Mongolian Steppes Orb: The Reptiles

Mongolian Steppes Orb opens with one of the largest collections of lizards with nine unique species.

Mongolian Steppes Orb: The Amphibians

What I'm Watching #274

"Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" (ลุงบุญมีระลึกชาติ) won the 2010 Palm d'Or at Cannes. A Thai film directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and proclaimed "A Modern Masterpiece" on the cover of the DVD. It is so, but with the same clarity of conception as Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" gave to its audience in 1916. It is other worldly.

Ideas, images, time itself move in a way that breaks the plain of contemporary western story telling. One moment the film seems magical and profound and the next sophomoric and amateur. Often more is communicated in the moments without dialogue than in those carefully crafted and language-centric scenes where all other movement is suppressed.

This is not an easy film, and it will not find a wide appeal. It is; however, an interesting film in many ways, chief among which is its concept. At its core it is about ideas, relationships, juxtapositions and enigmas.

Today's Sermon

I Ran Out Naked In The Sun

I ran out naked

in the sun

and who could blame me

who could blame 



the day was warm



I ran out naked 

in the rain

and who could blame me

who could blame



the storm



I leaned toward sixty

that day almost done

it thundered

then



I wanted more I

shouted More

and who could blame me

who could blame



had been before



could blame me

that I wanted more

~ Jane Hirshfield, 1953 -

My Love Of Hymns

I have Jewish friends who love Christmas carols. As an atheist, I love some Christian Hymns. None more than "It Is Well With My Soul". I often sing it when I am sad.

This video explains the inception of this hymn very well. I only hope that as the Spafford's eventually shared Christ in Jerusalem, their Muslim and Jewish neighbors had fair opportunity to share and witness their cultural traditions, too.

Other hymns that I love:

Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Blessed Assurance
O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing
And Can It Be
Now Thank We All Our God
O God Our Help In Ages Past
The Churches One Foundation
Jesus The Very Thought Of Thee

When I sing these songs of Christian praise and desire, I do not do so as a Christian. The images to me are pure metaphor. The result in my mind and heart are no less satisfying than when I did want to believe that there is a god and Christianity's explanation was the correct one.

In some ways, my metamorphosis to metaphor has enabled me to still cherish my past without feeling cheated or embarrassed by my allegiance with other doctrines. It's all part of my search for meaning. I only thank the impersonal nebulous universe that I was born in a post reformation, post enlightenment era in a nation that affords many privileges to even modestly intelligent, landed and correctly born (white male) citizens of this most fragile experiment in what is called "Democracy" as it seeks to expand these unquestioned rights to others. I don't emphasize my homosexuality in moments related to such freedoms of conscience.

Japan Continues To Shake, Too

Pride Birthdays and Memorials for the Coming Week ~ September 18th to 24th!

Moma's Got An Itch

That would be Mother Earth. It's been an interesting month regarding Earthquakes. Besides the one we experienced here in the DC region, there have been two others in unusual places that were large enough to produce aftershocks and have continued to do so. One is on the Colorado/New Mexico boarder and the other is in west central Texas. Besides those a decent little quake occurred in central Washington state, and a series of odd temblers has occurred in places like Alabama, Illinois, New York and West Virginia. Over a year's time and it would not be unusual to see such events, but over the past 25 days? It's at the very least unusual.

What I'm Reading #40

Nursing two books at the same time has brought me to the end of both in nearly as many days. Today I finished Rob Lowe's memoir, "Stories I Only Tell My Friends." I have long been a fan of the genre, and Rob does a wonderful job with the retelling of his life thus far.

To my own embarrassment, all I knew of him before reading this book was "The Outsiders" and "The West Wing," and in a way they are the bookends of his career thus far. All of the volumes of short stories and poems on his shelf in between were new adventures for me.

It is highly accessible and filled with both gems of "hollywood" insider tales and more than a handful of amazing experiences. As generous as he is in letting us enter his world, he is by-and-large even more generous to the people who inhabit it with him. And that's a lovely thing. He hints at the end of someday carrying on the story in another book, and if that day comes and I am still here to greet it, I will look forward to picking up where we've just left off.

What I'm Reading #39

Just finished reading Neal Cassidy's rambling memoir "The First Third". It's the story of his people. It's the story of his childhood. The first is the prologue written in a simple straightforward manner worthy of Hemingway, and the second main portion of the book is written in a style he patterned after the French writer Proust. As such, it takes a little getting used to.

In telling the story of his childhood thusly, he takes lots of liberties on drawing conjectures and making observations regarding the meaning behind his actions and experiences that no child of 6 or 7 or 8 would likely have done at the time. But that is not the purpose of memoir. Memoir doesn't deliver unencumbered reality, it offers a biased recollection that contains a skeleton of truth wrapped in the idealized flesh of the heart's eye.

