August

This was its promise, held to faithfully: 

The early morning sun came in this way 

Until the angle of its saffron beam
Between the curtains and the sofa lay, 

 And with its ochre* heat it spread across 

The village houses, and the nearby wood, 

Upon my bed and on my dampened pillow 

And to the corner where the bookcase stood. 

Then I recalled the reason why my pillow 

Had been so dampened by those tears that fell-

I'd dreamt I saw you coming one by one 

Across the wood to wish me your farewell. 

You came in ones and twos, a straggling crowd; 

Then suddenly someone mentioned a word: 

It was the sixth of August, by Old Style**, 

And the Transfiguration of Our Lord***. 

For from Mount Tabor*** usually this day 

There comes a light without a flame to shine, 

And autumn draws all eyes upon itself 

As clear and unmistaken as a sign.****

But you came forward through the tiny, stripped, 

The pauperly and trembling alder grove, 

Into the graveyard's coppice, russet-red*****, 

Which, like stamped gingerbread, lay there and glowed. 

 And with the silence of those high treetops 

Was neighbour only the imposing sky 

And in the echoed crowing of the cocks 

The distances and distances rang by: 

There in the churchyard underneath the trees, 

Like some surveyor from the government 

Death gazed on my pale face to estimate 

How large a grave would suit my measurement. 

All those who stood there could distinctly hear

A quiet voice emerge from where I lay: 

The voice was mine, my past; prophetic words 

That sounded now, unsullied by decay:

'Farewell, wonder of azure and of gold,

Surrounding the Transfiguration's power: 

Assuage now with a woman's last caress 

The bitterness of my predestined hour! 

'Farewell timeless expanse of passing years!

Farewell, woman who flung your challenge steeled 

Against the abyss of humiliations: 

For it is I who am your battlefield! 

'Farewell, you span of open wings outspread, 

The voluntary obstinacy of flight, 

O figure of the world revealed in speech, 

Creative genius, wonder-working might!'

--Boris Pasternak [author of Dr. Zhivago], 1890-1960

*ochre--  deep orange-y brown

**adjusted calendar:  Pope Gregory XIII adjusted the calendar in 1582.  Due to the way leap days had been inserted, there had been "seasonal creep."  About 11 days were taken out of the calendar, readjusting dates, and leap days were no longer inserted in years that are divisible by 100 (i.e. 1700), unless they are also divisible by 400 (i.e. 2000).  

   Protestant-dominated countries were slower to adopt the calendar. Great Britain and its colonies adopted the Gregorian Calendar in September of 1752.  You may have heard that Washington's birthday 'moved'?

   Eastern Orthodox countries were even slower to adopt the new calendar, which most did for purely civic, non-church purposes. Within Orthodox churches, the 'old calendar' is often still used.

***Feast of Transfiguration/Mt. Tabor.  Eastern Orthodox churches celebrated the Feast of the Transfiguration on the 6th of August.  Lutherans used to use this date, also. Transfiguration is the event where Jesus shone forth brightly on a mountaintop.  Many Christian traditions suggested this was Mt. Tabor.

      Roman Catholics set the date as the last Sunday before Lent. This is when Lutherans now celebrate it. This makes sense, as the event was one of the final ones before Jesus travelled to Jerusalem to give His life for the world.

****August giving way to autumn.  Not really a factor where I currently live but it is in many places.

*****russet red coppice--  russet is a dark-brown color with reddish or even orange tinges; a coppice is an area where trees have been cut down to stumps, often to encourage the growth of other plants or trees

All Things Bright & Beautiful

 

Refrain: 

All things bright and beautiful,  

 All creatures great and small, 

All things wise and wonderful, 

The Lord God made them all. 

Each little flow'r that opens,

Each little bird that sings, 

He made their glowing colors, 

He made their tiny wings. [Refrain]  

The purple-headed mountain 

The river running by,

The sunset and the morning 

That brightens up the sky. [Refrain]  

The cold wind in the winter, 

The pleasant summer sun, 

The ripe fruits in the garden: 

He made them every one. [Refrain] 

He gave us eyes to see them, 

And lips that we might tell 

How great is God Almighty, 

Who has made all things well. [Refrain]

-Cecil Frances Alexander, 1848 [female]

Cecil Frances Alexander

The Months

 
January brings the snow,

Makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain*,

Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes large and shrill,

Stirs the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet,

Scatters daisies at our feet.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs,

Skipping by their fleecy damns.

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,

Fills the children's hands with posies.

Hot July brings cooling showers,

Apricots and gillyflowers**.

August brings the sheaves of corn***,

Then the harvest home is borne.

