Three days ago, I was growing a little concerned regarding the amount of rain that we are receiving this spring. We have had a good amount of rain, until about ten days ago, then it got really hot and we hadn’t seen any rain since. Yesterday, that changed.
It poured and poured. And today, it also poured and poured.
Last evening, it stopped raining for a few moments and I decided to take Koly outside to do what dogs will do and I took my camera. I knew that there would be a few interesting ‘garden’ photos to take.
We have a very young and small Ginkobaloba tree (not sure how its spelled) in the back garden and the rain had beaded up on many of the leaves and I thought that this would make for a few interesting photos.
You’ll notice that I still have a few things to learn about this digital camera. I put the settings onto ‘macro’ for these close up shots, yet sometimes what I want to be in focus is not and what I am hoping will have a blurred background is in focus. If I was shooting with my trusted Voiglander camera I wouldn’t have these problems… but it would take several weeks to fill an entire roll of film and get it developed.
I hope that you also notice that I do not and never put my point of interest in the centre of the photograph. I spend a lot of time lining up the branches of the tree and the pedals of the leaves to make interesting photos. In this photo, the point of interest is in the bottom right corner, where you will see three beads of water down the centre of the leaf with symmetrical drops placed along the outside edge of the leaf. I also lined up the huge raindrop at the top right of the picture to balance all of the small raindrops gathered at the bottom. Even the dark brown branches were placed in an interesting location in the photo. Not a lot, but a few thoughts go through my brain as I compose my photos.
This Ginkobaloba tree is very special. Several years ago, a friend told me why. During the last ice age – over 10 000 years ago – the glacial ice masses covered most of what is now called Canada. The ice she
ets made it as far south as this region of Southern Ontario. Because the end portions of the glaciers were the thinnest, they did not cover this region completely. The vegetation that lived on top of the highest hills survived this natural phenomena and the Ginkobaloba tree was one of the survivors. This species dates back to the time before the glaciers and if you think about it – it’s pretty amazing!!! A stitch in time that has survived throughout a great period of the world’s history… but that’s not the miracle that I want to speak about.
So, then, the miracle…
A few moments later, it started to rain lightly. Luckily, there is a small shed in the back garden and Koly and I took some shelter there. A few moments later, the rain stopped.
I was leaning against the side of the open doorway and looking at this part of my garden – right beside the lilac bush – when it happened. I would describe it as if a small bucket of water had been separated into individual rain drops that fell in a small confined area on the plants in this part of my garden. Two seconds later, it happened again. Then, again!!! My eyebrows raised in curiosity.
About fifteen seconds another isolated shower occurred, then another two seconds later, the fifth sequence of this strange rain phenomena occurred. I thought that this rain pattern was very unusual and truly unique. I must be witnessing a miracle in progress. My mind sought out answers…
First, I started from the beginning. I thought about how all of these momentary isolated rainfalls could have fallen from the clouds. I thought about how the rain drops must have been falling at just the perfect angle to get past all of the budding leaves from the tree tops, way up high. Then I thought about the treetops way up high. Then, I smiled because a new thought had entered my brain, and then I looked up…
… I looked up some more…
… Yep! I looked way up…
… all the way to the top of the tree. And then I saw it.
Stoooooopid squirrel. LOL!!!!!!!
There was a squirrel at the top of this tree and every time it had jumped from one branch to another, the branch that it landed on shook and the raindrops all fell at once, in a small amount of space. I couldn’t stop laughing when I realized the truth. Then I realized that indeed, I had witnessed a miracle, after all…
It poured and poured. And today, it also poured and poured.
Last evening, it stopped raining for a few moments and I decided to take Koly outside to do what dogs will do and I took my camera. I knew that there would be a few interesting ‘garden’ photos to take.
We have a very young and small Ginkobaloba tree (not sure how its spelled) in the back garden and the rain had beaded up on many of the leaves and I thought that this would make for a few interesting photos.
