All Creation Rejoices

Christ the Center of the Universe

This is a photo of the cross at the back door of the Gainesville Cenacle, with lily photos digitally added, and superimposed on NASA space images.

Nature's Freshness

Dove in Nest

I was excited to notice a pair of doves building a nest right outside my bedroom window.  Unfortunately they didn't share my excitement at being so close to me, as I was constantly opening the curtain to peer at them, positioning the camera to take pictures.  They have now moved to quieter lodgings.

"There lives the dearest freshness deep down things," writes Gerard Manley Hopkins in "God's Grandeur."  But sometimes this freshness requires being undisturbed.  How much longer will we be able to say, with Hopkins, that "nature is never spent"?

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

    It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

    And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

    Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

    World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Faithful Witness

Moon Rising Behind Bare Branches

Psalm 68 calls the moon a "faithful witness in the sky."  Amid all the uncertainties of our world, she keeps rising and setting.  She waxes and wanes and waxes again.

(This photo, taken March 2, is of a waning moon.)

Far more faithful than even the moon is the love of God toward us.

Thy steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
    thy faithfulness to the clouds.

(Psalm 36:5) 

Belonging to God

New video from the Cenacle Sisters:

The text is drawn from the writings of Saint Therese Couderc, the Cenacle foundress.

If the words go by too fast, pause the video for reflection the first time you view the video, then watch it straight through the second viewing.  (It's a very short video.)

New Year 2013

Last night close to midnight I went out on the second-floor porch to watch the fireworks.  Although fireworks here (the New Orleans area) are habitually shot from all over our neighborhood, last night's display surpassed any I had seen, including those celebrating the turning of the Millennium. We had been hearing them, and occasionally seeing them, since late afternoon.  But when the clock struck midnight they were nothing less than awe-inspiring.  

I didn't know where to look, because they came from everywhere except the lake--even blossoming almost over my head!  I could imagine the Second Coming or the end of the world being something like this, with Glory coming from all around.

May the year ahead live up to this display. 


(Needless to say, the photos do not do justice to the experience.)

(Click to view full size.)

Keep Thou My Feet

Louisiana Fog

(Click on photo to view full-sized.)

Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.

- Blessed John Henry Newman

Chicago Skyline

When I am in Chicago, I never tire of photographing the skyline.  Its appearance can change from moment to moment.  Here are just a few of its faces:

 

Happy New Year!

And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us:

and establish thou the work of our hands upon us;

yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

(Psalm 90:17 KJV)

Autumn Beauty

Sunlight on Virginia Creeper

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.

- Stanley Horowitz

Made in Wisdom

Squirrel Nibbling on Mushroom

(Click to view full size.)

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all!

(Psalm 104:24)

Orchids and Light

Orchids in Different Light

The artist Evelyn Dunbar has said:

We are each gifted in a unique and important way. It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light.

Your special light is not quite like anyone else's light.  When our particular light is a true light, it flows from and participates in the light of God. 

In an essay called, "The Light Within," the Quaker Thomas R. Kelly writes:

Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life. It is a dynamic center, a creative Life that presses to birth within us. It is a Light Within that illumines the face of God and casts new shadows and new glories upon the human face. It is a seed stirring to life if we do not choke it. It is the Shekinah of the soul, the Presence in the midst. Here is the Slumbering Christ, stirring to be awakened, to become the soul we clothe in earthly form and action. And He is within us all.  (A Testament of Devotion)

Fractal Mandala

Mandala on Number Seven

(Fractal created with Mandelbulber, highly edited in PhotoShop)

I am departing from photography here to transform a Mandelbulber fractal into a sort of rose window mandala.  In the Bible the number seven (as in the seven petals of this rose window), is generally symbolic of completion. 

And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.  (Genesis 2:2-3)

For other mandalas, see:

"Urban Mandalas"

and on this blog, "Hubcap Mandalas."

Hawks in My Life

(Click to view full size.)

There have been hawks in my life the past couple of years.  This one was recently outside my window, sometimes watching me, sometimes ignoring me.  For others:

• Dignity and a Splashing Hawk 

• A Visitation of Hawks

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all!
(Psalm 104:24 )

Nighttime Interior

Playing with a simple interior scene... 

Nor the Moon by Night

Full Moon with Cloud Halo

(Click photo to view full size)

The Lord is your keeper;
   the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
   nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
   he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
   your going out and your coming in
   from this time on and for evermore.

Psalm 91:5-8

To See Heaven in a Wildflower

Dune Flower

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

William Blake, "Auguries of Innocence"

Sunlight on Dried Flowers in Pencil Holder

Goodness and Mercy Shall Follow Me

The Orton effect gives a sense of depth and richness to a still photograph. This video was created using the Orton effect on stills, and enhanced with animation. Be sure to watch it full-screen and in high definition if your connection allows.

Mega Moon Rising

Mega Moon March 19
(Click on image to view full size.)

Because of our dense tree cover, we drove out to Paynes Prairie to view the super moon rise, which was indeed spectacular. (And yes, this was the actual color.) As it turned out, many others had the same idea, and the highway was lined with cars.

Full Moon at Perigee

The colors are changing and the shape appears less flattened as the moon rises and the sky darkens.

Dreaming of the World

Atelier Ten Tails Dreaming
(Click image to view full size.)

An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world.

(George Santayana)

Digitally edited photo of the gable of Atelier Ten Tails in Cedar Key, Florida.

Chicago Sunset

Chicago Looking Northwest from Cenacle

Sunset looking north from the roof of the Cenacle Retreat House in Chicago -- looking away from the skyline. I have always wondered if the intense colors of the Chicago sunsets are due to pollution in the air. In any case, they are splendid and worth the chill of the rooftop.