Warm September brings the fruit,

Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Fresh October brings the pheasants,

Then to gather nuts is pleasant.

Dull November brings the blast,

Then the leaves are whirling fast.

Chill December brings the sleet*,

Blazing fire and Christmas treat. 

     ---Sara Coleridge (1802-1852)

     English writer Sara Coleridge is most known as the only daughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and an editor of his work, particularly after her father and her husband died.  However, she was an author and translator in her own right.

     In the 21st century, a discovery of over 100 of her unpublished poems was made.  A lecturer at University College, London, Dr. Swaab, discovered them in the Coleridge manuscripts and published them in 2007.

*Many places in the northern hemisphere will still snow in December & February. The British Isles, being smallish and surrounded by water, do not always have the conditions for snow.

**Gillyflowers:  most often, another term for "carnations", though the term may be applied to other flowers,

***Corn: old-school, Old World, meant "wheat" (whereas New World "corn" was called some variant of "maize.")

****Though this poem is not overtly religious, Sara was.  She opposed the Oxford Movement (Tractarian Movement), in the 1840s.  The movement led to an Anglican Church that was more "high church" or more similar to Roman Catholicism, as opposed to other protestant ideas present in England.  [Gerard Manly Hopkins, whose work is featured elsewhere in this blog, did approve of the Tractarian Movement.  Eventually he went so far as to formally become Roman Catholic.]

Blessed September

 

   During September in much of Northern Hemisphere, little purple daisy-like flowers ("asters") are in bloom.  Across Europe, especially in England, they are often referred to as "Michaelmas Daisies."  This is due to their on-going blooming over the feast of St. Michael and All Angels on September 29th.

    The Bible does not say as much about angels as some people might assume.  But it does say some important things.  One thing to note: humans do NOT become angels when we die.  Angels were always created to be spirit only and are the servants of God. We were created to be both physical and spiritual. Though the physical must go into the earth for a while at death, due to humanity's fall into sin, the body will be raised at the end of time. We are not only servants of God: we are also His children.  When the angels fell into sin, they became the demons that are cursed forever. There is no salvation plan for them.  On the other hand, God sent His Son (who is also God Himself) to become human and to die for our sins.

     Michael is a powerful angel who shows up in the books of Daniel and Revelation. He is also briefly mentioned in Jude. His name in Hebrew means "who is like God?"  ["Micah" is a related name. It means "who is like Yahweh (the proper name for God)."]  Michael fought in the great war in heaven after Satan rebelled against God, before humans were tempted. 

   Gabriel, whose name means "God is my Strong Man", is the other angel with a name. He appeared to Daniel in the Old Testament. His main appearances were around the time of Jesus' birth, making announcements to Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, and making the announcement of Jesus' coming to His mother, the Virgin Mary.

     Other angels serve in other roles. Some are, indeed, our guardian angels.  Four remain around the throne of God.  None is described in the Bible as the cutesy little Valentine cherubs. 

Here is some Biblical poetry for you to enjoy over this happy festival:

For He [God] shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

In their hands shall they bear you up

Lest you dash your foot on a stone.  (Psalm 91:11-12, original translation)

Flag Day

 
  In honor of the U.S Commemoration of Flag Day on June 14th, here are some pictures of the U.S. flag taken in beautiful, mountainous Northern Arizona.  (Yes, Arizona).   

  Although the pictures were taken in the fall, they are excellent to ponder this Flag Day and any other patriotic day.

 

#nature

Winter in All Our Lives

[winter 2022-23 has been very wet and snowy or rainy throughout much of the US]

There is a winter in all of our lives,

a chill and darkness that makes us yearn
for days that have gone
or put our hope in days yet to be.
Father God, you created seasons for a purpose.

Spring is full of expectation
buds breaking
frosts abating and an awakening
of creation before the first days of summer.
Now the sun gives warmth
and comfort to our lives
reviving aching joints
bringing colour, new life
and crops to fruiting.

Autumn gives nature space
to lean back, relax and enjoy the fruits of its labour
mellow colours in sky and landscape
as the earth prepares to rest.
Then winter, cold and bare as nature takes stock
rests, unwinds, sleeps until the time is right.

An endless cycle
and yet a perfect model.
We need a winter in our lives
a time of rest, a time to stand still
a time to reacquaint ourselves
with the faith in which we live.
It is only then that we can draw strength
from the one in whom we are rooted
take time to grow and rise through the darkness
into the warm glow of your springtime
to blossom and flourish
bring colour and vitality into this world
your garden.
Thank you Father
for the seasons of our lives.

