Landscape of Words

a journey through landscapes real and imagined

Category: Creation Care (Page 1 of 2)

Song of the Birds

November 3, 2020 / / 1 Comment

One of my favorite cello performances is the performance of Song of the Birds (El cant dels ocells) by Pablo Casals for the United Nations in 1971. Casals was born in 1876 in the Catalonia region of Spain. He learned the cello as a child, and discovered the Bach cello suites when he was in his early teens. At the time, the unaccompanied cello suites were considered “exercises,” yet Casals’ love of Bach led him to practice the suites daily. After years spent with Bach’s suites, he started performing them – and then everyone heard the beauty! It is said that Casals played at least one suite every day for the rest of his life. Pablo Casals is also known as a man of peace, who pursued justice. He worked on behalf of the poor, and used his music to draw attention to injustices. After the Spanish Civil War, Casals left Spain and refused to perform his cello in any country that recognized Franco as the leader of Spain. He made one exception. He performed Song of the Birds at the White House in 1961 for President John F. Kennedy. In 1971, Casals received the United Nations Peace Medal, and he again performed Song of the Birds. His acceptance speech was beautiful, and really brings me comfort on this night when I am hoping and praying for peace….

“I have not played the cello in public for many years, but I feel that the time has come to play again. I am going to play a melody from Catalan folklore: El cant dels ocells – The Song of the Birds. Birds sing when they are in the sky, they sing: “Peace, Peace, Peace”, and it is a melody that Bach, Beethoven and all the greats would have admired and loved. What is more, it is born in the soul of my people, Catalonia”. Pablo Casals, United Nations 1971 http://www.paucasals.org/en/-PAU-CASALS-United-Nations-speech/

Peace, Peace, Peace…

Wren recorded an improvisation on Song of the Birds… here it is:

Song of the Birds
“But ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;
    let the birds tell you what’s going on.
Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.
    Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
Isn’t it clear that they all know and agree
    that God is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand—
Job 12:7-9 The Message

What a week!

August 30, 2020 / / 2 Comments

We made it through…but *whew* that was exhausting! Thanks for those of you who still check on the blog and read even though I’m not getting a post up every night. I made it through the first week and now this week we get to see what Middle School is like! (I can’t believe I have a Middle Schooler!)

I’m trying to be creative with my classes this year, and keep it engaging despite being a zoom class. When I am in the classroom, I always try to have “Film Friday.” Students really look forward to Fridays, and they learn to love David Attenborough almost as much as I do. So for our first “Film Friday” I did something special for the class. The discussion post this week was for the class to tell us all about their favorite place. I went and found photos online of all of the favorite places and this is what it looks like! I really love seeing the places that others love – and learning about why!

Hymn of comfort is back tomorrow! I’ve already got it set and ready to go!!!

Lesson Plans

August 26, 2020 / / 2 Comments

Today was my first day of classes. This semester I’m teaching Ecology and Global Health. I love teaching these classes. I love that I still have things to learn, even in my 21st year! When I teach ecology, I love seeing students develop a love of creation. Most students will not become ecologists, but most do start to understand and appreciate how beautifully complex this world is.

My Global Health students are so passionate about others. They are so excited to learn and truly desire to understand what it means to love their neighbor. But they also genuinely want to explore the brokenness of social systems that keep these neighbors sick and/or hungry. I always learn to hope in new ways by hearing the new ways that students think about these problems. I’m excited for the semester and what we will learn together!

Micah 6:8 is one of my favorite verses and informs how I teach both of these courses.

But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,
    what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
    be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—
    take God seriously.

My mom set this verse as a choral anthem, and this past weekend, Wren played an arrangement of the anthem for church. Here is the video!

Light Shows!

August 18, 2020 / / 2 Comments

One of the best parts of our weekend were all of the different light shows! The sunsets were spectacular!

We had lots of fun around the campfire!

Every night we went out to watch the stars! I loved this (admittedly as much as birding!) – especially the opportunity to work on my night sky photography!

