Winter Wonderland of Hoarfrost

I recently had the opportunity to preach in Forreston RCA, Illinois. Great was my surprise to see a beautiful hoarfrost! Unfortunately, I missed what would have been the most beautiful picture of all (the town church where we were with the surrounding trees), but here you can some that I took on my drive back to Indiana.






Job 37:9-14 - Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north. By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened. Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud: and it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth. He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy. Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.

On a different note... Solzhenitsyn

One of the professors at school referred us students to an address given at Harvard a while back (1978). Solzhenitsyn was a Russian who lived during the Communist times, lived at a labour camp for years, and was finally exiled because of his views. I believe that he became a Christian. He died just last year.

Here's a very short version of his speech and here's the whole shebang. It's a fascinating critique of Western society, written from a Christian perspective and also from one who grew up as a Russian communist.

Thanks for the link, Brian! (In case you're reading this.)

Quick fish post...

I have to make this quick, as I really should be studying, but... the Swets took us out for some fishing on Labor Day weekend near Dan's work. We caught a lot of sunfish and I caught this nice catfish. It was maybe around 7 pounds or so?

Samuel de Champlain Fish Roll

We just got back from Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park this past Tuesday. We had a great time. Curt, Jen, Phillip, and Ruth came up for one of the weekends, and we really enjoyed our time together. There is some great snorkeling and rapids-on-an-air-mattress at the park.

And of course for any camping trip, there is the small question of fishing. It was incredible! Never have we caught so many large fish in such a short time. You will have to ask for the stories that go along with these fish some other time.

We started out fishing quite a bit on the Mattawa River just below the rapids. There we caught a number of smaller small-mouth bass. But the highlight there is a 14.5 lb catfish - 31 inches long, 18 inches in girth that I caught. No picture unfortunately, but that's the official family record for catfish to my knowledge (aside from Dad's unofficial cat in Jordan Harbour, and aside from any picture-less fish that Jer remembers catching. :) Just kidding, of course.)

After Curt, Jen, Phillip, and Ruth left, Dad, Mom, and I discovered another place, outside of the park. The location is classified... we might let you in on it for a price. :)

First of all, I caught a 3.8 lb large-mouth bass there.


Then soon after that I caught a 4.4 lb walleye! This fish actually broke the line right next to the shore, whereupon Dad jumped in and caught it with his bare hands. So the credit goes just as much to Dad as to myself. Here you can see the two fish. We let the bass go, and made a fish-fry out of the walleye (cut into pieces and fry in egg and bread crumbs).


Then on the following day, Dad caught a 1 lb largemouth, and then I caught a 5 lb largemouth! This was my biggest largemouth ever, though Jonathan still holds the (unofficial?) record for his Florida bass.


Actually, this bass has a bit of a story as well. We decided to keep it, and left it tied up on the shore. But we came to get it just before we were going to go, and a turtle had been chewing on it! :( All in all, we probably lost a pound of meat to the turtle (though the 5 lbs measurement was taken in the pre-turtle era.) We ate this one as well (deep fried with batter). Here is a picture so you can see the turtle effect a little better. (The other side was worse.)


And finally on the next day, Dad wrestled a fish out of the one location that we had been trying for a while. It was a 4.2 lb largemouth. (Dad's biggest?) We let this fish go, as (needless to say) we had just had two very big fish dinners.


I've never seen fishing like that before. Incredible, eh? Too bad Curt and Jen and Ruth and Phillip couldn't have stayed a bit longer!

The Flatlands

Pictures from the "Land of the Living Sky" (Saskatchewan license plate motto).


This picture reminded me of the marshes in LOTR. Dad would probably be horrified that I'm comparing real experience to movies, but ah well. :)



This was what a good number of my pictures look like before editing. :)


The ubiquitous grain elevator, once again.


One of the river valleys. (Athabasca?)


The Trans-Canada pipeline? No, just some hay bales.


They do everything big in these provinces! This train was actually probably five times as long as what you see.


Borden Bridge.


Some Manitoba farmland. The horizon is at least 10 kilometers away! (I measured.)


Right now I'm at a Day's Inn in Portage La Prairie. Tomorrow night I'll be into Ontario. I'm thinking of sleeping in my car overnight, so you may not hear from me.

My place #2

What happens when things are forgotten in the fridge that never should have been in the fridge in the first place.

I never knew an onion could do that. Actually, I saw it starting to sprout and so I left it in the fridge.

Tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Ontario. I was going to leave tonight, but it didn't work out (too much to do). So I'm not going to stop by Calgary and am instead driving straight from here (no change in plans for Thursday, don't worry).

My place

Ah... the peaceful quiet of a bachelor's suite. No worries at all. Here's a picture of my mug (I cleaned half of it) to show you the true state of things. :)

Don't worry... it's not quite as bad as that. Two reasons - first of all, my mug is usually elsewhere when I do the dishes. And secondly, if you look carefully, I made the shadow line up with the tea/coffee stain on the mug. :)

Here's some other assorted pictures of Edmonton. This one below is my appartment (part of a four-plex) from the outside. The tree there is a half dead birch. All the birches in the area seem to have the same sort of malady.


A local jack-rabbit I saw in the park.


And a nearby retirement complex.