#AdventWord: Week 2

Tags

Advent, AdventWord, macrophotography, photography

And the challenge continues:

December 10–Cry

 

December 11–Grow

December 12–Rough. Macro shot of rose quartz.

December 13–Smooth Macro shot of polished quartz.

December 14–Prune

December 15–Prepare 1928 Book of Common Prayer

December 16–Rejoice St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine in St. Augustine, Florida.

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#AdventWord: Week 1

Tags

Advent, AdventWord, Episcopal, photography

I challenged myself to post a daily black and white photo to Instagram and Twitter to represent the #AdventWord word of the day. Here is Week 1:

December 3–Watch

December 4–Focus

December 5–Night

December 6–Light

December 7–Sprout

December 8–Alert

December 9–Wild

#AdventWord 2018

Tags

Advent, AdventWord, photography

The Season of Advent begins today and  having just completed the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month ) challenge of writing 50,000 words in a month, I’ve decided to take on another challenge for December:

This challenge will have me posting a photo  representing the word of the day (see above) every day in Advent. I have decided that my challenge to myself will be to post a black and white photo of the word every day. As today is the first day of Advent (December 2), I will post my first photo here to represent #Journey:

To find out more or sign up for a daily meditation: #AdventWord

Ocotillo

Tags

cactus, Desert, Joshua Tree National Park, Ocotillo, photography

Ocotillo in Joshua Tree National Park

Or Fouquieria splendens is also known as coachwhip, candlewood, slimwood, desert coral, Jacob’s staff, Jacob cactus, and vine cactus although it’s not actually a true cactus. It is native to the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Desert in southern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and northern Mexico.

What’s cool about Ocotillo is it’s multiple uses. According to Wikipedia:

• Individual ocotillo stems are sometimes used as poles as a fencing material in their native region, and often take root to form a living fence or hedge.
• Due to their light weight and interesting pattern, ocotillo branches have been used for canes or walking sticks.

• Fresh flowers are sometimes used in salads and have a tangy flavor.
• Flowers are collected, dried, and used for herbal teas.
• According to Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon West (a book published in 1989 by Museum of New Mexico Press), a fresh bark tincture can be made by chopping or snipping freshly removed bark into 1/2-inch pieces. It is said to be useful for those symptoms that arise due to fluid congestion and to be absorbed from the intestines into the mesenteric lymph system by way of the lacteals of the small intestinal lining. This is believed to stimulate better visceral lymph drainage into the thoracic duct and improve dietary fat absorption into the lymph system.

• Bathing in water that contains crushed flowers or roots has been used to relieve fatigue.
• Native Americans are known to place the flowers and roots of ocotillo over fresh wounds to slow bleeding.
• Ocotillo is also used to alleviate coughing, achy limbs, varicose veins, urinary tract infections, cervical varicosities, and benign prostate growths

Elephant Seals

Tags

California, Elephant Seals, photography, Piedras Blancas

This male Elephant Seal looks like he’s weathered a lot of storms, probably fighting other male seals.

The Northern Elephant Seal or Mirounga Angustirostris is the largest seal in the Northern Hemisphere (second largest in the world after the Southern Elephant Seal). Adult males are 14 to 16 feet in length and 4,000 to 5,000 pounds in weight. The females are much smaller at about 9 to 12 feet and 900 to 1,800 pounds. Pups are 3 to 4 feet long at birth and weigh about 70 pounds.

They get their name from the male’s long nose (or proboscis), which doesn’t start developing until they reach puberty at about five years of age, and isn’t fully developed until they are eight or nine years old.

I love how contented they look while sleeping!

Elephant Seals spend eight to ten months a year in the open ocean, diving 1,000 to 5,800 feet deep for periods of fifteen minutes to two hours, and migrating thousands of miles, twice a year, to their land-based rookery for birthing, breeding, molting, and rest.

An Elephant Seal scratches its face while napping at Piedras Blancas.

One of their rookeries is at Piedras Blancas on the Big Sur coast of California. And this is where we saw them during our drive down the coast. The Piedras Blancas elephant seal rookery spreads over six miles of shoreline around Point Piedras Blancas on the central coast of California.

Elephant Seal R&R at Piedras Blancas on the California coast.

This is why . . .

Tags

Books, Diocese of Georgia, Episcopal, NaNoWriMo

. . . I didn’t get a real blog written this week. Between the 197th Convention of the Diocese of Georgia and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I’ve been insanely busy. Next week: Elephant Seals.

Enjoying the Clergy Spouse Breakfast with Kelly Benhase and Bishop Scott Benhase.

And the novel I am working on–more than 16,000 words into my goal of 50,000 by the end of the month.