Fruit Flies

Monte's been asking me questions - so I've been researching. He's been so tired of fruit flies and trying to attract them to get rid of them. I tell him every end of summer harvest brings fruit flies. This year's infestation came with peaches.

Question 1: "How can we trap them?"

Putting old fruit in a container and then trying to lid it and take them out, doesn't work. If you'll notice, they tend to walk around the rim of the container most of the time and once the lid comes close, they fly away. I had put a small bit of wine in a glass close by for him to see that some will go there and drown. But the BEST trap I found is to put plastic wrap tightly over a bowl with some fruit in it and poke fork holes. It's amazing how many get trapped in one day! and the sound when you get close is eerie! He empties it each day in the compost and starts over.

Question 2: "What's their life cycle? Are we just breeding them?"

Years ago when schooling the kids we did do a fruit fly experiment, but I forget the facts. I knew they have a short life span, but didn't think they grow overnight! I LOVE the internet! Diagrams, facts, tips, videos, virtual tours ... I took a movie with my little cannon elf. This is the first time trying to post my own movies! You'll notice the flies still walking the edge, so they never get back to the holes to fly out.



Some years I get soil gnats in my house plants which seem similar, but are another beast.

Alchemy

A post-it note I used to have on my old computer had the words "Alchemy of my soul". It was just a phrase to remind my mind to contemplate each day.

Years ago the kids and me were learning about the Periodic Table of Elements. One of our library books was more of a story of the table's formation. Alchemy was the impetus. The driving desire was to transform matter into gold, and basic elements were discovered.

So more contemplation coordinating with the season ... I was reading about "garbage into gold" - composting!! Monte, helping me shovel compost yesterday, always amazed and in awe, kept exclaiming, "All that stinky food waste - moldy leftovers from the fridge, rotten veggies from the cold storage in the garage - transformed into black gold!"

When you spread an inch or two of compost on your garden beds, there's no need for fertilizers.

I thank God for the transformation of my soul into the image of Him - that's true alchemy!

Christmas

So, do you think Christmas is over? No, Advent is over. It's now the season of the 12 Days of Christmas. You can think of the song if you want to, and there are interpretations of it floating around on the internet. I gave an interpretation last year if you click on December 2007.

But we are now building to Epiphany, January 6 - recognizing the coming of the Magi, Middle Easterners following a star, or a sign in the sky - do you know your sky? There has been a phenomena this month at sunset in the SW sky with three planets close together: Jupiter and Venus, and now Mercury (Mars was there earlier). It's made me think of the traveling Magi.

But Christmas is really all year. Christmas is all about Incarnation. "Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." This is incarnational living, day-to-day, moment-by-moment, abiding in God. Not cautious, but extravagant living!

Ben Franklin's Glass Armonica

Watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D9BBMDWoNM

India Coffee Beans

Interesting story (or gross?) -

Somewhere in India, monkeys harvest the coffee beans. They eat the berries and spit out the beans. Humans pick up the beans and wash and roast them. Preferring the sweetest berries, means the ripest beans.

Hmmm....

Calendar Stuff

So, it's Friday the thirteenth today! I heard on the news about some people's phobias. Well, I think I was born on Friday the thirteenth, and have no problems with the line up of the calendar.

I've missed several calendar things I thought I'd just skip, but my continued thoughts and liking to write them down, won't let me leave them behind.

I need to go back and check my posting on the Old Testament counting 50 days, Omer, between the two first fruits festivals to see what details I gave. The link will be here if you want to read more. But on day 40 is Ascension Day. Because Western Christians were celebrating Pentecost Day on Mother's Day, they celebrated Ascension Day earlier then I did. I was 'remembering' it's story and meaning on May 29, along with Eastern Christians.

I like to imagine me as one of Jesus' original disciples, having lived with him for three years. I've probably dreamed of ousting the Roman rule and Jesus setting up a Jewish Kingdom, that I can help lead. BUT WAIT! Jesus is rising into the sky! He's leaving us! This isn't the way I imagined it! Now what do we do?! Before leaving, Jesus told them to go back to Jerusalem and wait till the next Jewish First Fruit Festival - Shavuot. I imagine them in that upper room for ten days reliving every moment with Jesus, everything he did and said, and asking, "Now, what the heck did he REALLY mean?"!

June 5 was saint Boniface day. That's the day he died, thus his birthday into heaven, but I remember his story more in relation to Christmas since some Advent traditions are a result of his doings. In the early 700's he was sent to work among the Norsemen and Teutonics. Boniface was constantly jeopardizing his own life for the sake of the young, the vulnerable, the weak, the sick, and the poor - often imposing his body between the victims and their oppressors.