You’ll notice that I still have a few things to learn about this digital camera. I put the settings onto ‘macro’ for these close up shots, yet sometimes what I want to be in focus is not and what I am hoping will have a blurred background is in focus. If I was shooting with my trusted Voiglander camera I wouldn’t have these problems… but it would take several weeks to fill an entire roll of film and get it developed.
I hope that you also notice that I do not and never put my point of interest in the centre of the photograph. I spend a lot of time lining up the branches of the tree and the pedals of the leaves to make interesting photos. In this photo, the point of interest is in the bottom right corner, where you will see three beads of water down the centre of the leaf with symmetrical drops placed along the outside edge of the leaf. I also lined up the huge raindrop at the top right of the picture to balance all of the small raindrops gathered at the bottom. Even the dark brown branches were placed in an interesting location in the photo. Not a lot, but a few thoughts go through my brain as I compose my photos.
This Ginkobaloba tree is very special. Several years ago, a friend told me why. During the last ice age – over 10 000 years ago – the glacial ice masses covered most of what is now called Canada. The ice she
ets made it as far south as this region of Southern Ontario. Because the end portions of the glaciers were the thinnest, they did not cover this region completely. The vegetation that lived on top of the highest hills survived this natural phenomena and the Ginkobaloba tree was one of the survivors. This species dates back to the time before the glaciers and if you think about it – it’s pretty amazing!!! A stitch in time that has survived throughout a great period of the world’s history… but that’s not the miracle that I want to speak about.So, then, the miracle…
A few moments later, it started to rain lightly. Luckily, there is a small shed in the back garden and Koly and I took some shelter there. A few moments later, the rain stopped.
I was leaning against the side of the open doorway and looking at this part of my garden – right beside the lilac bush – when it happened. I would describe it as if a small bucket of water had been separated into individual rain drops that fell in a small confined area on the plants in this part of my garden. Two seconds later, it happened again. Then, again!!! My eyebrows raised in curiosity.
About fifteen seconds another isolated shower occurred, then another two seconds later, the fifth sequence of this strange rain phenomena occurred. I thought that this rain pattern was very unusual and truly unique. I must be witnessing a miracle in progress. My mind sought out answers…
First, I started from the beginning. I thought about how all of these momentary isolated rainfalls could have fallen from the clouds. I thought about how the rain drops must have been falling at just the perfect angle to get past all of the budding leaves from the tree tops, way up high. Then I thought about the treetops way up high. Then, I smiled because a new thought had entered my brain, and then I looked up…
… I looked up some more…
… Yep! I looked way up…
… all the way to the top of the tree. And then I saw it.
Stoooooopid squirrel. LOL!!!!!!!
There was a squirrel at the top of this tree and every time it had jumped from one branch to another, the branch that it landed on shook and the raindrops all fell at once, in a small amount of space. I couldn’t stop laughing when I realized the truth. Then I realized that indeed, I had witnessed a miracle, after all…
The universe is a very big place and it is filled with millions of galaxies. Each galaxy is filled with billions of solar systems and ours is the only known one to contain life. It is a miracle that life exists on Earth. It is a miracle that all of creation led to the creation of the squirrel that jumped from branch to branch in the miracle of the tree. It is a miracle that I am alive and happened to be leaning against the frame of the shed door, just moments after it stopped raining, at the exact same moment that the squirrel happened to be in the treetop.
If you stop to think about it, our lives our surrounded by and involved in miracles during every second of our existence.
Jim
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1 comment:
Incredible, we are always oh so caught up in our own busy lives going here and there that we never stop to pay attention to all these miracles. I was saying to Amanda just today that I wish we weren't so busy being busy. We are surrounded by these miracles every day, each miracle an opportunity to connect with the God of the universe saying "praise you Lord for I have seen the very work of your hands!" Most of us would just grumble under our breath about how much we hate the rain... much less the squirrels. This is the simplicity of life that we pass by every day.
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