Betty and I were out cleaning up the manure and preparing the evening hay for the horses. We had finished and we were putting up our manure rakes.
Then we saw this.
I know it's just the crossing of two contrails from jets passing over, but sometimes I think God gives us gifts in simple, everyday things.
I know the following video 'tricks' are just that - clever video editing. But, it is very well done.
Enjoy.
When I was in high school and college, playing pool was very popular. If you were lucky, you had a friend who had a pool table as my family could never afford one.
Here's a guy who has taken trick shots to a new level. Enjoy.
No, I'm not talking about the war in Afghanistan, or the war against terrorism, or the war that's about to reignite in Iraq, or the wars in many of the African nations, or the war against hunger or poverty, or the supposed war on women, or on and on and on.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. (2 Corinthians 10 3,4)
I'm talking about the spiritual war that started with the serpent and Adam and Eve and continues to this day.
It's easy to forget that this war continues around us and, if we're not careful and vigilant, we can become casualties.
“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,...Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.”― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
The enemy is the great dragon, Satan, and his army of demons.
And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Revelation 12:9)
Satan has two basic tactics he uses against Christians:
(1) He wants to blind us as to who God is.
(2) He wants to blind us as to who we are.
So, my goals for this year, and every year, are to keep my eyes on God, listen to him and remember two things:
(1) God is and he is unendingly, unquestionably good.
(2) I am a child of God, an heir of the kingdom and unendingly, unquestionably loved.
Everything else will fall into place according to his will for me.
It's time for a movie review. We've seen a lot of fun movies over the past few months, but none worth a review or recommendation.
Yesterday, Betty and I went to see "Saving Mr. Banks" starring Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson.
Mr. Hanks plays Walt Disney and from the previews I've seen, I wasn't sure how well he could pull that off. Walt Disney was one of the people I grew up with. I remember seeing the very first showing of the TV show, "The World of Disney." Every week we watched Mr. Disney introduce a new and almost always enjoyable show.
It was obvious that Tom Hanks was Tom Hanks playing Walt Disney, but after the movie started that didn't matter. The real star of this movie is Emma Thompson's portrayal of P. L. Travers, the author of "Mary Poppins." She is an incredible actor.
Mr. Disney tried for over 20 years to get the film rights for "Mary Poppins" from Ms. Travers with no success. She didn't think anyone, especially the Disney approach, could do justice to her "Mary Poppins."
In 1961 he finally convinced her to come to Los Angeles to work with his script and song writers. All of this is true and it took over two years for "Mary Poppins" to come to the big screen. Ms. Travers was involved with every aspect of the movie and had strong opinions about what was appropriate for "her" movie.
The interaction between Disney and Travers is an important part of this movie, but not the most important.
I won't spoil the movie for you by going into what makes the movie worth watching, but I will tell you both Betty and I were moved by the story we saw - very moved. From the trailers we had seen we did not expect the movie to be as emotionally moving as it turned out to be.
I greatly enjoy action movies, but I also greatly enjoy movies about people - character studies. This is a strong movie about two very interesting characters (plus interesting supporting characters including Paul Giamatti in a small, but very important supporting role).
And, that's why I think it's a movie worth reviewing (at least as much as I can without spoiling it) and recommending.
If you want a well produced, well written, well acted movie about two very interesting people, then go see "Saving Mr. Banks." (The title will be explained as the movie goes on.)
PS: As mentioned above, the movie is set in 1961. That's the year Betty and I first met and started dating as juniors in high school.
Sandhill Cranes winter all up and down the Rio Grande River. The greatest population can be found South of Albuquerque at the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Preserve, over a thousand. However we have a couple of dozen that winter in Corrales.
I went out this morning, Thursday, to our local feed store to get some stuff for the horses. Along Corrales Road is a large corn field that our local farm, Wagners, uses as a corn maze during the Halloween season. We have noticed that a fairly large group of Sandhill Cranes are feeding there.
This time I at least had my cell phone camera so I stopped. Naturally, they cautiously moved away as I got out of my truck. The large picture at the top is from the web since I couldn't get up close with my small phone.
Here are the photos I did take - with a little post processing of course.
Not great photos, but the best I could do under the circumstances. Maybe one day when I'm running errands again I'll remember to take my large camera with the longer lens.
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