This world is not my home but....

 …it is where I am being prepared for my eternal home. I have been blessed in so many ways throughout my life, including having a passion for God’s creation, and especially the Creator Himself, and that growth and understanding continues to grow as some of my previous posts describe. My plan is that it will continue to be featured in future posts.

 Some of my earlier posts describe various ways God has allowed me to be involved with promoting and protecting His creation. Opportunities to explore and photograph it has been an exceptional blessing and journey. My camera of one type or another has almost always been with me, even from the days before my career. In about 2008 I joined a newly organized group known as the Canadian Geographic Photo Club. There was a growing number of really talented and enthusiastic photographers from across Canada active on it to various degrees. I was fairly active, as I always liked to see the variety of things posted, and on-line I made friends with a few of the others. One of the highlights of this club was that there was a Photo Of The Month selected. I was fortunate to have one of mine selected for this honour. What I didn’t realize at the time, was that along with that honour, one had the photo made into a 24" X 36" paper poster print by a Canadian company known as Posterjack. It was free of charge, and ultimately it was a great advertising tool for them. Here is that photo, and I still have it, although it is currently rolled up in the tube it arrived in. It features a sunrise on March, 2010, just outside of the village of Erieau. (Click on any of the photos to see an enlarged version)

I was impressed with the company and it was my introduction to its products. As a result, since that time I have had many photos made into various products that they specialized in. Canvas prints are my favourite.

I firmly believe that God had privileged me with exploring His creation and capturing thousands of elements or landscapes with my camera that He has blessed me with, to feature it. I also believe that having so many photos just stored on a hard drive or two is a poor use of them, so to continue my passion with sharing the beauty of it, I have had about 50 (so far!) made up and on long-term loan to the Rondeau Visitor Centre. Many people coming to the visitor centre may only be at the park for a short time, and don’t have the opportunity to see the incredible diversity of fascinating things present at Rondeau. So at least by seeing photos of them in the RVC, it gives them a bit of an idea of what there is, and may encourage them to get out and explore, or come back! A couple of dozen or more canvas prints have also been given to individuals, etc., in their retirement, place of work, or whatever. The ones in the RVC feature rare or sometimes common birds, or some of the many landscapes, as well as moths, other insects, seasonal photos, etc. 

As I said,  I have been enthralled by God's fabulous creation for decades, and have had the privilege of capturing it, so why not praise Him through relating some special scenes or subjects that relate to scripture? 

Here is the first Posterjack print with an example of a relevant verse.

I am always on the lookout for verses in the Bible that some of my photos may relate to. Here are a few more of my favourites that have been made into a canvas print of various sizes, with the sizes (in inches) given below the photo.

12 X 18

Dickcissel, 8 X 12

16 X 24

Next is a photo of the lush woods in spring at Fish Point Prov Nature Reserve on Pelee Island.

16 X 24

Wood Lily, 12 X 18

12 X 18

This next one I got when I was walking the Mitchell's Bay North Shore Trail. Right beside the trail is a water-filled channel, and I noticed this half-grown fawn carefully approaching the edge. When it got to the edge, it squatted down, all the while keeping an eye on me as it took a drink.

12 X 18

16 X 24

This next one was taken at sunrise along the Thames River, downstream from Chatham.

16 X 24

Next is one taken at sunrise, from the cliffs along Lake Erie a few kilometres east of Rondeau.

16 X 24

Next is a photo from Banff NP

16 X 24

This next one was taken at sunset, a few km north of Chatham looking across the Chenal Ecarte at Walpole Island.

16 X 24

A photo of Monarch butterflies, from Rondeau, during their migration.

12 X 18

8 X 12

Prothonotary Warbler, endangered, 12 X 12

Next is a roadside lake, north of Huntsville

16 X 24

Savanna Sparrow, 8 X 12

Some that I haven't had done yet, include the following, and I am always on the lookout for more such scenes, subjects and relevant scriptures!

Brooks Falls, north of Huntsville

Rock Glen, Lambton

Tulip Tree Trail, Rondeau

Tulip Tree Trail, Rondeau

At some point I expect to be donating these, and as to exactly where, is still something I am working on and praying about. Donated to a church where God’s creation is a strong interest, to showcase along the hallways, meeting rooms or office space? Donate to the local Christian school to have on their walls or to be available for a fundraising effort? I am waiting for God’s inspiration, so any thoughts and prayers towards that end would be appreciated!

If you would like to subscribe to Life Is A Journey, send an email to me at: prairietramper@gmail.com

The reality of today

 This post will be quite a bit different than the last few, but perhaps even more important to pass along.

Getting out and exploring God’s creation with binoculars and cameras, communing with God, is still a priority. I get fewer photos during this quieter time of year, but still manage to get enough for my Nature Nuggets blog. There have been lots of changes recently!

February 4, 2026

February 27, 2026

In addition, I’ve been doing lots of reading various books, including the Bible, along with lots of contemplative/prayer time now that there is so much time available in my aloneness. So many thoughts go running through my mind, and I want to be sure whatever actions I take they will be the result of God’s spirit speaking to me. And sometimes I begin to wonder: how do I know it will be God’s spirit speaking and not the devil? The devil is a mastery of subterfuge, masking as the angel of light, and working all the time to convince people what we are hearing are the results of God speaking, when at least in some cases, the devil is actually the one, leading us down his path, and away from God.