The Norsemen had brutal pagan sacrificial practices. Boniface decided to strike at the root of their superstitions by cutting down the sacred Oak of Thor. Since no immediate judgement came against them, doubt about the power of their gods began.

A few evenings later, on the first Sunday in Advent, a young boy rushed into Boniface's camp breathlessly telling of a sacrifice soon to be done - his sister was to serve as the vestal virgin. They ran, arriving in the sacred grove just when the Druid priest raised his knife. Boniface ran, pushing his wooden cross forward. The knife blade pierced the cross, saving the girl's life. Boniface seized the stunned silent moment to proclaim the gospel's good news, saying that the ultimate sacrifice had already been made by Jesus on the cross - there was no need for other sacrifices!

Boniface hacked off lower branches from the sacred grove, handing them out, telling each family to take them home and adorn their hearths. These branches, like wreaths were reminders of the completeness of Jesus' work and tokens of his grace. Logs from the grove were burned in fireplaces, later called Yule logs.

On June 9, we passed Columba's day, Columba of Iona, who died in 597. Columba was a scribe and poet. I might have written this on St Patrick Day posting, but while most of Europe was being ravaged by barbarians, books were being restored, protected, and copied in Ireland. Columba established a monastery on the island of Iona. When the Roman church was becoming more ceremonial and priestly, the school at Iona emphasized the Bible as the sole rule of faith. For these Celtic Christians, Christ alone was the head of the church - they did not follow the hierarchical authority or the liturgical ceremonies of the Roman Church.

Many missionaries went out from Iona. The Celtic Christians evangelized all of Europe, bringing a breath of fresh air to the church. Pope Gregory tried to bring the movement under the authority of the Roman Church. For a century there was a struggle between the British Isle Church and the Roman Church for authority. Read the Celtic Way of Evangelism for a great read - How Christianity can reach the West ... again! Roman rule of course won, but revival came in the 16th century during the Scottish Reformation under John Knox and George Buchanan.

Then the last missed calendar date I was wanting to post was the 11th, the remembrance day of Barnabas on the church calendar. What do you remember of Barnabas and the beginnings of "Christ"ians? I remember him as being the one who introduced Saul, renamed Paul, to the disciples. Barnabas took Paul's side in his disagreements with Peter. Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel together for a period of time ... 

BUT, I also remember Paul and Barnabas having a split - going separate ways. Is this the first church split? We so agonize over church splits. We just went through one, it's been awful. I'm sure the spreading of the gospel and the starting of new churches could be done less painfully. I suppose it's a mixture of God's desiring relational growth for all, and human blunderings ... (Exclusion & Embrace!) ...

I took Monte to the airport yesterday morning. He's in Calgary Canada for a bit over a week - working with scientists in the part of the world where the oldest life exists for all to see. They want Monte and Stan to share their science with them, and they will probably be writing together papers (and books?) on their understanding of the origins of life. Monte sees the blueprint written in every cell's DNA, as do others. Scientists DO see a creator's hand, authorship, design ... Sermon's could be preached by scientists - Monte does. It's just that many scientists don't see God as someone desiring a personal relationship with us, but I'm betting that they do have this mystical thing going on within them. And I trust them to God. He'll lead them to know Him!

Beauty

Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Or might I ask, is it merely in the eye of the beholder? Or is it something 'out there'?

"You can recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity."

- Richard Feynman, Nobel laureate in physics

Science and Theology Meet in The Evidential Power of Beauty

"Beauty is the battlefield where God and Satan contend with each other for the hearts of men."

- Fyodor Dostoyevski in The Brothers Karamazov

Heparin

I've been following the news on the blood thinner Heparin. They are trying to track down the contaminate that seems to be giving people varying side affects and then some deaths.

I lived on heparin for about eight months during my pregnancy with Dawson. I developed a serious blood clot, and ended up on heparin which is the only blood thinner that wouldn't go through the placenta to the baby.

That was nineteen years ago and I remember feeling like a guinea pig. I had to give myself shots (sometimes Monte did it) two times a day, much like a diabetic. Because of the thinned blood, the shots caused bruising. And then there's the occasional blunt needle ... (Monte could see the hooked tips with his geologic hand lens).

I had to have my blood analyzed once a week. The nurses did not look forward to seeing me. It ended up that my doctor would draw my blood. I have good veins, but they collapse because of my low blood pressure, even when I drink tons of water, and rarely does the first try work, so I'm poked several times, moving from place to place. (Are you grossed out yet? There's more.)

