Oh Lord My God, When I In Awesome Wonder,
Consider All The Worlds Thy Hands Have Made;
I See The Stars, I Hear The Rolling Thunder,
Thy Power Throughout The Universe Displayed.
Then Sings My Soul, My Saviour God, To Thee,
How Great Thou Art! How Great Thou Art!
Then Sings My Soul, My Saviour God, To Thee,
How Great Thou Art! How Great Thou Art!

​Welcome to "Awesome Wonders”, a praise and educational initiative of the FKPC.  Once a month, our host and teacher Gwynn Pealer will present a new nature topic, exploring... 

July, 2022

The Summer is time for the beach.  Well, any time is beach time in Florida.  Wait.  Where do beaches come from?

​Rocks.  Mountains wear away and, over lots of time, end up as smaller and smaller particles.    

Sand is not just for beaches.  Deserts are made of sand.  How many grains of sand can there be? AWESOME.
Even more amazing, sand can be turned back into rock and lifted up into mountains again.  

June, 2022

​This month we will continue Pastor Joanne's "Treeology" theme.  The information comes from a delightful new book called "A Tree a Day - 365 of the World's Most Majestic Trees" by Amy-Jane Beer.

Beech wood near Oxfordshire, England

May 20th shows a "bluebell wood".  Bluebells grow in Europe but about 50% of the world's bluebells grow in the UK.  In order for bluebells to grow in such beautiful masses they need the right conditions:
- a dense woods made of beech trees to shade out competitive plants
-the dappled light of spring while the beech trees are growing new leaves after the winter.

An Internet search for bluebell woods will bring many websites with beautiful pictures, quite a few are from Scotland. 
​Sheena says there are two national flowers of Scotland, the thistle and the bluebell.

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For May 21st, the author doesn't name a tree but she writes about "May-Shine", a term which comes from a German word that describes "...the effect of strong spring sunlight filtered through new leaves."  In the spring, I usually encourage everyone to pay attention to the light green color caused by chlorophyll B in the tiny new leaves.  I had never heard of the term "May-shine" but it is a good word for that joyful feeling we get when spring begins - such promises of growth and newness.  

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​Here is May-shine through the leaves of a sweet gum tree in our yard; the hawks had been caring for their two babies that May, as you can see.  Spring brings new life!

May 24:  This Montezuma cypress tree has the largest circumference (138 feet) of any living tree in the world.  It grows in Oaxaca, Mexico and is estimated to be 1,400 years old.  AWESOME! 

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For May 13, the Amy-Jane Beer describes "stripping the willow".  This is what is done to make many useful products out of willow stems ("withies") and bark.  Some of the products include baskets and rope.  In England and Scotland there is a traditional country dance called Strip the Willow.  Sheena learned this and other Scottish dances when she was in school.  Perhaps she can teach us.

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Sculptures made of withies from Upliftingtoday.com

Willow stems before and after stripping for basket making from norfolkbaskets.com

How a willow basket is made

Here's what Amy-Jane Beer said about her book "...I've sought to address a different question: not what is a tree, but what do trees mean?"  "What does a tree mean to you?" 

 Thanks to Amy-Jane for this inspiring book which helps us see that trees are "Awesome Wonders"!