A Moon for the Season

We 'earthlings' have been privileged to have three super-moons grace our skies during the first three months of 2019.  Perhaps where you live, you were able to view each one.  In January and February, clouds and stormy weather obscured Grant County from any visibility due to stormy cloud cover.  However, last week on March 20th, we were actually privileged to see the Super Worm Moon. Surprise for our area!  It was an actual viewing delight since there was little cloud cover both in the early morning and evening hours.  To caption what a super worm moon is about....
          - moon is called super when it is closest to earth in its orbit, making it appear large and brighter.
          - the full moon in March is always known as the "worm moon" because it marks the time of  year when earthworms begin to come out in the soil.

These first two photos were taken during predawn hours of March 20th as the moon was setting in the west before it disappeared into the horizon.

This year's Super Worm Moon also falls on the day of the Spring Equinox for the first time in 19 years.  Simply put, the Spring Equinox means the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.  How wonderful to have spring ushered in with the Super Worm Moon.  It's been a rough winter in many places and the promise of spring brings eagerness for warmer weather and nature's renewal.

The below photos were taken during the evening hours on March 20th.  The clouds came into play in the night sky that seemingly danced around the moon.  It lent an artistic quality as if a painter's brush touched the canvas of the sky in a unique cosmic design.

As you look at these photos, I challenge you to find noise.  The discernible noise could be found in our own thoughts but that is separate from the actual scenes in these pictures.  Mother Teresa said this, "We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness.  God is the friend of silence.  See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls." 

I hope you will return to The Turn-Up Patch in two weeks for our next time together on Monday, April 8...

Icicle Cloud Perspective

February has been an exceptionally snowy month in Eastern Oregon as it has been in many other parts of the nation.  Winter has been fierce in storms and inconvenience.  Traveling through our mountain roads can be hazardous and many choose to stay home rather than pit their driving skills against the elements.  Occasionally, the more adventurous cannot ignore the allure of winter sports and master the weather in the fun of snowmobiling, skiing and sledding in nearby locales.  The rest of us are content to gather around the warmth of a wood stove, grateful to be indoors and watch the snow fall through the window pane.

I took this photo from inside the house.  As I looked out the kitchen window on a rare day of blue sky and sunshine, I noticed this icicle formation that seemed to appear from the sky.  It had its own cloud effect that seemingly reached from the sky to the earth with tendrils of frozen water.  This wonderful creation of ice was attached to the eaves of the roof giving an illusory appearance with the help of camera angle perspective.

Perspective simply means the ability to view.  It can be defined in actual visual sight or characterized from internal human experience.  A mountain can be viewed from different angles, each having contrasting descriptions, yet it is the same mountain.  Human perspective is more difficult, as an experience can shade how we internalize 'truth'.  It can heal or hurt.  Prejudices can be formed, opinions made, conclusions drawn, positions taken.  What is the antidote for this?  How can objectivity arise?

On a clear day

Rise and look around you

And you'll see who you are

On a clear day

How it will astound you

That the glow of your being

Outshines every star

You'll feel part of every mountain sea and shore

You can hear 

From far and near

A word you've never, never heard before...

And on a clear day... On a clear day..

You can see forever...

and ever...

And ever more...

(Writers:  Lerner Alan Jay, Lane Burton)

Billy Graham says it this way....

"Never forget that God isn't bound by time the way we are.

We see only the present moment; God sees everything.

We see only part of what He is doing; He sees it all." 

COME!  Join me at The Turn-Up Patch in two weeks on Monday, March 25th....