I often times could taste blood and would tell them that the heparin must be in excess racing around my body, like a hemophiliac. We deduced that whenever my body was fighting off an infection it didn't absorb the heparin.

I was told that it would rob my bones of calcium. We didn't know that it would also affect my muscles or tendons as well, and then my milk for nursing - Dawson was starving. After the birth, I felt like I had tendonitis of my entire body.

Once prone to blood clots, you're advised to not get pregnant again or they'd put you on heparin immediately. So with the ten-year gap, Dawson was like an only child. We all thoroughly enjoyed the sense-of-wonder that he ignited again in all of us.

Heparin, if you read about how it's made (don't), is made from pig intestines. There's more grossness than that, so I'll stop there. The US seems to get most of it from China ...

As with so many of us, after the pain of birth, we so often say, "I'll go through that again".

Dead Sea Scrolls

It was on this day in 1948 that some scrolls found in a cave by a Palestinian Bedouin shepherd were acknowledged as the Dead Sea Scrolls, which confirmed the accuracy of the Old Testament and shed light on the years just before Christ's coming. They were the greatest archaeological discovery of the twentieth century.

Fruits and Vegetables

A Coincidence????

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and science shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.



A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters fo r brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Eggplant, Avocadoes and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? .... It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Onions look like body cells. Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.

"The news isn't that fruits and vegetables are good for you, it's that they are so good for you, they can save your life."

-David Bjerklie, TIME Magazine, Oct. 2003

Applied Mathematics

A good friend from church passed this along to Monte and me. It's pretty cool!

The Beauty of Math!

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111

9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

Brilliant, isn't it?

And look at this symmetry:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

Now, take a look at this...

101%
From a strictly mathematical viewpoint:
What Equals 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?
Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?
We have all been in situations where someone wants you to GIVE OVER 100%.
How about ACHIEVING 101%?

What equals 100% in life?
Here's a little mathematical formula that might help answer these Questions:
If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 3 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

If:
H-A-R-D-W-O-R- K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

And:
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But:
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

THEN, look how far the love of God will take you:
L-O-V-E-O-F-G-O-D
12+15+22+5+15+6+7+15+4 = 101%

Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that:
While Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there,
It's the Love of God that will put you over the Top!

Happenings

I'm sick. I have a fever and my body is achy. I've not been sick for ages! It's good to get sick once in awhile - it strengthens your immune system according to Dr Monte. I wasn't sure what I was feeling this morning, so I did go to church.

Philip Yancey is preaching all February and I didn't want to miss him. I love his books and am glad he's a part of our body.

We just had a bunch of geologists at our house. They left this morning. So I've been preparing some nice meals for them. I love listening to them talk about the origin of oil, peak oil, global warming, the origin of life, lakes of oil on Titan, platinum in gold (or was it a silver mine?), and subjects I can't pronounce. I can picture what they're talking about, but couldn't very easily explain it to you, though I am understanding it more after years of listening and seeing their maps. It's another world, a world of stories written in the Earth.

Several days ago I posted about a movie trailer. It's pretty powerful - the scientist writing on a chalkboard like a reprimanded kid having to write something 100 times.

Those of you who are Christians would experience sad and mad emotions over the movie coming out this spring.

I have to tell you that over the years we've had some pretty brutal experiences with Christians. You see, Monte's being a geologist who is a Christian, is viewed by some Christians as a walking oxymoron. Apparently you can't be a geologist and a Christian at the same time.

So it's as if we're in the middle of a war and being crucified from both ends.

eXpelled Movie Trailer

A movie is coming out this spring called "EXpelled". I'm curious about people's responses...

http://www.expelledthemovie.com/playground.php

Reading

I need to start laundry and getting ready for my felting class tonight. But been reading varied things on the internet. My last bunny trail was reading about Karl Barth. I've always been fascinated with him, so have ordered up some things from the library that he wrote. I'll probably skim them and not be able to understand them. Like this -

It has been said that "a 'Barthian theology' is just as impossible as an 'Eisteinian science', but just as there is a pre-Einsteinian science and a post-Einsteinian science, so there is a pre-Barthian and post-Barthian theology, for the contribution of Karl Barth to theology is, like that of Albert Einstein to nature science, so deep-going and fundamental that it marks one of the great eras of advance in the whole history of the subject". - TF Torrance

- so I'll see ...

The Star of Bethlehem and Epiphany

The 12 Days of Christmas are now over and this day, Epiphany, we remember the wise men of Matthew coming from afar following a star to find a child who they recognize as a king.

