Thursday October 13, 2022

How many election contests are resolved by the loser turning around and looking for that salmon desperately trying to escape the loser’s clutches?  After the scandal ridden election, there is finally a real winner:  No 747, weighing – approximately, of course – at about 1,400 pounds.  It’s not like you can life a bear of that size and put it on a scale.

Four time winner Otis seemed nonchalant about the fact that he was knocked out by a younger but fatter #906.  But alas! 906 lost out to No. 747.  We smile at the thought but those furry friends appear sometimes where we least expect them, like on a suburban street.

Bears and their sometime companions, gray wolves live in the Katmai preserve, the wolves hunting sea otters, and sometimes salmon.  Who wouldn’t want to have fresh salmon from those pristine rivers?  How incredibly pristine our rivers in the Northeast must have been before industrialization. It’s time to restore them.

Prayer for the Day

Open our whole selves to you, O God, in the many ways you appear,
    Whether in the sky and all its constellations or here on earth;
Open our minds to have a greater understanding of you, Holy One,
    Clarifying our place within your creation.
Bring us into your Presence and Spirit, enabling us to see
    Your life in every living thing we encounter.
In the name of the One who gives us vision,
    Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

Thoughts for the Day

Time is kept and curated in different ways by trees, and so it is experienced in different ways when one is among them. The discretion of trees, and their patience, are both affecting.            

      - Robert Macfarlane,  British nature writer, from The Wild Places

It is in the wild places, where the edge of the earth meets the corners of the sky, that the human spirit is fed.
      - Art Wolfe, American photographer and conservationist

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom,
   Like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon,
   They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.
    Isaiah 35: 1-2

Fat Bear 747 – 2022 Winner