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Jan 06, 2001

Epiphany

By definition, an epiphany is a manifestation, a showing forth, of the divine. In the parlance of the perceivers, it has come to mean the recognition, more than the showing. Not all that’s shown is seen, or, at least, not seen by all. Certainly that’s the case with the birds in the Park. No matter how hard I look, how many birds I see, there is invariably some unseen wonder noted in the Log Book, reminding me that there are people out there seeing more than I am. Seeing something different, anyway. I doubt that anyone else sees exactly what I do in the Park, but it’s evident that a lot of seeing gets done, well beyond what the average stroll-in-the-parker takes in. Still, I don’t think all the possible sights are exhausted. I’ve wondered if the birds keep a log of species that were in the Park, but went unseen. One wants to see everything, but in this World, contingencies are such that it just doesn’t work out that way. Which makes each fragment, every flitting bird, or briefly focused sunbeam, an epiphany of its own. The recognition that there’s something special going on here sanctifies our vision. Just as the Magi, with their arcane knowledge, saw more than a baby, we may learn to see, verified against the field guide of the heart, more than a bird.
This is where the star has come to rest.

Happy Holidays,
and now, back to Winter...

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Jan 05, 2001

The Twelfth Day of Christmas


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Jan 04, 2001

The Eleventh Day of Christmas


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Jan 03, 2001

The Tenth Day of Christmas


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Jan 02, 2001

The Ninth Day of Christmas


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Jan 01, 2001

The Eighth Day of Christmas

is also New Year's Day.
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Dec 31, 2000

The Seventh Day of Christmas


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Dec 30, 2000

The Sixth Day of Christmas


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Dec 29, 2000

The Fifth Day of Christmas


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Dec 28, 2000

The Fourth Day of Christmas


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Dec 27, 2000

The Third Day of Christmas


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Dec 26, 2000

The Second Day of Christmas

Christmas, as you may know, has twelve days. The Arboretum having built up something of a backlog of images, I’m going to use the occasion as an excuse to post some unseen pictures from the past year. There being twelve months, to correspond to the twelve days, I’m going to put up a daily picture, one from each month. Of course, yesterday, the first day of Christmas, got special treatment, but everything was from this current December, so we’ll move now to last January, and by the time we reach Epiphany, maybe we’ll know what happened to the year.
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