They came bearing gifts very strange and foreign to us. I still love the image in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever of the Herdman's dragging a ham before the manger - that was like the widows two mites to them; or the little drummer boy in the song; or the girl of Mexico bringing all she could find - weeds, which turned red (poinsettias). From Bible studies we've learned that frankincense, gold and myrrh were costly gifts fit for kings (for life and burial!).

(I have this work of art by Fabriano sitting on an easel in the house right now.)

What was the star? There's so much speculation, and maybe someday a gas streak tail of a super nova will show up in the sky letting us know the real story. About 25 years ago we went to our school district's planetarium and heard a great story. First they showed why a comet has been ruled out as the star; then they talked about the possibility of a super nova; and then described the various patterns of stars and planets we observe from earth and what we might be able to be see by the naked eye. Jupiter is the consistent star of the stories, and in astrology it symbolizes 'the king' planet. There's records of Jupiter and Regulus (the king star) coming together and in conjunction with the planet Venus.

The explanation for the Bethlehem Star story I like best describes a planet conjunction. Pisces is associated with the Jewish people in astrology, and within its constellation was a conjunction several times in 7 BCE of Jupiter and Saturn, and then Mars joined them. Saturn was known as representing Mesopotamian deity who protected Israel. And Mars symbolized war.

Christians are afraid of astrology and think it evil. Astronomy and astrology combined are the science of observation and interpretation. In 7 BCE there was no astronomy other than astrology. In Genesis we're told God made the stars for 'signs and seasons'. And here in Matthew God is bringing astrologers into Jesus' story.

Were there exactly three wise men? We are told of three gifts. The book Ben Hur names three kings and opens with a dramatic description of how they might have met and traveled together to Bethlehem, but there could have been a whole entourage.

If you were dramatizing the whole Advent season with nativity figures, your wise men would be off in a distance in your house progressing to Joseph and Mary - who would in December be progressing by Donkey to Bethlehem. And baby Jesus and the Shepherds wouldn't show up until Christmas Eve or Christmas day? Many, don't do gift giving until this day.

The Epiphany story is a remarkable story of grace. God doesn't need anything from us - he is the Creator of everything. Here God is receiving gifts. The pagan astrologers were not religious insiders. This is a reminder to me that God is at work in the strangest places, and in the people I least expect to respond to him. I want my eyes to be open to the potential and possibilities of God's grace. God's grace is at work far outside the arbitrary boundaries I construct.

Instrument of the Devil

I don't want to tell the punch line up front, which I so often do when trying to tell a joke. I'm horrible with jokes. I have about 'one' that I can tell ok, and Monte often makes me, just for fun, making a big deal of it.

Something I heard on the radio this morning reminded me of this story. Both stories, this mornings and the one it reminded me of, were on Paul Harvey's "Rest of the Story". Both are about some history linked with the harmonica.

Did you know that the harmonica was called "the instrument of the devil"? You'd think...Oh, the atmosphere the harmonica was played in?...What it did to the body, like sexual drive temptations?...Too much rhythm?...People who played them were too different?...

I'm sure all those things were thought. But in reality, harmonica's were made of lead. So the people who played them a lot were being poisoned...

The punch line might have been me telling up front, what I also heard on the radio this morning, about another recall of a toy. So much lead poisoning potentials and other chemicals causing lots of recalls.

quote

There was a statement made in a geology article years ago that we've used for everything in life, not just science -

"Science has become islands of conformity surrounded by interdisciplinary oceans of ignorance."

Meteor Showers

I looked at my calendar. Tomorrow morning says Wild Woman Morning in 2001. I might say more about that tomorrow...

But...I remembered it's the time of year for the Leonid Meteor Showers, and just read about them in the news. Watching the showers in 2001 is connected to a special morning memory.

This year isn't supposed to be so great, but with the moon gone from the sky not long after dark, you should be able to see some. 3am is their peak. They're predicting about 15+ per hour. Some years there's been recorded 1500 per hour. Our sky might be cloudy tonight.

meteor shower

Did anyone watch the Perseid's Meteor shower? I did for a bit. I sat out on our 'shaker deck' around 11pm Sunday night. I was thinking I ought to get my glasses, but just sat there gazing at the night sky, enjoying the peace, and the beauty of the stars.

I was trying to find Mars, when I saw them -- about every few minutes there would be a streak through the sky. They were to get stronger into the wee hours of the morning and the 12th was their peak. But I couldn't stay awake much longer. I saw them and felt the awe and wonder.

I'm remembering that the next strong meteor showers are around early November. I have a 'remembrance' post on my calendar from 2001 for these showers (it's along the lines of the remembrance slip of paper in Descarte's hem of his jacket). I call it my "Wild Woman" morning.