MURAL OF EL YUNQUE IN PUERTO RICO

The names of the artists of this famous mountain of "El Yunque" in Puerto Rico are in the next post.

BARRIO MURAL ARTISTS IN PHILADELPHIA

BEAUTIFUL PHILADELPHIA BARRIO ART

..EVEN MORE PHILADELPHIA BARRIO MURALS

The names of some of the Philadelphia barrio artists and local sponsors are seen in a detail in the post after this one.  (It is the lower left hand corner of this mural which I did in close up)ç

MORE NORTH 5TH-PHILADELPHIA STREET MURALS

MURALS ON NORTH GIRARD-PHILADELPHIA

IN JOHN NEUMANN'S PHILADELPHIA

Philadelphia is where St. John Neumann became a bishop.  Before he was a Redemptorist missionary priest like I am.  He had come from Bohemia in the 1800's to preach the Gospel of Christ to his fellow German immigrants who had come to the US for a better life and for work.  At our Redemptorist Parish of St. Peter's is the shrine for him.  He is the first male made a saint in the USA.  He fell of a heart attach a few blocks from this church at 5th and Girard in Philadelphia.  Tomorrow will be the 200 anniversary of his birth here in Philadelphia, and so we will have a big celebration.  (John Neumann had been working the area of northern New York State, Pennsylvania and West Virginia when he decided to join us, the Redemptorists.  He was pastor in my home parish at what was St. Philomenas in Pittsburgh PA.)
Today I walked from our parish here in 5th and Girard up to Visitation Parish where other four of my Redemptorist brothers have a very good apostolate amongh the spanish speaking as well as English speaking... Along the way I took photo of the most beautiful street murals done my community artistic groups.  I show some of these on other posts today. 

LEWIS'S WOODPECKER -FILM BY DOM DES JARDIM

One of the many species of birds, wildlife and flowers discovere by Commander Lewis, of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition is the "Lewis Woodpecker".  It is a beautiful mixture of red, green, blue and grey and is a Western Bird.  About five years ago when two of my friends and I visited Yellowstone National Park and followed (more or less!) their route in that area, I was anxious to see one of them.  But never did.  This beautiful VIMEO video by Dom DesJardin may be the closest that you and I will ever get to actually seeing one....This is what Don himself says about this film on his site on VIMEO.

"This is one of the best looking of all North American woodpeckers. It's also one of the most unusual, in that it has very broad wings that allows it to foray out from high perches and catch flying insects out of the air. Two scenes, first showing it working to remove the stinger and venom sac from a wasp it caught, finally succeeding and eating it. Second scene is showing it perched high on a dead pine tree looking around for its next meal. November 2009, Lake Los Carneros, Goleta, Santa Barbara County, California, USA."

Lewis's Woodpecker from Don DesJardin on Vimeo.