Sunsets and fall colors are the best of gifts!
Category: Landscape (Page 1 of 4)
I know that a lot of my posts are about walks, but I feel like we are on a journey these days. It’s been a long walk since March! Wren played I Want Jesus to Walk with Me for her hymn of comfort tonight. I’m glad we have Jesus with us on this walk!
Here are some pictures I’ve taken on recent walks. They range from walks on our camping trip (yes, I still have more photos), to a walk I took in a local forest preserve and a trip to see Lake Michigan (we’ve missed the lake).
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!!!
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!
One of the best parts of our camping trip was the birding! There were so many birds! The pelicans and shorebirds were amazing! We camped close to two national Wildlife Refuges. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hats with ornamental bird feathers.
cph 3b08931 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b08931
This is the same period when the idea of public lands and preservation was developing. Yellowstone was established in 1872 as the first national park. Most Americans thought of “public land” in a consumptive way – what resources could be taken, for example. Yellowstone was protected for its geologic and thermal features, but the wildlife of the park were also considered worth protecting. In fact, the original Park Rangers were in the military and they protected wildlife from poaching. The idea of National Wildlife Refuges came out of the desire of bird lovers to protect birds from plume hunters and the desire of sportsmen to protect habitat for game animals. Pelican Island was the first National Wildlife Refuge and it was established by President Roosevelt in 1903. Many of these lands are managed for wading birds – by adjusting the water levels. We visited Chataqua and Emiquon National Wildlife Refuges along the Illinois River. Here are some of my favorite shots:
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!
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 kid won first place in the Solo division of the composition competition!
That means that next year when the festival is “in-person”, professional musicians will perform the piece on the concert. Oh, and she won an ipad… I guess she’s pretty excited about that!
Thanks Ben!
What a weird time. So many things have been cancelled or moved online. We’ve had a summer of not much to look forward to. Most summers we would have been looking forward to a cello camp, and then we would look forward to possibly having Wren be selected to play on the honors recital, and then we would eagerly anticipate a trip… but this summer… Well, it’s been different. There have been many things we’ve missed, but also new opportunities. She was able to attend a camp she would normally have to miss due to my teaching schedule. It was great, and she was even selected to play in the master class! That was essentially the same thing as being picked for an honors recital. We’ve been able to watch stars and comets and see new species visit our yard… so we are trying to celebrate these!
Last week Wren participated in the online version of a camp she was hoping to attend with friends while I was teaching. It was very fun, but not as much fun as staying with friends and being in person. We visited on zoom for lunch with our friends, and she made new friends in her lessons and classes. Perhaps her favorite part of the week was entering the composition competition! Tomorrow we will find out the results. Most of the kids attending the camp actually had a hybrid week…with lessons and technique on zoom and chamber rehearsals at the conservatory. Tomorrow they will stream the chamber concert and announce the winners of the composition competition. This is the longest wait of the summer. No matter what the outcome, I’m really proud! Here is what she wrote for the solo entry.
A month of comet chasing and star watching has us all in need of some lullabies, so Wren performed Schubert’s Berceuse for you tonight.
Amos thought that the lullaby was perfect!
Our last night to look for Neowise was Friday night. On our way to our stargazing spot, we saw some beautiful shorebirds. I’m pretty sure that there were both lesser yellowlegs and greater yellowlegs! Of course, there were also some killdeer (they are a very common plover!)
The sunset was amazing as usual and the moon was beautiful as well!
We had some trouble finding the comet. We definitely saw it, but it was pretty dim for some reason (it was a clear night, but according to Rick’s app, the transparency wasn’t good… I’m not sure I really understand what that means, but it sounds like a good reason for our struggle). We did enjoy some amazing meteors and we could see a little bit of the Milky Way. The moon was setting before we even left, so the sky was almost as dark as it could be for where we are in the world. Some friends (masked, don’t worry) joined us and we had a wonderful time! Here are some photos.
If you’re tired of my comet photos, good news! The comet is heading back out into space and won’t be around again for about 6800 years. I’m glad we had some adventures this summer thanks to this traveling chunk of ice and rock!
Recent Comments