I am so happy NASA has decided to save the Hubble Space Telescope. I mean, how can we let something that takes beautiful pictures like this die? I just hope this is the last reversal that NASA does on this subject. I have long been a fan of Hubble. I love exploring and contemplating the mysteries of the universe around us. The Hubble gives us only a glimpse of what is out there. But what a glimpse it is! We have seen things that we could not even imagine prior to Hubble. Everything from close-ups of the planets in our solar system to peeks at distant galagies whos light has been traveling millions of years to reach earth. For just a sample of what Hubble can do check out this link. I can hardly wait for the Kepler Mission!
Monthly Archive for October, 2006
I am committing this to blog to help me have closure on this issue and to begin to put this nagging question behind me.
I have decided to not pursue a degree beyond the MS degree. I am weary the classes, studying, and the education “game”. Perhaps if I were 20 years younger I would have made a different decision. I started taking classes when I first came to Syracuse University in 1998. At the time I had an associates degree. On average I have been taking 6 credit hours per semester while holding down a full time job. I am 6 credit hours away from the MS degree and plan to complete it in the spring 2007 semester. Much of what I have learned in the past 9 years of school is useful and it certainly has helped me in my career. But, the more I investigate the more I become jaded about the “paper chase”. Over the past several months I have asked many people who I deeply trust to talk with me about this “dream” I had. Of the five people I contacted, three responded, one actually made the time to talk with me and 2 others have had scheduling issues so we haven’t had the opportunity to talk. I am disappointed but not disillusioned. Life goes on and so will I.
Interestingly, it was a scripture that my pastor used at the very beginning of his sermon yesterday that caused me to rethink the context of my life in this world. It was Galatians 6:9 that says “Let us not become weary of doing good…” For me that was a profound message and I immediately knew what my decision must be. Over the past several months I have been struggling with how to balance my spiritual life with my secular life. To be honest, my secular life was winning. But that one verse completely flipped the picture for me. It goes on to say, “…for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” There are many struggles we all face. I am choosing the one that is most important to me and the one that will have real meaning in the end.
An important part of my decision is my desire to become more involved in missions. I have been doing short term missions for several years now. I want to expend the energy I have to help people around the world in any way I can; financially, with my talents or just by being a friend. God has blessed me with a sharp mind and with many spiritual gifts. I believe I need to use those gifts He has entrusted to me. So, going forward I will focus on my faith and missions.
It is done.
I really like this K2 theme. There is a lot in here and it has tremendous potential. I think I will stick with this for a time and I will see what I can do to make it mine. If you haven’t tried this theme, you should. Lots of stuff on the inside that makes this a great theme.
For some time now I have been thinking about writing about Alice’s Garden. It is actually “our” garden but all of the labor to make it what it is has been done by my dear wife Alice. And so the name… Alice’s garden. It is a small garden that occupies the back yard of our house and has evolved over the time that we have been here. The roses were the first to go. They were replaced with several different kinds of irises. While Alice was working she found working in the garden to be therapeutic. She would say to me that working with the earth was honest and clean and it helped her keep a perspective on life. My contribution to the garden to build a bower in the rear of the yard. It is a tribute to Alice and stands as a testament of my love for her.
Peonies are one of my favorite flowers. Our garden has beautiful white and red peonies. The flower of the Peony plant has always fascinated me. And I have always been fascinated that ants love the buds of peonies.? Ants have a special relationship with the peony. The bud of the peony secretes a fluid that is very attractive to ants. In return for this tasty delight, ants protect peonies from other would be pests. Often times the flower is so large and heavy that the stem will bend so much that the flower touches the ground. The flowers are so intricate in the way the petals interweave with each other and yet they are very delicate at the same time. I am glad we have peonies in our garden. If it were up do me I would have a garden full of many different varieties of peonies. Fortunately, Alice is able to balance the varieties in our garden so it is not as one dimensional as my garden might be filled only with peonies.
Iris is one of Alice’s favorite flowers so we have several varities in our garden. This is one of my favorites because of the depth and beauty of the colors. They are at the same time delicate and majestic. And, as a bonus, they grow well without the care and attention that roses need. Isises have 3 petals called the “fall” that act as a landing pad for pollinators and often has lines that lead them to the pollen. Georgia O’Keefe paints really wonderful pictures of irises and is one of Alice’s favorite artists. I was not familiar with irises before I met Alice. I am pleased that she has introduced me to this flower.
Daisies always seemed rather ordinary to me until Alice added them to our garden. I love looking at the detail in flowers. This one was almost perfect in it’s color and the evenness of the petals. This one was captured right after a light rain. I have found that when the entire section of daisies are in bloom it is quite a stunning site. Even though they are plentiful—some even consider them to be akin to a weed—daisies are no longer just an ordinary flower to me.
I love the details of all that is around us. Many times I miss some of the beauty of creation because I am either not paying attention or I am distracted by something else. I discovered this leaf while walking in a garden in Ireland one July morning. On any other morning I would have just gone about my business and would not have found anything special about dew on a leaf. But, when I have a camera in hand I become much more attentive that I normally would be. Images like this reminds me how much I love God’s creation! We can find beauty in the most ordinary places if we just pay attention.
Looking very closely at something may reveal a beautful form and subtle tones that may otherwise look quite boring. While walking through Alice’s Garden after a light rain I came upon this image. I was looking at the green on green and was just trying to see how well the leaves would stand out against a background. I was very pleased when I saw the picture. I love the way the leaves gently twist and their scalloped edges. The raindrops add another aspect of nature to this image that we see so often. This is a favorite of mine. I would like to see this as a very large picture maybe 6′x5′.
This past summer my wife and I visited Ireland. It was a great opportunity for me to take a lot of pictures. I have been taking detailed pictures of flowers for my wife. She paints with watercolors and wants a catalog of flowers for reference. So I took quite a few pictures of flowers while I was there. But I also took many other pictures. I can almost hear the water falling on this rock. We were visiting some of the sacred places in the area of Ireland where we were staying. The water is flowing over a man made dam. We walked several miles of Saint Kevin’s Way and this is the end of of the walk in Glendalough. It was nice to be out in the countryside. I felt like we truely got a sense of the land.
This picture reminds me that there times in my life when the waters are still. It is a time to reflect upon where I am in life without the turmoil that so often surrounds us. I often dwell on the turmoil so much that I move through the calm waters without even recognizing it. Sometimes I long for peace without realizing that I am in the midst of it.
There were a number of discoveries for me on this trip. These pictures reminds me that there is a persistence to life that endures through everything that pours down upon us. And that although sometimes thinks seem stormy and we can’t seem to get out from under the storm there are other times when we can just be. Some of things invigorate us and help us to grow. Other things just wear us down. Through it all we persist and we endure.
