#AdventWord #Deep/Profundo

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16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?17 Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.”–God, speaking to Job from the whirlwind. “Profundo,” the Spanish word for “deep,” rolls off the tongue with such a… well, profound tone and feel–especially if you can roll that “r” a bit like native speakers do. Both words, profundo and deep, send my mind immediately to the oceans…

#AdventWord #Truly

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Today I stood in the exact same spot I stood in seven years ago to make this photo of a White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis). And today, like then, I was standing in that spot as a participant in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. That December day in 2018, we counted birds from dawn to dark and saw probably a dozen white-throated sparrows, plus several individual birds of several other species of sparrow. Today we counted birds from dawn to dark, covered the same ground, and did not see a single sparrow! Do I need to repeat that? Today my…

#AdventWord #Cleansed

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Cleaning windowsBlue spray and squeegeeGrey clouds from cold dark days pastBeads of grey blood raceToward the windowpaneWipe away dark memoriesSqueaking S-shaped strokesExposed and nakedTransparent windows lookingOut upon a worldTime to put those blindsFloating on by unhinderedCurtains and plants back–William McGarvey It’s Advent. Time to leave the blinds off, to let them float on by unhindered. Let in the light. People who work in the public eye get my respect, which I try to show by making pictures of them working. If they see me and respond to me and my camera, that’s great! But sometimes they can’t. This man is…

#AdventWord #Recompense

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It is quite pretty from below. So, look up as you climb the central staircase of the public library of Chicago. When you get to the top, pause. Consider. Reflect. Witness recompense for human folly, measured in dog tags, a pair for every U.S. soldier who died in Vietnam. I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity. –Dwight D. Eisenhower