Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

America the Definitely Beautiful

 
Happy 4th of July 

Continental Divide in Colorado
from a few years ago

Saturday, February 1, 2025

Biblical Winters

 
[Young Elihu to Job & company]
"God's voice thunders with marvelous things;
He does great things we cannot deeply know.
For to the snow He says, 'Fall on the earth,'
And to the shower of rain, Be mighty rain torrents'...
From the Breath of God ice is given,
     And the broad waters are frozen."  (Job 37:5, 6, 10)

Praise Yahweh from the earth:
Fire and hail, snow and clouds, 
Strong wind doing His will...
Let them praise the Name of Yahweh,
For His Name alone is exalted;
His splendor is above the earth and heavens. (Psalm 148: 7a, 8, 13)
Pen and ink; Paint 3D; Marie Byars art
He sends forth His command to the earth;
His word runs swiftly forth.
He dispenses snow as wool;
He scatters hoar-frost as ashes.
He hurls His hail as fragments--
Who can stand before His icy cold?
He sends forth His word and melts them;
He causes the wind to blow,
         and the waters flow.  (Psalm 147: 15-18)

[Yahweh says]
"For just as the rain comes down
     And the snow from the heavens
     And does not return there
     Without watering the earth,
Causing it to bring forth and sprout
     So that it yields seed to the sower
      And bread to the eater,
Thus is My Word which goes forth from My mouth:
It does not return to me void,
But does what I delighted
And advances those things for which I sent it."  (Isaiah 55: 10-11)

"Come, now, let us reason together.
Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red as crimson,
They shall be [white] like wool."  (Isaiah 1:18)

[King David leads us in saying]
"Cleanse me with hyssop* and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."  (Psalm 51:7)

(original translations c.m.b.)

*Ezov, the hyssop of the Bible-- a flowering herb in the mint family, which was used for cleansing. The plant was used to "sprinkle" liquids.  A hyssop stalk was used to life a sponge to Jesus' lips as He hung on the cross, to give Him something to wet His lips as He thirsted.

Sunday, December 1, 2024

Fum Fum Fum

 
On December 25th** sing
Fum, fum, fum*.
On December 25th sing
Fum, fum, fum.
He is born of God's pure love,       
The Son of God, the Son of God;
He is born of Virgin Mary
On this night so cold** and dreary.
Fum, fum, fum.

     
Birds of every forest grove sing
Fum, fum, fum. 
Birds of every forest grove sing
Fum, fum, fum. 
All your fledglings on the bough,
Oh, leave them now, oh, leave them now;
For to make a downy cover
For our Jesus, round Him hover.
Fum, fum, fum.  

Shining stars from heav'n above, sing
Fum, fum, fum. 
Shining stars from heav'n above, sing
Fum, fum, fum. 
Oh, come rejoice, oh, come rejoice;
Come and light the night's obscureness
With your light and dazzling pureness.
Fum, fum, fum.    
--Traditional Spanish Catalan carol (one of many translations)  

*"Fum" [pronounced "foom"], an imitation of strumming guitars and other stringed instruments; possibly also suggesting the rocking of the cradle.
**We don't know what date or time of year Jesus was born.  (Some modern writers assert it was in August, due to supposed clues in the text, but this is not known for sure.)  This date was chosen to give people who converted to Christianity an opportunity to carry on old light festivals with new meanings.  Many carols reflect their European settings far more than the realities of 1st century Bethlehem.


Friday, November 1, 2024

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]  
Pen & Ink, Paint 3D, Marie Byars art

The cold wind in the winter
The pleasant summer sun
The ripe fruits in the garden
He made them every one. [Refrain
cornucopia, colored pencil art, Dollar Tree coloring book
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]

Monday, July 1, 2024

Trees

 
I think that I shall never see
A poem [as] lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is presst
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair; 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
  ---Joyce Kilmer, 1915  







Monday, January 1, 2024

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.]

