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Wednesday, 16 December 2009

  • Currently
    We Three Kings
    By Anthony Kearns, Ronan Tynan, Finbar Wright
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    Rome Reminiscences

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    Outside my window, the ground is snow-covered, but my mind wanders back to warmer times, to the 100 degree heat of the streets of Rome. I have many photos and even more memories, but this shot struck me as one of the better photos from my week there. While I used to think of Rome as a beautiful place, now after seeing the crowded streets, the dirt, and the ruins, I have developed another opinion of it. Although I would go back any day, and I still want to live there, I no longer see it as the most photogenic spot on earth.

    I do have a certain fondness for ruins, such that I would like to go on a summer study project to Rome. While we were there as tourists, everything I wanted to investigate was out of bounds. Yellow tape marked "non entrare" successfully kept me on the narrow paths. Eventually I found a location on the path where I could photograph the Temple of Castor and Pollux against the afternoon sky. Someday I would like to be able to get closer, to leave the narrow paths and touch some of these ancient ruins. For now, I'll be editing my photos and wondering exactly how this place appeared back when Rome ruled the world.

Tuesday, 03 November 2009

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

  • Currently
    Taliesin (The Pendragon Cycle, Book 1)
    By Stephen R. Lawhead
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    Incongruence

    Last weekend I went outside to take a few plant photos for one of our professors at the college.
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    Sage ©2009 Esther Kingfisher
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    White Cedar ©2009 Esther Kingfisher

    I was reminded of a poetry assignment I had last year. I had shared the following poem with the class:

    Incongruence

    A verdant, crooked path
    So earth-soft
    Framed by ash and poplar
    Surprised by red berries
    waving from the undergrowth
    Enveloped by a warm, cerulean sky
    Your beauty knives through me
    as a cold snap in October.
    I should be holding hands
    With my lover
    I should be picking berries
    With my mother.

    -Emma LaRocque
    Native Poetry in Canada, p. 150

    This post may demonstrate some of its own incongruence. Perhaps I should repost the poem with my presentation notes and more applicable photos. Let me know if you have any comments on the poem, and I'll be glad to share my ideas and my somewhat critical analysis.

Saturday, 28 June 2008

  • Currently Reading
    The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur
    By Daoud Hari
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    Cheers to Caleb!

     I'm enjoying a family vacation in Stormer Lake, ON.  We have a secret fishing spot up there, and we always catch lots of walleye.  Today Caleb caught a 41.5 inch, 16 pound northern pike.  As you can see from the picture, it is one impressive fish.

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    On the way up, we saw 15 moose along the road. Here's a picture of one.

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    Since I was born up here, it's good to be back.  It's also fun to see more moose and bigger fish than I ever saw when I lived up here!

    ~Esther

Tuesday, 10 June 2008

  • Currently Reading
    Walking with God: Talk to Him. Hear from Him. Really.
    By John Eldredge
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    Finally . . .

    I decided it was about time to update since I have lots of new pictures.  I didn't use my camera much this winter with school and everything, but lately my friends have been begging for turns to use my Canon, so I've gotten a wide variety of pictures.  I picked out a few to show you some of my activities this summer.

    My youth group has gone down to Sheldon, WI, several times to play softball and volleyball with our friends there.  

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    My school year ended May 16, and we had a ball game and picnic to finish that up. 

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    In May I also went camping with my family. It was a lot of fun, and I even caught a 17" bass.

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    My camera was heavily used at Ted and Tony Kuhns' graduation party.  I'm not sure how many people had a turn, but all together we netted 239 pics.  Here are just a few.

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    I have a lot more pictures from the recent weeks, but I think I'll save them for a later post.  I have the same gardening and cleaning jobs I had last summer, so I'm pretty busy, but sometimes when it rains I come in to the library and go on Xanga. :)

    Take care!

    Esther Ramer

Monday, 24 September 2007

  • Currently Reading
    Fair Is the Rose
    By Liz Curtis Higgs
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    Fall Mushrooms

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    I know I was tagged . . . this is NOT one of the five random pics of myself, which I may or may not get around to sharing.  We had so much rain this fall that the yard has been sprouting mushrooms thick enough to please a hobbit! We've even been smashing them underfoot on the playground at school.  It's raining right now, but I guess that's better than the drought we had earlier.  It is a blessing for our strawberry patch, and saves me the work of watering, which is a good thing, because school has been keeping me busy.  ~Esther

Monday, 10 September 2007

  • Currently Reading
    God's Equation: Einstein, Relativity, and the Expanding Universe
    By Amir D. Aczel
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    An Unforgettable Hike

    Yesterday I went out to my favorite hiking spot, four miles from home.  I ride my bike out there, hike around the three-mile trail, and bike home.  I especially love it out there in the fall, and today I saw red maple leaves scattered on the trail.  I had noticed a few trees turning, but didn't realize it was coming so fast.  When I got to the dam at the end of the lake, I heard something I hadn't heard all summer, the sound of water running over the dam.  It was just a trickle, but it meant that at last the water level in the lakes is approaching normal. The lake and the lovely reflections reminded me of a picture I took last summer of another lake.  I did it with a pocket-size camera without a tripod, so I was surprised at how well it captured the beauty of the scene.
     
