White Tongues of Fire

Last week the canal was drained revealing vast lumpy mud flats which smelled like sewage.  The egrets, however, seemed delighted, finding all kinds of delicious sustenance in the foul puddles.

In honor of Pentecost (the Christian celebration of the arrival of the Holy Spirit infusing failed disciples with great gusts of hope and energies) I thought I'd share some of my glimpses of these elegant birds transforming fetid drainage ditches into a whirl of movement and grace.

(This canal is a 5 minute walk from our home).

"Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them."   -- Theophilus' friend writing in the book of The Acts of the Apostles, chapter two