Wren recorded For the Beauty of the Earth while we were camping – we couldn’t think of a more appropriate hymn for our weekend!

A Much Needed Break

August 17, 2020 / / 1 Comment

It’s a really busy season for teachers, and this season is unlike any I’ve ever experienced. Recently, we haven’t been able to post as often as we would like. We try for every-other-day, but it’s been hard to get it done. We hope that some of you who visit us on the blog will forgive us for our recent This past weekend, we took a wonderful break. We love to camp, and we did have a wonderful night on a friend’s farm…but we have missed the longer camping trips that we normally have each summer. Being limited to travel within Illinois actually forced me to learn more about natural areas close to home! We found an amazing place. We were able to enjoy birding, hiking, star-gazing and music-making! I’ll blog about it all week. Here are a few highlights…but more (including music) coming tomorrow.

The camp site was full of really old Pines!
Amos was not really a fan…
This might not look like much at first look, but there were 1000s of birds and so many species!!
So many things to see!
not much to look at, but listen for the whip-poor-will!

Difficult Times

August 9, 2020 / / 2 Comments

I found this shirt for Wren… I thought it was perfect for our summer!

These are difficult times, but we are extraordinarily blessed. We have what we need. We have beautiful places to walk and explore, we have our health and each other. So difficult, yes, but we are happy! Of course, messy, chocolaty milkshakes also help us through difficult times!

Wren and Nonnie put this special hymn of comfort together for you! Enjoy!

Surprising Audience

July 23, 2020 / / 1 Comment

We love to see what will come to the yard to listen to the cello. Usually it’s robins and a family of cardinals (2 babies!), and sometimes we get some house finches (always house sparrows). Today we had some new special guests! Chickadees, a blue-gray gnatcatcher, and a ruby-throated hummingbird!

This week is Wren’s second cello camp of the summer. She was planning on staying with friends in Omaha while I taught in Yellowstone. That didn’t work out, but we’ve had a lot of fun this week together! The Omaha camp didn’t fully cancel, but they allowed Wren to attend only the online portion of the camp (the kids living in Omaha are rehearsing for chamber in person). Wren is taking lessons and technique. She’s also enjoyed zoom lunches with her friends, and some evening seminars on conducting and composers. This camp has a composition competition, and Wren was very excited to submit some of her compositions to this! We recorded for this today, so we don’t have a new recording to share tonight…but after we find out the results of the competition next week, we will post some things here!

Here is an older video for you! This is a recital from the fall of 2017. Wren was playing Chanson Triste.

Twinkle, Twinkle…

July 19, 2020 / / 1 Comment

We’ve been out watching the comet again! I’ve also been working on my night photography skills, and I’m excited to share! First, some music to set the mood!

Comet Neowise was discovered in March of this year, and will not be back for 6,800 years! We enjoyed seeing the comet so much last weekend, that we decided to try again this weekend! We went out on Friday night and it was so amazing! This time, we could actually see the comet without my camera lens! The stars were really out, and we could even see some of the milky way! We had some friends who met us out in our favorite soybean field, and they brought a spotting scope (don’t worry, we all wore masks!). With the scope, we could even see 4 moons of Jupiter! I don’t have a photo, but trust me…it was beautiful! Here are some of my favorite shots!

The sunset did not disappoint!
First glimpse! The clouds covered the comet briefly, but we had wonderful views after a slow start.
Finally free of the clouds
I used my wide-angle lens, but hopefully you can see the details…so many stars! The comet is under the Big Dipper.
a glimpse of the Milky Way

Sunsets and Fireflies

July 11, 2020 / / 1 Comment

We went out to try to see the NEOWISE comet last night. We didn’t see it (yet), but we were treated to an amazing sunset!

Then the fireflies came out!!!

We didn’t get a hymn recorded tonight, but we made this video for our Church’s virtual VBS! It definitely fits the theme of sunsets and fireflies. Thanks again goes to Nonnie for the arrangement and accompaniment!

I’m hoping that we will see the comet some evening soon! Stay Tuned!!!

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