"FOR ALL WHO LOVE THE SEA" VIDEO ON CANARY ISLANDS UNDERWATER LIFE

Besides enjoying my missionary work with Hispanics here in North Carolina (town of Ashville) I still love to embed here some of the finest nature footage that I find on VIMEO.  This beautiful, graceful and fascinating under and "over" water film is by Raffa Herrero Massieu.  It was shot by Raffa last year, 2011 in the Canary Islands.

Another world from Rafa Herrero Massieu on Vimeo.

A WALK IN CANDLER, NC

Here in Candler, NC which is North Carolina mountain I took a walk along Asbury Road, then up to Holecomb Road to Mountainside Trail which is a steep road that goes up about five hundred feet with properties up and off each side.  There are beautiful Hereford cattle, black sheep as well as white ones and one or so horses.  It was a cold afternoon after celebrating Mass in English (Fr. Alex) and Spanish (myself, this "Birder").  Our soup and roll supper and social and preaching and night adoration and Rosary did not begin until 6 pm. So I had a nice two hours to discover the bright blue and sunny winter terrain of this northwest North Carolina town of Ashville/Candler. Here are some of the sights I captured.

.....And then some fine people from St. Joan of Arc Parish were with us as we preached the Word of God..My emphasis was "LENT...A TIME FOR PEOPLE TO ENTER, RETURN TO..AND BECOME STRONG IN THE BODY OF CHRUST.

BILINGUAL PRE LENT MISSION IN ASHVILLE NC WITH FR. ALEX

I am now in St. Joan of Arc Parish in Chandler NC which is quite close to W. Ashville NC.  Fr. Alex Ortiz my Redemptorist confrere and  I are giving a Pre Lent Retreat until this Thursday, Feb 16th.  There was high wind and snow yesterday.  Here is a shot of the Chandler sunrise with the bright sun coming through a huge, I think White Pine or maybe it's a Loblolly...Let me know.

LAST RETREAT AT THE MOUNT

Below is the picture of a very enthusiastic and beautiful group of Brazilian and Portuguese youth from St. James Parish in Newark, NJ.  (My dear friend and classmate from here, The Mount, ...Clement Krug is the pastor there). Actually the last retreat directed by one of us two priests, Fr. Tom Travers and myself...was directed the previous weekend with a group of seven men who were part of a Catholic university group in City College, NY back in the 60ties.  I directed their retreat and spoke on our Redemptorist spirituality of CRIB, CROSS, SACRAMENT and MARY.  I knew that soon, when the Bruderhof Community would become owners of the building there was a great probability that the wonderful statues might be removed from the chapel.   (This has happened.)  So I used all my love of our Roman Catholic arquitecture and the statuary of Joseph Sibbel to develop my themes on Christ's Paschal Mystery.....
The following weekend Fr. Celso, a most joyous and holy Brazilian Redemptorist priest brought our retreat work here to a close with this wonderful group of youth.

WALKING MY "OLD HOME"...AND "BEING HUMAN

Today I walked the perimiter of THE MOUNT which was my home for these last four years.  It will have been the home of our Redemptorist Semimary for 85 years and a Retreat Center for the last 25....On Feb 1st the Bruderhof Community (Christian Communities Inc.) will move here and create a Christian School...
I trust that they will love and care for these 413 acres as we Redemptorists have. ...Today, as I walked the perimeter scaring up the Black Ducks that winter along the streams, and snowshoeing out to my favorite Purple Beech and the Old Pell Silo, I prayed for this great piece of land to be loved, cherished and to continue teaching others to love God and one another.
....And speaking "loving one ano.ther" please enjoy this great video called..BEING HUMAN...... ..

THE HUDSON RIVER BIRDER..."PINES A BIT"

I have not written anything for quite a long time.  Originally I created this blog to show the birds, trees, flowers, river scenes and many other beautiful and interesting historical and ecological elements that are found here in the Hudson Valle...here in Esopus where I live.  I still live here in Esopus. I still am roaming the 413 or so acres of what has been called MT. ST. ALPHONSUS since 1907.  I still take the two hour hike up the White Trail from the Esopus Firehouse to Lake Louise on Shaupeneak Ridge. But, as the title says this Birder has been "pining" for a while.  The reason is that, at the end of this month I will no longer live at Mt. St. Alphonsus, although I will be "close by".  Our chapel (shown here) will be occupied by the Bruderhof Community who will run a Christian School for High School children.  (In the LEFT of the picture there is a CROSS of five salmon colored tiles. In 1965, when I was only 26 years ago I was ordained a Roman Catholic Redemptorist missionary priest as I knelt on that "Tile Cross".)

I love the Bruderhof Community and have many friends among them, most especially Brenda, Ben, Lisa, Ben Jr., Micah, Joel and Sammy.  I wish them all well.  At the same time I will continue to enjoy God's creation both on the property of what we called THE MOUNT as well as along the Hudson River, up in Mohonk and Minnewaska and so many other beautiful places here in the Hudson Valley

HALLELUYA CHORUS FROM ALASKA SCHOOL PROJECT

This very well done video was forwarded to be by Ron Bonneau, one of my blog followers. Thanks so much, Ron!  It was a computer project meant to simply be shared with other people in the area, but has had over a million viewers on You Tube.

EAGLE OWL IN SLOW MOTION

With all the rain from last spring onward, the chore of keeping my garden going, I did not get to do much birding.  "Soundwise"  I am always capable, even with my hearing deficiency, of identifying bird calls and songs, even though I don't "always" visually capture the bird.  Even this last September and October, the raptor (hawks, falcons) season, the weather was not always good.   Even though The Mount (Esopus and the Hudson River) are "pretty much" on the "Atlantic Flyway", I did not see too many migrating raptors. Soooo......now that Fall has pretty much morphed into winter I have the hope of both hearing and seeing owls.  Here is a good Eagle Owl sequence in slow motion that my friend and fellow Redemptorist Missionary, Kevin MacDonald sent me.  Thanks, Kevin.