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            Sky and Water
            (Lake Mendota)
    Sky without water is but half a sky—
    Like music with no mortal there to hear;
    Like earth without a poet; like the sigh
    Of love, and the beloved never near;
    Like any living beauty that has need
    Of answering beauty. Little lakes and seas
    Look up, and give their tireless, tender heed
    To heaven’s least reach of blue, least galaxies!
    This lake can hold the midnight or the dawn,
    The twilight of the rain, high, azure noon;
    Transmute them—weave their beauties on and on;
    Make dazzling ladders toward the sun and moon;
    Or like an opalescent jewel hold
    All heaven’s arching fires and spilling gold!
    -Katharine Shepard Hayden
     
    Lest you think I spent the rest of the hike placidly meditating on that poem, let me tell you about the obstacle I faced.  As I rounded a corner, I saw a big black bear about 100 yards ahead of me. It was right on the trail back to where my bike was parked.  I was alone, unarmed, and a mile from the nearest road or house. I stopped, my heart pounding in my throat.  I didn't know what to do, but I knew I needed to walk right past where the bear was, so I calmed myself and said in loud voice, "Well hello, black bear. How are you?" and the bear ran off into the woods.  I had been carrying a small stick, which I knew would be useless for protection, so I collected several stout sticks along the trail and walked resolutely past where the bear had been. 
     
    I am not often scared of bears and instead try to take pictures of them, but this was the first time in all my years of hiking in the woods that I had met one while alone.  Alone, and without my camera.  Sorry, I would have loved to have a picture to post, but just try to imagine a very large and very black bear snuffling around on a grassy trail with trees all around.  Maybe next time I'll take my camera.  Until then, take care and watch out for bears!

Thursday, 23 August 2007

  • Currently Reading
    Grace in Thine Eyes
    By Liz Curtis Higgs
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    Pictures and Latin

    Sorry about the pictures on my last post.  I tried to take a shortcut which obviously didn't work.  I worked on it, and I think they're showing up now.  But depending which library computer I use, I can't see the right edge of the words and pics.  Did any of you run into that?
     
    I got a couple of Latin textbooks from the college library in preparation for the school year.  I started working in Lingua Latina, and was amazed that I could start right in on the all-Latin text. Admittedly, it is a Dick-and-Jane type reader, but despite its simplicity, I am being immersed in another foreign language.  Here's how it starts out: "Roma in Italia est.  Italia in Europa est.  Graecia in Europa est. Italia et Graecia in Europa sunt."  Wow, that is a walk in the park compared to learning Greek.
     
    It is so hard to believe that school starts in two weeks.  If a summer flies so fast when I am young, what will it be like when I am old?  I came across a pertinent phrase from Virgil recently. "Optima dies . . . prima fugit."  The Latin translates as "The best days are the first to flee." 
     
    My days in Chicago prove the truth of that quote.  If you haven't yet, check out the pictures and see how much fun it was!

Monday, 20 August 2007

  • Chicago VBS

     Some of you know about our vacation Bible school in Chicago this past week. It was a new experience for us, one undertook only with much prayer.  We did not know what to expect, and at the end of the first day, wondered if we were accomplishing anything.  But the rest of the week went well, better than we even hoped for, and we praise God for that. 
     
    We went to the housing projects and started playing with the children.  We told them about Bible school at the park, and most of them wanted to come.

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    Then we had to get parental permission. Some of us went with them to ask their

    moms if they could come.  Here's a picture taken in the elevator:

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    After awhile, we had enough students to fill the bus, and we made our way to the park.

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    We had recess first.  The park had plenty of swings and play equipment

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    Some of us played soccer in a crowded field.

     

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    After we could tell the children had worked off some excess energy, we gathered together to sing.

     
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    Then we divided into groups.  Here is the Bible story station:

     
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    Mom successfully used flannelgraph as a motivation for the students to be quiet.  Those who were quiet

    got to put pieces on the board when she told the story the second time.  They loved it!

     
     
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    At the singing station, the kids loved holding up the song sheets, and they learned the songs quickly.

     

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    At the crafts station, even the oldest students eagerly participated in coloring.

     
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    At the end of classes they lined up for snack. 

     
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    We had about 15-20 students each time.  Like at home, the biggest limitator is the size of the bus.  But having a

    smaller Bible school was probably good for the first time, especially since we were not overstaffed.  Here we

    are at the end of our last day in Chicago:

     
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     Everyone was an excellent help, and none of us will soon forget our week or our new little friends

    in the Chicago projects.

     I have LOTS more pictures, so maybe I'll get some more uploaded, but that's a sampling for now. :)

Wednesday, 18 July 2007

  • Currently Reading
    Of Earth and Sky: Spiritual Lessons from Nature
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    God's Grandeur

    As you probably know, most of my summer is spent gardening, and I thought I'd share a photo of one of the gardens and a poem that I often think about while I'm out working. 

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    It is so hard in our day to really be connected with nature. Some people would argue that gardening is trying to dominate nature rather than becoming attuned to it, but I find that being out in the sun and wind, feeling the soil, and seeing things grow, brings a person back to nature and to the Creator.  Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a poem that expresses the wonder of God's greatness.

      God’s Grandeur

    The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
    It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
    Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
    Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
    And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
    Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
    And for all this, nature is never spent;
    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
    And though the last lights off the black West went
    Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs–
    Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
    World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
     
    Life has been so busy, with Vacation Bible school and work, that I've barely had time to read or write.  I hope that will improve in the next weeks. Maybe I can even make time for some travelling (Linda )--we'll see how it goes.  Well, thanks for taking time to read that poem. Hopkins can be obscure at times, but rereading and thinking about his works generally helps to bring clarity and insight.
     

canadian_star

  • Visit canadian_star's Xanga Site
    • Name: Esther
    • Birthday: 12/28/1985
    • Gender: Female
    • Member Since: 3/5/2007

About Me

  • I love reading, writing, horseback riding, hiking, hockey, soccer, and nature photography. I love travel and adventures, being in wilderness places and dreaming, walking and thinking, creating a story, poem, or picture that reflects the beauty of creation and contemplates the meaning of life.

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