- Author Unknown

Thanksgiving of Another Sort

 

  For more thoughts for this Thanksgiving season, click the "autumn" link to the left on the desktop version of this blog.

Autumn Glory

 
     Here are some photos from around northern Arizona this October.  Northern Arizona looks a lot different than some of you who have never visited this state might expect. This is going to be a bigger post, photographically.  It will also have a couple different 'takes' on autumn interspersed.

    There is also much more "human activity" in some of these pictures than what I typically include.  Some of this couldn't be helped in order to "get the shot."  But it's a reminder that, despite how radical environmentalists frame things, our world is a human-natural world cooperation.  To even enjoy it involves a human imposition. 

     After the flood, God gave Noah a rainbow.  Christians think of this mostly as a promise that God would not destroy the earth again by a flood.  There is also a promise that seasons will follow each other in order until the end of time:

"Through all the days of the earth,

Seedtime and Harvst,

Cold and Heat,

Summer and Winter, 

Day and Night 

Will not take rest [cease, pause, have a 'Sabbath']."  (Genesis 8:22)

San Francisco Peaks

Trees 🌳:

Arizona Walnut

"Quaking" Aspen, a type of poplar;

usually the leaves go golden, 

but soil conditions allow some as this

to go reddish

Locust, pea family

A Non-Native Maple 🍁

A Native, Western Maple 🍁

Basswood/Linden (?)

     When you're young, you often just admire Fall for the beautiful change of colors.  As time passes, you are more likely to have the haunting sense of 'death' arrive.  The leaves are actually dying.  While the deciduous trees aren't dying, their dormant state looks dead.  Even perceptive children will pick up on this, as in this poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, an English Jesuit priest:

Spring and Fall

to a young child

Márgarét, áre you gríeving

Over Goldengrove unleaving?

Leáves like the things of man, you

With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?

Ah! ás the heart grows older

It will come to such sights colder

By and by, nor spare a sigh

Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal* lie;

And yet you wíll weep and know why.

Now no matter, child, the name:

Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same.

Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed

What heart heard of, ghost guessed:

It ís the blight man was born for,

It is Margaret you mourn for. (1880)   

*Leafmeal, akin to "piecemeal"; term coined by Hopkins  

The Bible gives us hope in this, though.  Job, who was plagued by disaster and lived thousands of years before Christ was born, said in faith:

"For I know that my Redeemer lives,

And at the last [day], He shall stand upon the earth.

And after my skin is destroyed-- this,

And in my flesh shall I see God,

Whom I shall see for myself,

And my eyes shall behold,

And not a stranger. *

My heart yearns within me!"  (Job 19:25-27)

*this is more accurate to the Hebrew.  Martin Luther made a similar choice, translating it into German, using the word Fremder, "stranger."

Mountain🌄Hike 🚶‍♀️ 🚶‍♂️:

solitary aspen leaf 🍂

Aspens Interspersed with Blue Spruce and Douglas-Fir🌲

Conifer Seedling with Aspen Leaf

Rain 🌧🌦🌨off in the Distance

Sweeping Vista

The Pinnacle Humphreys Peak 🗻

"Aspen Corner"

part way down the mountain 

Flowers 🌸🏵🌼💐 :

I was frankly surprised to see this many flowers still blooming, especially the 'last' lupine and all the black-eyed Susans, especially considering how cool it was already getting. 

Purple False-Clover

pea family

White False-Clover and Yellow Clover

(why one is a true clover and the other is not seems some botanist's whim)

Yarrow 

Golden Aster 

composite (sunflower) 🌼 family

Native Snapdragon 

Cliff Rose 🌹

rose family (along with many common fruits

such as 🍎apple, plum, cherry 🍒,  peach 🍑)

[alongside purple coneflower]

Purple Aster

 composite family; sometimes called Michaelmas Daisy,

due to blooming around St. Michael's and All Angels Day, 29 September 

Maroon & Gold Mexican Hats, composite family

Yellow Mexican Hats

(purple asters among both types of Mexican Hats)

White Asters or Fleabane

Wooly Mullein (Lamb's Ear)

Lupine, much like Texas Bluebonnet

pea family (note pods below)

Purple Coneflower, non-native; composite family

Indian Blanket Flower (Firewheel), Composite Family

only somewhat native to this area;

more common on the southern parts of the Great Prarie;

there are several subspecies with slight color variations

My Favorite: Black-Eyed Susans

composite family

native to the Midwest, from Wisconsin to Texas

They have been seeded and naturalized to this one field in Flagstaff, AZ.Though I like living in the West, these are still a big favorite with me.

with ponderosa pines

with Indian blankets scattered in

A poem of mine on these flowers from August 2019

Black-Eyed Susan