6th Ave Wildlife

Got out to walk the 6th Ave. strip by Jefferson Park this morning. I enjoyed the wildlife.

Storm Walking

I feel for the person who never walks outdoors in a storm. The changing light on wet surfaces as the sun fights its way through dog-piling rain clouds makes for some beautiful visions of ordinary things. The sun broke through the amorphous army of gray today to light up the golden house above as I passed by (I've rendered it here as a cutout).

Animals are subdued on stormy days which makes for a paucity of birdsong. On the positive side, however, dogs are less aggressive and cats are more willing to pose for the camera from the safety of covered porches.


The maple trees are in their glory now, like the one below that's near South 8th and Pine streets.
Another variety of Maples at S. 12th and Pine streets made it look like the landscape was bleeding.

It was truly a red-letter day because I was able to spot a rare Chameleon Beetle!

Angel Of Music

My friend Don and I got out on a gorgeous morning to walk and pray in the Stadium District near downtown Tacoma. We were amazed at what one can see when walking that is entirely missed when driving past. There's good and bad, dark and light. On the one hand, fatalistic graffiti. On the other, an angel of music (just visible over someone's backyard fence).

Fire

I found this rose on fire in the Proctor District of N Tacoma.

Thankfully, the local Dalmatian fire fish was nearby.

Good Day, Sunshine!

With heat and sunshine predicted for the day, I shifted from my North End walk to Downtown Tacoma. As it got toward noon, professional workers came out to get a little sun and call home. Children with parents or day-care supervisors stuck their hands in fountains and waterfalls.

I checked in with Pete and Davey, the best barbers in Tacoma. Their shop is on Pacific Ave, near 9th street. I was shocked to learn that ladies' man and blues singer Pete is married! Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs.; I wish you God's life-long blessing!

Ground Hog Problems

Our ground hog must have gotten into some mushrooms this year. The battle between winter and spring has kept us all guessing: will we skip spring altogether and go straight to summer? Straight to autumn? God forbid! We had snowfall here in the lower elevations on March 28th, much to the consternation of the sparrows on Kaaren's upper-deck bird bath.

Jesus Has Risen From The Dead!

Crocus trio in Kaaren's garden.

Here's wishing my city and my readers a joyous Easter. The life, death and bodily resurrection of Jesus is the demonstration that life has meaning, purpose and a future. God bless you all!

Riding Is Fun Too

My walking has been curtailed this winter by work, winter colds and a minor traffic accident (we were rear-ended), but I had a great time on the first day of spring, riding Tacoma's light-rail train with my grandson Micah and my daughter Leslie. Who are you lookin' at, Micah?

A Chilling Sight!

Perhaps you have the same saying in your city that we do in Tacoma: "If you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes." January 21st was a gorgeous walking day, and the Olympic mountain range appeared boldly on our NE horizon. And then came January 28th!

Schools closed because of snow and families stayed home to build snowmen. I took the opportunity to walk the neighborhood just east of my own. Along the way, I saw a chilling sight. It was the wrong kind of weather for an outdoor commode!

All That Glitters

We have a gorgeous neighborhood along the western edge of our North End. The homes on this slope overlook the Puget Sound and the (now double) Narrows Bridge. I had the joy of walking N Vista View Drive and its connected streets and lanes on a cloudless afternoon of perfect temperature. What a great day for a dinner party on the deck!

The only thing that tinged my contentedness while walking this neighborhood was the awareness of my city's commercial bent. Historically we have tended to prioritize profit above people. We like money. But what does it profit a family to own a fabulous home and lose their soul?

Just north of N Vista View lies a gated community on Gold Creek Blvd. What do their entrance signs communicate to you?



My prayer for Tacoma is not that our prosperity would decrease, God forbid, but that our love for people would increase.

On The Edge

I've been walking on the western edge of Tacoma's North End. Today I found a lovely ginkgo tree on N Vassault St and took this photo of one of its distinctive leaves. Considered a "primitive" species, here's a sprig of the leaves instantly fossilized in Adobe Photoshop, looking much as paleontologists find them (please click on the photo to see the detail):


The semi-secluded neighborhood of the ginkgo specimen is enclosed by Vassault Playfield on the north, N 26th St on the south, Pearl on the East and Narrows Dr on the west. Beautiful homes and gardens are interspersed with unkempt properties and dandelion breeding farms that must constantly irritate their neighbors. Ha, ha, that's life in the city! The best characteristic of this neighborhood is that it sits on a ridge, with the homes at the top able to catch glimpses of Puget Sound or parts of the Narrows Bridge, but it also has quiet cul-de-sacs shaded by giant horse chestnut trees. I saw that a friend of mine in the neighborhood has his house up for sale for $379k; I'm guessing his lovely house falls at near the median price range for that part of town.