The body created here is one of amazing humanity and gives one a picture of a world and a life hard to image but all too real.

More Stuff

I posted this today to my FB page with this observation: "Another scene from my deck. These two planters with their little guests. Both are chipped and cracked, but the plants don't seem to mind. We are too quick to throw things away."

And my friend "K" reflected back: "Chips and cracks are what give us character. They are also the way we identify each other -- so the plants can know their homes if they ever get lost."

Lovely.

Let There Be Fruit~

. . . . Or at least a seed of some sort!

After having rescued this and a companion plant from a dumpster in central Kentucky back in the late 80's, they first surprised me by blooming half a dozen years or so ago. An act of grace that has continued for each of the following years.

Now this! A single red berry bearing what I can only imagine is/are seed/s.

When asked what I do for them, I'm embarrassed to admit next to nothing! After saving their lives, that is.

Walter C. Righter, 1923-2011

Ret. Bishop Walter C. Righter has died. He was a man with tremendous integrity who stood up for GLBT people in the church at a time when it was not popular and the church sought to punish him for his courage.

In the heat of his ecclesiastical trial, I sent him a note to thank him for his sacrifice. He sent me such a lovely handwritten response along with a photo of himself with his family (wife, children, grandchildren--a happy tumbled lot of people taken in the outdoors.) I admired him greatly.

I heard that he died peacefully this very morning, and I am certain that he was surrounded by members of his beloved family.

Walter Cameron Righter, October 23, 1923 - September 11, 2011; may light perpetual shine upon him.

Today's Sermon

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.

Jelalu-din Rumi, 1207-1273

Pride Birthdays and Memorials for the Coming Week ~ September 11th to 17th!

Aloha Definitive Stamps!

New US Definitive Stamps for domestic post cards in 2012! I like them.

Happy Birthday West Side Story!

Random Quote 131

"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them."
~ Thomas Merton, 1915 - 1968

Evolution

Wednesday Advice!

Remember children: SAFETY FIRST... clothes optional.

Earth Postage Stamps--Definitive Postage Continued

Two more definitives to add to my Earth Stamp collection of National Parks.

To recap:

1¢ - Ujung Kulon National Park, INDONESIA
2¢ - Canaima National Park, VENEZUELA
3¢ - Hwange National Park, ZIMBABWE
4¢ - Urho Kekkonen National Park, FINLAND
5¢ - Grand Canyon National Park, UNITED STATES
6¢ - Alonissos Marine Park, GREECE
7¢ - Sinien National Park, ETHIOPIA
8¢ - Marojejy National Park, MADAGASCAR
9¢ - Fiordland National Park, NEW ZEALAND
10¢ - Masaya Volcano National Park, NICARAGUA

And now...

11¢ - Hingol National Park, PAKISTAN
12¢ - Tubbatha Reefs National Park, PHILIPPINES

Many more to come in this world of ours filled with amazing natural wonders and the inklings of wisdom to preserve.

Holiday Weekend Gardening

When I think about some of the odd things in my life, this plant comes to mind. I purchased it back in 1988 when I lived in Kentucky. I've since moved it from there to Maryland and into ever larger containers as it's grown. The roots literally split the fiberglass pot it was last in, and still I had to use a hammer to demolish the container's broken frame bit by bit in order to free the plant and transfer it to this new home.

It's a great plant. I don't know as it grows where we go from here. There is no larger container for it to inhabit and as things stand, I'm gonna have to get help to move it from this point on. Happy burden.

Earth Postage Stamps--Peacemaker Series #'s 10 through 12

Three more stamps in my imaginary Earth Postage series dedicated to Peacemakers. Joining the first nine: Bob Marley, Steve Biko, Helen Keller, Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, Raoul Wallenberg, Sojourner Truth, Thich Quang Duc, Allama Mashriqi, and Rachel Carson, are Sediqeh Dowlatabadi, Mychal Judge, and Paula Gunn Allen.

I'm imagining eventually extending this series to 100.

Today's Sermon

Heaven

It will be the past
and we'll live there together.

Not as it was to live
but as it is remembered.

It will be the past.
We'll all go back together.

Everyone we ever loved,
and lost, and must remember.

It will be the past.
And it will last forever.

~ Patrick Phillips, 1970 -

Vintage Postcards of Mid-Atlantic Cities

Moving on with my visit to places I've been through vintage postcards, here are some images from the mid-Atlantic region to go with my previous galleries from New England and the Mid-west. Enjoy!

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Happy Labor Day weekend everybody from this teacher, son of a beautician and an auto worker, grandson of a tire maker, a stone mason, and two homemakers who raised 11 children between them! Here's to turning our mindset back to better working conditions and wages instead of this insane conservative paradigm of austerity and accusations against the integrity of the American worker!

Pride Birthdays and Memorials for the Coming Week ~ September 4th to 10th!