and so this is Christmas

Plumetting dove
Originally uploaded by annabellafranc.

War is over...

even better than the real thing

Earth
Originally uploaded by I, Puzzled.

The space cadets who looked out from a simulator on Channel 4's reality TV show had a unique experience. They believed they were in space looking down at Earth, and they were profoundly moved. It's a shame this was built on the premise of a lie; yet still, it was real to them at the time. I wonder how much of what we see or believe is rather what we'd like to believe we're seeing.

nativity

Lightning 46
Originally uploaded by dantheade.

Amid the white noise of a world surfing the airwaves from MTV to CNN, amid the narrow casts, broadcasts and webcasts, caught in the radio signals, mobile downloads and podcasts, up with the static and the crackle of interference, one simple signal still pulses from ages past:

Are you receiving me?
Are you receiving me?
Are you receiving me?

letting go

My Angel and My Devil
Originally uploaded by Thomas Hawk.

Four people I know and have worked with in different spheres have been made redundant just before Christmas. When companies want to travel light they dump human ballast. But the absence of each of these people will be felt in unique ways, just as their presence was. 'We'll have to let you go' is the usual line from the line manager. Those who remain have to let go, too; sometimes that's harder work.

sounds (un)familiar

The amazing adaptability of the human species!
Originally uploaded by Today is a good day.

We live quite close to Hemel and were awoken by the blast. The house shook enough for the loft hatch to come down. It was a horrible way to wake up... and I can't help thinking how terrifying it must been in Baghdad, when we rained down bombs that were designed to terrify and kill.

It's easy to forget about the sight, taste, feel, smell and... sound of war when you watch it on TV. When 'shock' and 'awe' are just a strapline at the bottom of a Fox 'news' report.

my pleasure

Lines of Sand
Originally uploaded by Len's Journal.

CS Lewis wrote, 'We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.'

killing time

Antidote Found
Originally uploaded by * Honest *.

I can't imagine what it's like to know the hour and manner of your death in advance. Spare a thought for Stan Tookie Williams who is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 00.01 tonight in San Quentin jail, California.

capturing beauty

Crows
Originally uploaded by sparty lea.

I was driving through the mist-bound countryside wishing I had a camera to capture the scene. Photography is one way to distill a little of the essence of beauty, though it's still only a partial way of trying to take it in. Beauty is like fog wrapped around the trees. It ebbs and flows; you can't ever catch it, but sometimes you can, at least, catch something great within the view.

fight for the write

040709-N-0295M-003
Originally uploaded by flynavydan.

'Sometimes you feel you have the truth of a moment in your hand, then it slips through your fingers and is lost.'

Harold Pinter's Nobel Prize speech is an unsettling account of the pursuit of truth through words.

post it

good question
Originally uploaded by youarewhatyoudelete.

Sometimes I have to remind myself to ask the question.

As to the answer...

buried treasure

Old Walk-In Safe
Originally uploaded by Smaragd .

Jesus said, 'Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.' I'd like to keep my heart safe; but if my treasure is something that needs to be locked away, then what's it really worth?

choice cuts

Path Reflection
Originally uploaded by akoestner.

If we exercise our freedom to choose, then ultimately we choose to restrict our freedom. It's hard to narrow down the options; to know which path to take. But once we've done so, we might as well walk with conviction.

time

Untitled
Originally uploaded by shift..

My watch was runnng slower and slower the other day. Each time I got back into my car (which had the correct time on a clock on the dashboard), I seemed to have lost another two minutes.

We must all reach a point somewhere along the journey when we begin to feel as if we are losing time. But where does it go? And when does the future start blurring into eternity?

vapour trail

Autumnal Vapour Trail
Originally uploaded by *Huw*.

Perhaps what we really leave behind is a vapour trail, as we travel on to the next place. It stretches across the blue, for a time, for others to see. But it slowly disappears from view and leaves no trace, becoming part of everything, not a part of nothing.

realisation

Dandelion Clock
Originally uploaded by Dr King Bertt.

I need to realise my potential.

I need to realise my potential rests in you.

deletion row

DSC00597
Originally uploaded by ohioans_to_stop_executions.

Congratulations to the US, which deleted its 1000th citizen last night since the death penalty was re-introduced in 1976. It maintains its place along with Iran, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and China in the top-five most prolific execution-states in the world.

Number 1,000 also had a name: Kenneth Boyd.

straw poverty

In my garage
Originally uploaded by ddurbin123.

Bono recently told Rolling Stone magazine, 'I believe in the poetic genius of a Creator who would choose to express such unfathomable power as a child born in "straw poverty".