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

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







Friday, December 31, 2021

Ending 2021

As another year was drawing to a close, we spent some time in Northern Arizona.  It snowed almost the entire time.  If you look close in some of the photos, you will see the mountains.  You can see the snowflakes as they fall, too.





The gazebo at night




Friday, April 2, 2021

Easter Week

 

See the land, her Easter keeping,
Rises as her Maker rose.
Seeds, so long in darkness sleeping,
Burst at last from winter snows.
Earth with heaven above rejoices;
Fields and gardens hail the spring;
Shaughs* and woodlands ring with voices,
While the wild birds build and sing.


You, to whom your Maker granted
Powers to those sweet birds unknown,
Use the craft by God implanted;
Use the reason not your own.
Here, while heaven and earth rejoices,
Each his Easter tribute bring-
Work of fingers, chant of voices,
Like the birds who build and sing.

--Charles Kingsley (1819-1875)

*archaic term for small woods, thicket





Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Moisture Comes to Arizona


Rain, Rain,
Came again,
Came to ease our climate's pain.

Cloud, Cloud,
You're no shroud;
You're a joy to have around.

Snow, Snow,
Do not go:
Beautify us here below.

"Cleanse me with hyssop,
And I shall be clean;
Wash me,
And I shall be whiter than snow."  (Psalm 51:7)*

Grey, Grey,
Gone away:
Would you stay another day?

Sun, Sun,
Elsewhere fun,
Here you give our drought a run.

Rain, Rain,
Come again:
Leave us not with hopes in vain.

"'For just as the rain comes down
And snow from the heavens
And does not return there
Without watering the earth...
Thus is My Word
Which goes forth from my mouth:
It does not return to Me void.'"  (from Isaiah 55:10-11)*

--C. Marie Byars, (c) 2021

*original retranslations of the Bible from Hebrew
 



This poem is fourth in a series of drought & rain across Arizona.  These are the other three:




The below links show pictures of the author (and family) sledding in the US Southwest across the past several years.


 


 



Tuesday, December 1, 2020

What Color Is Your Christmas?


Customs say that Christmas colors
Feature red and green:
Reams and reams of dusty paper
Tell what these hues mean.

Newer en vogue Christmas pallettes
Favor blue and silver-- 
Mildest hints of bracing cold,
Tinselly chills with frosty lure.

"I'm dreaming of a...
    ...blue, blue Christmas."

Irving wrote of Christmas white,
Decked in sparkling snow;
Here an unplanned black-eyed Susan
Joins planned lemons dressed in yellow.
"Susan" on December 1st













Lemons on December 17th
Photo by my husband















Others might await their snow:
Winters here bring liquid flow.
Yet our rain has gone away--
Still not back this holiday.

If the rain falls on us all,
Good and evil both the same*,
What does this prolonged' drought
Say of our respective blame?

Christmas comes, Christmas goes,
Elsewhere as they brave the snows.
Christ's love blankets all our sin:
Someday all that's right will win.

--C. Marie Byars; (c) December, 2020

*Matthew 5:45

This poem forms a triptych with two other poems on our lack of rain:

It partially "twins" with the black-eyed Susan poem below and forms a partial "triptych" with the visuals in all three of these posts:

 

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

More Sledding... More on Seasons



December 2019 just south of Pine, AZ  (north of Payson)Yes, Arizona!!!


 



After the flood, God told Noah:

"Through all the days of the earth,
Seedtime and Harvest,
Cold and Heat,
Summer and Winter.
Day and Night
Will not take rest 
[cease, pause, have a 'Sabbath'.] "
  
  ---Genesis 8:22; original translation

This is but one of our seasons as we move through time.

Past Sledding Post 



Friday, March 15, 2019

Sledding


2006, Northern Arizona

2012, East of Albuquerque
2017, Yellowstone
Snowcoaching



Jan, 2019 near Grand Canyon

Feb, 2019 N. AZ


Sledding in summer clothes?  Fooled you.
2009, White Sands, NM