hints of Christmas

Many of you, living in North America or Europe, are starting to get hints of Christmas.... Frost on the window or on the leaves in the yard; Holiday music on the radio; shorter days and darker mornings; Decorations appearing in stores and on your neighbors' houses.



Well, in Liberia our cues are a little different... The rains have ended (at least the daytime rains are over, but we still have some sprinkles at night). Deb has started playing Christmas music whenever she has the chance. But mostly, the arrival of the "Christmas birds"--egrets, which migrate from Europe--is giving us the hint that Christmas time is almost here! Yesterday morning, as I was coming home, I spotted my first "flock" of egrets on the beach... First I took their picture:

As I moved in for a closer look, they took off!

So.... we're getting in the spirit of things around here. The coming of Jesus ... into the world, into our lives... is the center, the highlight of it all. And so the hints of the season of his coming are precious! Love, Rick
PS... With regard to mystery photo #5, Everybody got the identity of that fine little shiny caterpillar right on--so I hardly felt the need to post it. But his cocoon-house is interesting, isn't it? Kind of like a junk collector... picks up every little piece of random stuff that catches his eye, and sticks it on his house!