something new every day. If you don’t, you’re probably dead. Check your

pulse.

Soli Deo Gloria

On the other hand...

The Obama Victory Party

As the truth continues to sink in that the President-elect has gained his position by nefarious means and that he has the shadiest background (and we most likely don’t know a fraction of it) of any president in the history of the Republic, The Lord pushes our sinful little heads into His Word and commands us to pray for the man.

First, He guides us gently to I Timothy 2:1-6. Then, lest our prayers be prideful and self-serving, He inexorably moves our fingers to I Peter 2:13-20 , rubs are noses in the truth of the passage—and leaves us without excuse.

Yes, we are to pray for the man. We are to pray that God may soften his heart, remove the veil, show him the truth of the Gospel (which he certainly wasn’t exposed to in his former liberal, black liberation-centered “church”) and draw him to repentance and salvation. And we are to pray that God would use this man to the furtherance of His glory and honor, to bring undeserved blessing or rightly deserved judgment upon our land.

But that doesn’t mean, from the position of citizens of the United States, we shouldn’t hold the man responsible for his actions and see his character for what it is. We should pray that God would enable us to see the irreparable harm to our nation that an Obama presidency may cause and lead us to do all we can to mitigate that harm.

Will we ever get back to the pleasantries of this blog? After all, the theme of Bios & Logos is all about beauty, rather than ugliness. But even in its beauty, there is an ulterior (or rather, superior) motive: to leave the reader without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20)

Genesis 3 in Action

I couldn’t find an image in my collection of looming clouds; the image of ominous ground fog will have to do to illustrate the following.

I know that we are all supposed to say gracious, politically correct things when one side wins an election. Indeed, the loser and the President have done their duty and made those statements. Be those statements sincere or not, their duties have been performed.

But let’s face the fact that the citizens of the United States of America have just elected a Marxist charlatan to the highest office of the land. Great crowds cheered the victory. Did you see the Hammer and Sickle flags and tee shirts in the crowd? Wonderful! Moral relativism and postmodern deconstructionism have won over biblical truth—but only temporarily, of course. Ultimately, truth will win (Romans 8:20-21), (Philippians 2:9-11). The second chapter of 2 Thessalonians should also be considered.

Let us pray that the system of government devised by the founding fathers will work to hold the power of all three branches of government in check so that irreparable damage is not done to the republic, to the Constitution, to the institution of holy matrimony, to the lives of millions of pre-born babies, as well as to other timeless principles.

Kyrie eleison!

A Huge—and all-important—Side Trip

The term “creation” involves more than the usually limited scope of this blog and its focus on “natural theology” or how created things, such as bugs and posies reflect the Creator’s design. So to start off November (what happened to October?) I will plunge into dangerous waters—waters so important that the very future of the United States of America is at stake.

The first and second chapters of Genesis describe the creation of all things and especially the creation of Man and Woman in the image of God. All of creation was pronounced “very good.” But things didn’t stay very good for very long. Genesis 3 relates Man’s fall into sin and the resultant curses on the creation. Suffering, disease, death, environmental degradation ensued and have ordered the creation ever since (held in check by God’s sustaining power, grace and mercy).

So that fallen Man would not destroy himself and the creation, God instituted human government. Throughout history, various forms of governance have been tried: tribal leadership, kingdoms, dictatorships, communes. Some have held societies together for a time, but most eventually have failed.

Our founding fathers, rebelling against tyranny, cobbled together an experiment, partly based on English law, but, more importantly, founded on Holy Scripture, with which colonial culture was infused. In the formation of our experimental government, a form of representative republican democracy, this bunch of adventurous young men incorporated (either consciously or by way of the culture of the time) two Biblical principles: the imago dei (man created in the image of God) and the fallen nature of that image. The combination, worked into the Constitution, was intended to ensure God-given inalienable rights and some limits on those rights to hold society together in light of fallen human nature and its tendency toward sin and discord.

The experiment has worked, through many trials and near failures, for more than two hundred years. It has been, by any measure, the form of government that has produced more blessing for its citizens—and for people throughout the world—than any other in history.

