Photo was taken at Tooreenbawn, Millstreet, Co.Cork (Irl)

These two day old swallow chicks are in full voice in an outhouse on the farm at Tooreenbawn. They are as good as bald with no feathers but they sure can make their presence felt as they scream for food.

Thought on Thursday – August – 12/08/2010

‘The Universe is like a safe to which there is a combination. But the combination is locked up in the safe.’ ~Peter DeVries

Tonight (Aug 12th) is apparently the best night to view the Perseid Meteor Shower. Our planet earth is currently passing through a cloud of dust left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. As Earth moves through this cloud, the particles fall into our atmosphere and burn up, creating spectacular streaks of light in the sky, known as meteors or shooting stars. This shower is named after the constellation Perseus, from which the meteors appear to come from in the sky. It has always been said that a shooting star is a sign that a soul had gone straight to heaven. A meteor shower and indeed the sight of any star is a visible sign that we are only a tiny fraction of this vast universe. Our universe began with a ‘big bang’ some 13.7 billion years ago. If all the events in the history of the universe until now were squeezed into 24 hours, Earth wouldn’t form until late afternoon and humans would have existed for only 2 seconds. Our universe is mystery, which is why we say God is also mystery. In the midst of all this mystery, God is somehow in there helping us make sense of all the complexities of life. In the middle of mystery there must be a reason. Others may beg to differ but our firm belief is that God is the reason.