Personality

I walked 2.5 miles yesterday in a short window of time between appointments. The north-end neighborhood I visited — or was it the hazy marine air — was photographically uninspiring, so I'm sharing a shot of a Tiger Swallowtail, newborn and flawless, sunning on Kaaren's hydrangea.

But speaking of neighborhoods, each one has its own personality. As does each house, of course, when we stop to look closely. Yesterday's neighborhood, though in an upscale part of the city, had a drab quality overall. Most of the front yards betrayed a lack of attention. I imagined the neighborhood as housing a transient population, perhaps more focused upon upward mobility than upon deepening roots. There were the exceptional houses with beautiful yards; I remember one in particular with an exquisite rock garden set off by colorful plants. On the other hand, I passed a couple of houses with overgrown brambles and broken, littered walkways -- the kind of places that as kids we would have said were haunted. Today we'd more likely say they looked like meth houses.

My city's multiple personalities keep it fascinating for me. I find both the beautiful and the ugly good stimulation for prayer.

Tacoma's Asian Accent

Almost 8% of Tacoma's population is Asian. The largest subcategory of our Asian population is Vietnamese, followed by the Korean and Filipino subcategories. Our Asian population continues to grow and is for now staying ahead of our Hispanic/Latino population numerically. In the year 2000, 48% of our immigrants were from Asia.

Tacoma doesn't have a Chinatown like other West-Coast cities our size, because of our infamous expulsion of the Chinese in 1885 (see post of August 19, 2005: City of Reconciliation). Nevertheless, the presence of our multicultural Asian community is visible in its several Buddhist temples, its many Korean Christian churches, and its beautiful flower gardens often accented with miniature pagodas or other Asian ornaments. My fellow-walker Marcus and I happened upon this large Buddha head on N 31st St.

As I walk, I pray for the different individuals and people groups that come to my attention. I'm hoping to learn more about the needs and aspirations of our Asian neighbors this year.

New Walking Partner

My grandson, Micah Rios, came on the Tacoma walk with me today. Well, okay, he rode while his dad, Ted, pushed. Nevertheless he covered about 3 miles with me in the N Commencement Bay Drive neighborhood. With his ready ear he drew our attention to every lawn mower roaring on this hazy Memorial Weekend Saturday. Lawn mowers fascinate Micah, and we hope he will retain his interest when he's old enough to push one! And yes, those are Crocs he's wearing with Cars doodads stuck in the holes.

Among other things, Ted and I talked about the Asian influence on the culture of our city.

Mirabile Visu

Rachel and I walked about 20 miles during our long weekend together in Washington D. C. Our final adventure, before my flight home, took us to the Washington National Cathedral (the Episcopal Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul).

The Space Window on the south aisle of the National Cathedral contains a piece of lunar rock that was presented to the Cathedral by the astronauts of Apollo XI

The Episcopal Church, USA (ECUSA) currently threatens to rip itself apart over the issues of homosexuality and women's ordination. The 2003 confirmation of a non-celibate homosexual bishop brought feelings about the liberalizing influences within the denomination to a head.

The introduction of Liberal Protestantism ... complicated the nature of Anglican diversity, for Liberal Protestants did not value the historic instruments of Anglican unity. They did not believe many of the items in the historic creeds, did not consider the ecumenical councils binding, and held to an understanding of Scripture that was at odds with the way that Evangelicals, Anglo-Catholics, and even Broad Church Anglicans had affirmed its primacy. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, it became commonplace for Liberal Anglicans to reject belief in the bodily resurrection of Christ (William Sanday), the deity of Christ (The Myth of God Incarnate), and even the existence of God (the Sea of Faith Movement). — William G. Witt

The current controversies within ECUSA are a clanging contrast to the sublime beauty of their National Cathedral:

Washington National Cathedral is the sixth largest cathedral in the world and the second largest in the United States. (St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome is the largest church in the world and Saint John’s in New York City is the largest cathedral in the United States.)...The exterior of the Cathedral is almost the length of two football fields....The principal building material of the cathedral is Indiana limestone, chosen because it is superior for both construction and carving....The Cathedral is a solid masonry structure, the limestone blocks are laid one on top of the other with mortar between them. The flying buttresses are also solid stone and they help hold up the walls by bracing them....The Cathedral weighs 150,000 tons. The average piece of stone weighs 300 pounds. The heaviest stone in the Cathedral is the 5.5-ton boss over the west balcony.

