Post15/2021 Friday 9 April . . . The “be nice” part of the title made me laugh. Ha, ha, ha. Yes, “be nice.” Our late friend Mick Bevan would have responded with, “Hee, hee, hee!” What, even if kindly, tell nature to tame things down? Hee, hee, hee! Mick lived in St Ives, Cornwall, UK, having worked as an excursion boat owner/operator and earlier as a photographer at the University of Toronto in Ontario. His love was the sea. In his latter years his health confined him to land and mostly indoors.

What made me laugh, as it would have for Mick, was the insanity of even thinking that one can cajole nature into acting according to one’s whims and wishes. It’s like saying, “Nature, stop the earthquakes, put the plug on volcanic eruptions, settle the storms, keep meteors at bay, subdue pandemics. Be nice.”

I could continue with talking about my and others actions that harm or help the natural world. Really, we know a good deal about how humans do that. Today, though, rather than blowing bubbles from a soapbox, I’ll just tip toe among spring’s brief beauties. Let the photos speak. Let our minds and hearts muse on the brevity and ever-recurring miracle of new life; for me, the divine mystery in it all.

Defriese Calendar Garden, Easter Sunday

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In the woods along the Benton Spillway

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A walk in the park in Mishawaka, Indiana

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A day in LaGrange County

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A farm lane in Elkhart county

Praise the Lord

Praise the Lord from the earth,

you sea monsters and all deeps,

fire and hail, snow and frost,

stormy wind fulfilling his command!

Mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars!

Wild animals and all cattle,

creeping things and flying birds!

Kings of the earth and all peoples,

princes and all rulers of the earth!

Young men and women alike,

old and young together!

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for his name alone is exalted;

his glory is above the earth and heaven.

Psalm 148: 7-13

Nice.

-John