Tag: Oregon

Seabirds

Patterns in shadows created by the crescent shape of the sun from the 2017 solar eclipse

I expected to enjoy the solar eclipse but was surprised by just how much I enjoyed it, even though we didn’t have a total eclipse from where I work in Beaverton. I thought it would get darker than it did given the near totality, but even the little sliver of sun still left plenty of light, even if things did look a little odd. Normally when the light levels are that low, the sun is either low in the sky with warm light and long shadows, or completely out-of-sight with cool light and no shadows. But this morning everything just got dim. I hadn’t read up on the eclipse, thinking that it was just going to get dark, so I was caught off guard by the shadows. I loved both their crescent shape and their hard edges so I spent more time watching the shadows at my feet than the shrinking sun itself, looking for patterns created by the light filtering through the trees.

Thankfully I brought my camera to work even though I wasn’t planning on photographing the eclipse itself, the Sony A6500 camera and Sony Zeiss 16-70mm zoom lens are small enough that I tossed them in my laptop bag this morning just in case there was anything interesting to photograph. So you’ll have to put up with some abstracts of shadows over the coming days, some in deep shadows like this one (the combined crescents reminded me of seabirds flying above the beach) as well as some more open shadows where there is less contrast between light and dark and more warmth in the shadows.

It’s Nothing Personal, But I Hate You

A bridge over a gorge in the Columbia River Gorge

When you’re scared of heights, when hiking a new trail in places like the Columbia River Gorge, you never know when you might reach a spot that will force you to turn around. I always cross this bridge to look at the waterfall on the other side, but it’s a white-knuckled crossing every time. There are little slots in the bridge that let the rain through, important in an area that gets as much rain as the Gorge, but it also lets you see the water rushing underneath. The first time I forced myself to take pictures from the bridge itself I was so nervous I forgot to focus or set the exposure, but this latest visit I not only took photos but videos as well. My heart was pounding and I gripped the railing tightly, but I took them. Properly focused and exposed, even.

Women

Our dog Ellie sits in front of a door labeled 'Women'

When I was growing up I began to struggle with the difference between how the Bible says women should be treated and the way they were treated. I was happy we weren’t following the Bible’s teachings, I felt women should be the equals of men, but how can you claim the Bible is the word of God and then choose to ignore the words? Were people created in God’s image or the other way around? The teachers I talked to never gave a convincing answer, mostly just that it was a cultural difference, but that didn’t make sense to me as it was a cultural difference back then too.

I started reading the Bible cover to cover and struggled with some of the old heroes of the Bible, some of whom seemed to me to be monsters, and sometimes God too. And then I got to Judges Chapter 4.

Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.
Judges 4:4

Wait. What?

According to Judges, Deborah was not just the person the people chose as judge, but also the person God chose as prophet. God tells Deborah he’s going to give Israel a great victory against their oppressors, so she tells her commander to gather his troops. Such is the commander’s faith in her and in God’s faith in her, and such is his fear of the fearsome chariots of the enemy, that he says he will go but only if she goes with him. She goes, and rout the enemy they do, not just in this battle but in others that follow. The book of Judges has many judges set as examples, some as good and some as bad, but Deborah is one of the greats.

So I began to wonder, why is her story forgotten, why did our religion choose sexism instead, to the harm of billions over thousands of years? And not just sexism, but racism, and homophobia, and on and on? I eventually decided the Bible was not the words of God but the words of men trying to understand the nature of God, and of themselves.

We need not be monsters. This is how Deborah’s story concludes:

Then the land had peace forty years.
Judges 5:31b

If you take the Bible at its word, two generations grow up in peace because of one woman, their judge and God’s prophet.

God took delight in her, pity we don’t.

Air Conditioned

A close-up of our dog Ellie covered in snow

We’re in the midst of a long heat wave where it isn’t cooling off much at night, but yesterday we had air conditioning installed so now we have a delightfully cool house. I may have overdone it though when I looked over and saw the pup covered in frost. Although I suppose the trees in the background are a dead giveaway that Ellie is actually outside, this is not from the big snow we had in January but a much smaller one in December. The wind was blowing the snow horizontally in little pellets so I didn’t make her pose long as the dog park is exposed at the top of the hill and the surrounding neighborhood was a more pleasant place to be. She was having a great time despite the expression, she was bored that I stopped our walk for pictures and waited patiently for the fun to resume.