On November 4th, the work of the founding fathers will be put to what may be its biggest test, the most crucial presidential election in the history of this young republic. Its citizens (hopefully most of the voters will be citizens) will make a selection between two men as Commander in Chief:

A man whose entire life, from childhood on, has been infused with duty, honor and country, and who has given his life to service and leadership.
or--
A man whose entire life, from childhood on, has been infused and saturated with Muslim schooling, liberal education, and close associations, over much of his adult life, with radical socialists, Marxists, black liberation theologians, a crooked Chicago slum lord, dirty Chicago politics, as well as with an organization that is creating havoc with the registration and election processes. And this man has brushed aside, obfuscated and outright lied about these associations throughout his presidential campaign. He also broke his promise to use public financing for his campaign, thus allowing him to collect obscene amounts of (largely untraceable) cash to spend on big productions, advertising and infomercials. An important bit of reading can be seen here .

In addition (and directly related to the subject of the inalienable right to life) this man is a radical supporter of abortion (all nine months and beyond). Click here for absolutely essential reading in this regard.

Most of the talk of late has focused on the economy. That is certainly an important topic. Peoples’ lives are being affected. But the economy will get fixed, sooner or later, with or without bungling government interference. Money is useful but temporary--Character lasts forever.

What won’t get fixed, or perhaps even survive, if we make the wrong choice, is the very character of the republic. And since our nation has largely abandoned the biblical base upon which it was founded and has abandoned itself to economic and sensual “blessings” rather than true blessings from the Creator and Savior, I have real doubts that Tuesday’s decision will be a sound one. In the last analysis however, the decision is in God’s hand. He, the Potter, uses us, the clay (Romans 9:21-23) to the ultimate end of His glory and honor. Will His decision be one of much deserved judgment or totally undeserved mercy?

Perhaps, after November 4, one way or the other, this blog will get back to picturing some of God’s creative wonders. After all, there is still beauty in this world, but only by His incredible grace and all enduring mercy.

A Little Side Trip

I thought it would be good for a change to take a side trip away from the usual photo essay format of this blog and share a few items I’ve found particularly interesting or relevant. Be sure to click on the links to go to the related articles.

The most dangerous place to send your child:
My freshman orientation week at what was then called Montclair State Teachers College a half-century ago consisted of silly things like wearing a red beanie called a dink, learning the Alma Mater and maybe some non-memorable ice-breaking activities. It was somewhat intimidating to a shy eighteen-year-old—but non-life threatening. For several years now, after hearing horror stories about campus life today, I have often reflected on the thought that college might be the most dangerous place to send your child. College campuses have become in many cases dangerous physically, emotionally, philosophically and most of all, spiritually. Click here to read an article that makes the case. The author’s book might be a good investment if you have a child near college age.

Dino Classification Chaos:
In this blog I often poke some fun at over-zealous plant and animal taxonomists and even nature lovers who care more about picky species identifications than just enjoying plants and animals for what they are—fantastically complex and beautiful creations. I did it in the last post about goldenrods. Last year I lambasted botanists for messing around with one of my favorite plant genera, Eupatorium . If biologists can get into trouble with presently existing species, imagine what paleontologists can do with extinct ones. A recent post in Creation-Evolution Headlines has many important implications, especially about what science can and can’t and shouldn't try to do.

21st Century Reading:
I finally yielded to temptation and bought an Amazon Kindle . It’s a reading device about the size and weight of a paperback book. With it you can buy, download wirelessly and read over 170,000 books from Amazon at prices much lower than the paper versions. The screen is different than a computer screen (it’s called “e-paper”) and much more comfortable to read. I can read for much longer periods without eyestrain than I can a paper book. I have begun to load the Kindle with theology, biology and some lighter material. I think the thing will eventually pay for itself, but I’ll have to maintain some budgetary discipline. To paraphrase old Senator Everett Dirksen, “$9.99 here and $9.99 there—and pretty soon you’re talking real money.”

One of the fun books I’m reading now is The Book of Animal Ignorance with strange facts about everything from aardvarks to worms. Maybe I like it for its writing style, which is about as quirky as mine.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that the 2.4 billion ants in a square mile of rain forest weigh more than four times as much as all the local mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians put together. Or that an eagle’s feathers weigh more than twice as much as its bones.