Begun in 1907 and completed in 1990, the National Cathedral was built to stand for a thousand years. Rachel and I entered at the crypt level and saw engraved inscriptions dedicating this amazing building to the glory of God. Yes, God prefers obedience to sacrifice (1Sa 15.22), and one could disdain this architectural wonder as a diversion of an immense amount of money that could have been "given to the poor" (cf. Mat 26.9). However, the Cathedral is a fait accompli, its builders intended it for God's glory, and I encourage everyone to visit it and let the God of beauty minister to you there.

Bethlehem Chapel, crypt level, National Cathedral, November 5, 2006.

When Rachel and I ascended to the Cathedral nave, the sky-rocketing space took my breath away.

• The Cathedral nave, from the marble floor to the vaulting, is ten stories high.
• The Cathedral’s center tower is as tall as a thirty-story building.
• The central tower is 676 feet above sea level, making its top the highest point in the District of Columbia.

Here's the main altar:

And here's one of the famous Rose Windows, the West Rose Window:

• There are 215 stained glass windows in the Cathedral.
• The north rose window is the Cathedral’s largest stained glass window at 26 feet in diameter.
• More than 10,500 pieces of stained glass make up the west rose window.

The phenomenon of beauty is one reason I believe in the existence of God. In spite of the ECUSA's troubles, and my disinclination to encourage big church buildings, the National Cathedral lifted my heart and mind to the heavens.

A Day At The Museum

Like Alex in Everything Is Illuminated, I didn't always appreciate history. Perhaps unlike Alex, though, I always craved meaning and purpose. In time I came to appreciate the fact that with a greater apprehension of history comes a deeper sense of meaning and a clearer sense of purpose.

Ergo, museums draw me. And of course there are no museums like the Smithsonian complex in Washington D. C. After our jaw-dropping tour of the In The Beginning exhibit at the Sackler Gallery (see previous post), Rachel and I tried to take in as many of the Smithsonian galleries as we possibly could. Having once collected butterflies, I quite enjoyed the insect gallery at the Museum of Natural History. I found the ornithology display rather Hitchcockian, but appreciated it nonetheless. It's always a pleasure to see a T-Rex of course, along with various fossil R.O.U.S's.

Having read Spindler's Man in the Ice, I found the display dedicated to that 5,300-year-old Neolithic hunter a wonderful shrine to the mystery of his life and death. I was also intrigued by a nearby display of a man of antiquity "taming a goat." I had no idea that taming a goat took so long, but the gentleman in the display obviously would not give up!
Because of my work, I'm most interested in the Ancient Near East exhibits. Mummified cats don't have much to do with my areas of specialty, but cats have never gotten over their deification in antiquity, have they? The attitude that "humans are just household staff/furniture" shows right through the sarcophagus of this specimen. I know a couple of his/her descendants who have definitely inherited the regal disdain for mere humans; they let me know by leaving a "present" on top of my suitcase.

Also, though I don't know much about Egyptian heiroglyphics, I recognize a rock star swinging a mic stand when I see one:
Okay, I'll get serious. My interest in artifacts of the ANE and of the Mediterranean world has to do with their potential to illuminate biblical texts.

Cistophoros (or cistophorus, cistophor), a silver coin first issued in the Kingdom of Pergamon (Pergamum) in the 2nd Century B.C., meaning "chest bearer", relating to the cista mystica, the serpent-entwined chest or basket of the Dionysian Mysteries, that originally appeared on it. It was a type of tetradrachm worth 3 denarii in Roman times.

For example, this tedrachm from Pergamum (Pergamos) features the Aescuplapian serpents worshipped in that city. Pergamum worshipped the serpent in connection with Dionysias (Bacchus), as a fertility symbol and a god of healing. (Hislop claims that serpent worship was brought to Pergamum from Babylon in the time of Darius.) Since Pergamum was the capital of the region (and cultural center) until AD 133, it may have been this serpent worship that prompted Christ's words to the Pergamum Christians (in Revelation 2.13): "I know where you live -- where Satan has his throne."

Speaking of Babylon, I was excited to see this pottery sculpture of a Babylonian man in the Smithsonian's ANE display:
Notice the conical crown and hat-like brim of the turban, the shoulder length hair and trimmed beard, the necklace and pendant, and full-length robe. It's because of artifacts like these that we can visualize how people of the Arabian peninsula looked in the time of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar!

