Tom Fox

Moon phase: Waxing gibbous
Weather: Warm

Tom Fox, an American taken hostage in Iraq, has been found dead. I was thinking of doing a post on him anyway, because I've been so worried about him, but now I really have to.

First of all, Tom Fox was a Quaker and a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, and he was in Iraq to promote peace and help out the citizens affected by the war. I didn't know Tom Fox, but it's a small small Quaker world, and I know people who knew him. I've probably seen him at Baltimore Yearly Meeting gatherings, which I went to a few times as a teenager. He was a member of Langley Hill Meeting in Virginia, and of course there a many ties between Langley Hill and the meeting I grew up in, Bethesda Friends.

More moon photos

Moon phase: Waxing gibbous
Weather: Really really hot
Phenology: Pennsylvania bittercress is coming up

A gibbous moon on my college campus last winter.

An almost-full moon last October. I had to fiddle with the brightness and contrast in Photoshop a bit to get the features to come out.

The crescent moon in the evening, from the National Cathedral grounds.

A gibbous moon with the cathedral facade.

A gibbous moon nestled in the branches of an oak.

A full moon hiding behind the trees across the street from my house.

Fall photos

Moon phase: Waxing gibbous
Weather: Feels like spring
Phenology: First violets are coming up

A group of what I believe are tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera), aka tulip poplars or yellow poplars, catching the afternoon light in Rock Creek Park.

I'm not sure what this orangey shrub is because I didn't take a look at in the field, but looking at the photo I think it might be a juneberry (Amelanchier).

Trees and branches reflecting in the calm waters of Rock Creek.

Rock Creek again, with Beach Drive in the background.

Snow-covered tree in late fall.

National Cathedral again

Moon phase: Waxing crescent
Weather: Warm & clear
Phenology: Day lily shoots are coming up

I had the privilege of working at the National Cathedral over the holidays, in the gift shop. The job was okay and the pay was good, but the best part was just getting to be there in that building every day. I got to know the crypt level like the back of my hand, and I even saw a pair of peregrine falcons that seem to live in the towers (Update: pictures of the peregrines are here). The preceding pictures are just some random ones I took of the cathedral last fall. (Previous post on the cathedral here.)

More random photos

Moon phase: Waning crescent
Weather: Warm & clear

Sunset over Wheaton Regional Park in Maryland.

A dragonfly at Kenilworth Gardens in DC.

A black walnut tree (Juglans nigra) at Woodend Sanctuary, where I volunteered this fall for the Audubon Naturalist Society.

More Canada pics

Moon phase: Last quarter
Weather: warm & clear

Grand Portage Ojibwe Reservation, Minnesota, just south of the Canadian border. The surface of Lake Superior was incredibly foggy and it was hard to tell where the land ended.

Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario. Right on the lake shore were some really awesome pictographs, which I couldn't get a good picture of without falling into the lake. This picture was taken on a trail that went through a narrow crevice between huge rock sheets, with trees growing on the rocks above.

Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron, which has a lot of pretty farms overlooking the lake. Manitoulin is the largest freshwater island in the world, and is home to Canada's only unceded First Nations reserve (although I believe they still have to follow Canadian law, so I'm not sure how much that really means).

A sunset on Manitoulin, over an incredibly ugly field of coal or something.

Wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) in Tobermory, Ontario, on the shore of Lake Huron.

Lake Huron from Bruce Peninsula National Park in Ontario.

A great blue heron (Ardea herodias) on Lake Huron in Tobermory.

Chequamegon Bay

Moon phase: Waning gibbous
Weather: clear
Phenology: silver maples are flowering

Various pictures of Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior in Ashland, WI, in my last couple days there before I graduated college.

Random WI pics

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous
Weather: cool & clear
Phenology: Saw a robin the other day, and crocuses and snowdrops are blooming

Icicles on the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute building.

Iced-over White River on a field trip for senior capstone.

Waverly Beach on Bad River Reservation.

White cedars (Thuja occidentalis) on a Woodland Plants class trip.

Earth & Sky

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous
Weather: sunny

Flying over northern Minnesota last spring, from Duluth to the Twin Cities.

Droplets on the car window somewhere between Baltimore and DC. The rain came in at an angle as we were driving and then straight down when we stopped, making a criss-cross pattern.

Summer photos

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous
Weather: cloudy

Catching up...here's a few photos from last summer. Rock Creek Park, Kenilworth Gardens, Potomac River, Silver Spring, and Rock Creek Park again, respectively.

ETA: Happy Darwin's Birthday! Apparently churches all over the country are celebrating "Evolution Sunday" today in honor of Darwin's 197th birthday, to affirm their belief that evolution and Christianity are not incompatable. I think that's fantastic; the creationists (oh, sorry "Intelligent Design" adherents) have been dominating the religious side of the debate, and this is a nice reminder of the fact that the majority of people in this country believe in evolution AND in God.

It's only a conflict if you believe that every word of the Bible is true, and really, anyone who believes that is in denial. (It says rabbits chew cud!) Of course, in my religion, there is no conflict since there's no dogma, and evolution is just one more cool thing that makes the universe a beautiful place.