You learn something new every day!

Solidago sp.

Having recently completely blown a pretty easy plant identification based on seeing photographs, I have taken a solemn vow never to go there again—and that plant wasn’t even a goldenrod.

Adding “sp.” after a genus name may be a cop-out, or it may mean that differentiating between and among species of a particular genus is difficult, impossible—or maybe just not worth the effort. When it comes to the 60+ species of goldenrods indigenous to the northeast, I’ll go for Solidago sp. almost every time. Life is too short. Yes, there are many fairly easily distinguishable species—but life is still too short.

That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t enjoy the goldenrods. They are 18K treasures in God’s jewelry armoire and we appreciate them far too little. After all, their foliage throughout the summer may appear somewhat weedy and may be easily confused for other really weedy plants. And since most species wait until late summer or fall to show off their floral finery, they have by then damaged their reputation as genuine “wildflowers.”

Another problem for our admiration of the Solidago group is that when they finally bloom, we tend to see them as mere bunches of yellow stuff, especially when we encounter massed displays in the middle of a meadow or field. That’s like looking at the ocean from a hotel window or like bird watching through the wrong end of your bins!

So dare to get cozy with the Solidagos—real cozy. Take a hand lens with you. Go ahead. Stick your nose right in there. OK, there might be a bee or a wasp doing the same; but that’s what flowers are for, after all. The bees won’t bother you—they’re too busy lapping nectar and packing pollen. Most wasps are friendly, too.

If I haven’t convinced you to go up-close goldenrod gawking in vivo, the included photos should offer a somewhat satisfying substitute. Wow! They are actually really flowers! They look like miniature daisies! Well, that’s what they are—members of the Composite family, with ray flowers and disk flowers. Each bunch or spray is like a delivery from www.proflowers.com --but you don’t have to pay extra for the vase—and it lasts longer!

Never be satisfied with seeing “bunches of yellow stuff”—with leaving God’s gold shut up in the armoire.

Now that’s a bug—Really!

Yes, really. Whoever first nicknamed the VW beetle a bug was obviously not an entomologist. Beetles are beetles; bugs are bugs; never the twain shall meet. Actually, the car looks more like a beetle, like a ladybug, which is a beetle. So who were the better entomologists, the namers or the nicknamers? Is this getting confusing? Maybe we should ask the Beatles, who were clever enough not to spell their name like insects but after their rhythmical musical genre, which changed popular music for all time--probably for the worse.

I think we had better get back to the bug.

The pictured handsome guy is a bug, an Hemipteran. He’s flat across the back and has that shield shape, due to the fact that his forewings are half leathery and half membranous. That’s what makes him a bug. Of course, there are other differences as well. This guy has piercing-sucking mouthparts; beetles usually chew.

In my curious youth, I carried a relative of the pictured specimen, a big Hemipteran called a Wheel Bug, in the car on a family trip. I put a couple of moths in the jar with it and watched as its piercing-sucking mouthparts reduced the moths to powder in a matter of minutes. Mom and Dad were thrilled.

The photograph pictures one of the “leaf-footed" bugs, for reasons that may be obvious. Its genus is Acanthocephala—why do insects usually have names longer than their bodies?

Now that I’ve driven you buggy with this buggy drivel, I’ll just say so long for now. Don’t let the bedbugs bite—and yes, bedbugs are real bugs, although they are not as buggy in appearance as our typical pictured specimen.

Now I’ve gotcha itchin’!

Theological lesson? If it weren’t for sin and its consequences, maybe we would have only friendly vegetarian insects. Just a thought.

Plants are simply amazing—but not simple!

Click here to read an article about just one of countless examples of plant biochemistry and how plants use other creatures to do their bidding. It will also introduce you to one of the most amazing websites I have found. David Coppedge and his staff (I have never been able to figure out how many he has helping him with his site) do an amazing (there, I used that word again) job of cutting through the baloney and logical fallacies in scientific articles whose authors take Darwinian theory as proven fact. Dr. Coppedge works for JPL (Jet Propulsion Labs)

For future reference, a link to Creation/Evolution Headlines is included in the “Links to Good Stuff” over to your right. Check it often. I think you will find it....ing!