Daily Archives: December 24, 2015
Christmas Edition: 12/24/2015
Merry Christmas
We have this Christmas cactus that has faithfully bloomed twice a year for the past 5 years at least. It blooms just before and through Christmas, and then it blooms again, just before and through Easter. We don’t do anything special to it. It just does it. I take pictures of the blooms each year, both seasons. It is certainly a faithful reminder of the miracle of Jesus…the great gift of God to us in the Son of God and Son of Man, who came so that we could believe, and choose life and love. As I post this Christmas Eve (or coming up to it), I am thinking of the day tomorrow, when our family, and families all around the world, will celebrate both life and love by gathering, by exchanging gifts…in their worship and their fellowship together. Christ is born! And, for those of us who choose, that makes all the difference.
This is my Christmas post. I will joining in the celebration tomorrow. Have a very Merry Christmas, and I will see you all on the 26th.
Cloud peppered with Snow Geese
Snow Geese, Bosque del Apache NWR, Socorro NM
Our first day at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge for the Festival of the Cranes, there were very few Snow Geese. I saw a few hundred during the day. The next morning it was no better, but as I arrived back at the Visitor Center to begin my day’s work, at about 8:45 am, I heard geese coming in from the north and looked up to see the sky literally full of Snow (and undoubtedly many Ross’) Geese. And I mean full. Thousands. Maybe 10,000 Geese coming in a huge flock. At first it looked like they might overshoot the Refuge, but they did spiral down and settle on the ponds inside the tour loop. I grabbed the closest camera and took some stills and video from the parking lot. This relatively wide angle shot catches a bit of the feeling.
Nikon P610 at 30mm equivalent field of view. 1/1600th @ ISO 100 @ f5. Processed in Lightroom.