I know that it's fashionable among Darwinists and other skeptics Bible these days, but this much is certain: unlike more recently originated "holy books," the Bible, Old Testament and New, originated in a real cultural and historical matrix. The Smithsonian even displays a signet ring attributed to "Jotham, son the Judaean king Uzziah, who 'built Elath and restored it to Judah.'" (2Chron 26.2). The ring was "found in the third level of Tell el-Kheleifeh...The inscription reads 'belonging to Jotham.'...The seal indicates Jotham's function as an official of Elath, whose approval was needed on various economic transactions."

The Bible is not a book of fairy tales that occurred in a remote but unspecified time (long, long ago) in a mythical place (far, far away). It is primarily a history book, anchored by specific names, dates and cultural allusions to well known geographical and historical settings. Anyone can verify this by spending a day at the museum. Whether or not one accepts the supernatural elements in the biblical stories, the Bible's authors intended it to be read as a report of historical events.

Give Me A '63 Lincoln

I recently perused several dozen anti-Taliban cartoons and pictorial spoofs on the internet ... and I was not amused. Half the cartoons were obscene, most of them were hate-blinded and almost all advocated dealing with the Taliban (and terrorists-in-general) by a simple application of overwhelming force (e.g., nuking the entire country of Afghanistan into a lakebed). I suppose that by now some of the cartoonists have realized that Taliban totalitarianism and Islamic jihadism is not a problem that can be bombed into oblivion, but I was appalled by the ignorance and stupidity displayed by these American artists. Mind you, I hate terrorism and despotism, and I love political cartoons. I am not opposed to the use of military force and I profoundly respect and support our U. S. troops wherever they are deployed. However, I detest the delusion that a people's ideology can be changed by force and epithets.

I salute those who recognize that an ideological enemy must be respected and understood before it can be defeated. I congratulate those who condemn the perpetrators of evil, but who do not confuse those perpetrators with their dissenters of the same nation, race or religion.

Sunset photo of the Lincoln Memorial by Kaaren Graciano

I pray for myself and my fellow Americans, that we would rediscover the nobility that our forefathers demonstrated in the face of war. And that if possible, our nobility would not come at the high price they paid for theirs. God, give us the grace to "overcome evil with good" (Rom 12.21).

Salute To The American Soldier

Photo by Kaaren Graciano, Arlington, VA, September 2006

You have carpeted beaches with your bodies so your fellows could wrest island hills from the imperialist aggressor. You have liberated death camps so skeletal survivors could be "born again." You have fought unpopular wars against fanatical foes, but have always done your duty and never decided that the price of honor was too high. You have insured, at high cost, that Saddam will never again remunerate the families of suicide bombers. For this and infinitely more, I salute you, I thank you.

This photo and the one above it, by Roderick.
The Viet Nam Memorial, Washington D. C., Nov 2006

In The Beginning

Part of the Smithsonian Castle.

Rachel and I agreed to prioritize some of the Smithsonian museums on our walks, as there was a spectacular display of biblical manuscripts, called "In The Beginning" at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. The display included fragment samples from the Cairo Genizah, and manuscripts from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi Library and much more. Never again in my life do I expect to see so many examples of the world's most important biblical manuscripts all under one roof. The good news is that you can see the display online at:

In The Beginning: Bibles Before the Year 1,000

Upscale and Downhill In Rosslyn

The apartment bldg. in Rosslyn where Rachel lives. Photo by Kaaren Graciano.

As one of my first adventures in the Washington D. C. metropolis, I walked the neighborhood where Rachel lives, the Rosslyn district of Arlington. Any neighborhood that has public (commissioned) art is pretty classy in my book. Within a few block's of Rachel's apartment I found "Cupid's Garden" and "Chicago Titan":
(No, I don't know what Mr. Chicago is doing in Arlington, VA, but I can see why he hasn't shaved.)

I enjoyed walking the canyon-like parts of Wilson Street. The buildings climb skyward a few more stories than in my home neighborhood.
And then there's the Metro. It's just like the London Underground (The Tube), and makes zipping around greater D. C. a breeze. As further evidence that Rachel is a true Smarty Pants, she's figured out how to walk downhill both to and from work. She walks downhill in the morning to one Metro station, then after work takes the subway to the Metro station just past her apartment building, and walks downhill home!

Metro Photo by Kaaren Graciano, Sep 2006