Sister Earth

Easter 2007

Blasphemy?

Church of Our Lord

Photo: Flower Spider

I discovered this creature lurking with intent on one of my Spanish lavender blooms. It is a Crab or Flower spider, named (respectively) for its crab-like appearance and for its habit of hiding inside flowers to ambush unsuspecting pollinators. This individual is so exposed, however, that it will probably be avoided by its prey and picked off by a predator pretty soon.

Crab spiders have excellent vision for motion, and I had to chase this critter around and around the flower to get a good shot. They don't spin a web, and with their powerful venom (not harmful to humans) they don't need to wrap their captives with silk to immobilize them. The females do use silk to encase their eggs. Not all species are white, and some are able to change colour (over a span of days) between white and yellow to match the flower they're inhabiting. When not disturbed by back yard photographers they will lie in wait for days or even weeks to catch their prey. For crab spiders, it's all about location, location, location.

Photo: Outcrop

Photo: Lakeside Willow

Photo: Easter

I bought this Easter lily early in Holy Week, and hoped it would not bloom until Easter. It did better than that. As if on cue, one flower opened on Holy Thursday, the beginning of the Easter Triduum. The next flower opened on Good Friday, and a third opened late on Holy Saturday, in time for the Vigil. It looks like a fourth bloom will be open early Easter Sunday to complete the celebration of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection. I believe this plant celebrated the Triduum better than I did!

Photo: Salal Flower

Arboreality has inspired me to resume posting pictures of my natural neighbours. Today I spotted this flower-like whorl of salal leaves. You may know this plant from your local flower shop. Its stiff, waxy leaves resist wilting and are evergreen, so salal is prized as commercial greenery. I think it looks beautiful on its own.

Calypso

Where the sun penetrates the canopy and where enough moisture is retained by the thin skin of moss, needles, and lichens that imperfectly covers the boulders, small flowers grow: the bold, white stars of the creeping dogwood; the tiny, shell-pink, scented bells of the twinflower; the sarsaparilla, whose stems are so thin that the mat of broad leaves seems to float like a magic carpet above the ground; and, most precious of all, the fairylike calypso orchid, whose shy magenta face bows toward the shadowy forest floor.

—Chris Czajkowski, Cabin at Singing River

Friday Photo: Fog

A Prayer of Thanksgiving and Confession

"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof;
the world and all that dwell in it." (Psalm 24:1)

For the marvelous grace of Your Creation,
We pour out our thanks to You, our God,
for sun and moon and stars,
for rain and dew and winds,
for winter cold and summer heat.

We pour forth our praise to You
for mountains and hills, for springs and valleys,
for rivers and seas.

We praise You, O Lord,
for plants growing in earth and water,
for life inhabiting lakes and seas,
for life creeping in soils and land,
for creatures living in wetlands and waters,
for life flying above earth and sea,
for beasts dwelling in forests and fields. [Psalm 104]

How many and wonderful are Your works, our God!
In wisdom You have made them all! [Psalm 147-148, 104:24]