The devil is very, very real. I had generally believed this most of my life, but it was demonstrated very realistically with Marie and I about 3 decades ago. We experienced something that we have never shared with anyone, as it was very personal, but in hindsight, it couldn’t have been more real. As time went on, the devil’s tactics showed up in Marie’s life, and perhaps less decisively, in mine. Thankfully God rescued Marie from the path she was being led on, which had been initiated in her very early life. Of course her passing has left a huge hole in my life, and it is even more important that I recognize God’s spirit speaking to me, and follow His direction. I couldn’t have ever imagined the path of this stage of my life’s journey, and I know He has some amazing blessings in store ahead of me. But as I said, I find that His voice isn’t always as clear and distinctive as I need or want. And that’s where faith comes in, as His ways are absolutely better than mine!

There’s no question that the world is becoming a darker and darker place, as the impacts of the devil are becoming more and more obvious in the world of politics, wars, rumours of wars, in various three letter world organizations and others, as their goal, at least to their inner circle, is to control the world’s population to the point of reducing it. In reality, many of these rulers, organizations, leaders, etc., are puppets of the devil. It has been the devil’s ultimate goal, to destroy you and I, God’s creations, ever since he was tossed out because he was jealous of God and wanted to become like Him. But God said no, and expelled him. After he appeared as the serpent in the Garden of Eden and seduced Adam and Eve, he was relegated to crawling around in the dust, and he has been doing that ever since. 

 Our earthly bodies are made from the dust, and it is exactly the place where/how the devil has been crawling around doing his utmost to destroy us. It is imperative that, given all the things we are inundated with in the media, on screens, etc., we seek God’s truth in everything, and not put much truth or good in anything else. The devil is using everything possible to bring us down, and as AI continues to infiltrate our lives, we need to be all the more open to God’s truth and His speaking to our hearts! Certainly AI will be used to benefit humanity in some way, but unfortunately just enough to convince people that it can’t be all bad and therefore becoming more accepting of it. But BEWARE! It will/is being for evil intent already, and that will only increase as humanity becomes more accepting of it!

 As stated in 1 John, 5: 19 …the whole world is under control of the evil one. Fortunately God has ultimate control, and is holding off on the return of Jesus to give more and more people an opportunity to turn to Him.

If you would like to subscribe to Life Is A Journey, send an email to: prairietramper@gmail.com
 

Butterflies, and Marie

 Marie always had an interest in butterflies, at least in a general way. Maybe it was because of the numerous flowers of various types she grew in our yard, especially the non-native Purple Coneflower or because of the enlarged garden in the municipal park behind our place, that she was involved in getting started. Since there were a couple of unspoken for plots at the beginning, we decided to plant a good variety of native pollinator plants to encourage pollinating insects, and hopefully better productivity in the garden.

Pollinator Plot

As she was also aware of my interest in butterflies, and trying to photograph them, when she saw a butterfly of interest, she would almost immediately come to me if I was at home, and tell me. I would head out asap with my camera and try and capture it on my camera. Here are a few that I photographed in my yard or the garden in the park. First off is an American Snout, which gets its name from its obvious elongated snout.

Black Swallowtail

Eastern Comma on Purple Coneflower

Next is the very similar Question Mark, most easily separated from the Eastern Comma, by the distinctive feature on the underside of the wing.

Viewed from the upper side, they are quite similar as well.

 Monarch butterflies often get our attention in the yard.

We both kept an eye open for caterpillars on the numerous leaves of milkweed in the garden....

..in hopes of finding a chrysalis from which, hopefully, a new butterfly would emerge in a couple of weeks.

Little Wood Satyr

Little Yellow

Painted Lady

Silver-spotted Skipper not showing the underside silver spot

Tawny Emperor

White Admiral

Some less common butterflies I have photographed locally include Common Buckeye, next, which may show up later in the season depending on the frequency and intensity of southern breezes, from its normal territory south of the border.

Another southern one which may show up later in the summer is the Common Checkered Skipper, shown next.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, a regular species

Fairly local here in the south is the next one: Hackberry Emperor.

Quite a rarity in Ontario is this Pipevine Swallowtail.

Somewhat similar, and limited to southern Ontario is the Spicebush Swallowtail. Spicebush is quite abundant at places like Rondeau, and there is no shortage of this swallowtail.

And some real rarities are: this Zebra Swallowtail, which I photographed in Missouri....

... and quite rare in Ontario is this Zabulon Skipper, the first record for Rondeau.

Another Missouri highlight was to see a few Regal Fritillaries. The prairies of Missouri are incredibly great to explore, for plants as well as butterflies! There are historical records of this species for Ontario I believe, but do not occur anymore. Marie and Kristin joined me a couple of time exploring the incredible prairies of Missouri.

Schwartz Prairie, Missouri

 Next is one called the Karner Blue. It is extirpated in Canada due primarily to inappropriate management of the provincial park it was last recorded in (Pinery). I wrote a bit about it in one of my posts on Nature Nuggets explaining why it is no longer present. I have never seen it in Ontario; I photographed this in Wisconsin.

This next one is Gulf Fritillary, which I got this one photograph of at Rondeau back in June of 2010, before it flew off and disappeared. It is the first confirmed photo record of it in Canada! Its wings are tattered, and must have blown in from location well to the south.

As Marie was interested in butterflies, when I had a contract in retirement to do some butterfly surveys in various tallgrass prairie plantings in both Chatham-Kent and Lambton, she joined me on a few occasions. It was a great way to spend time with her, exploring parts of God's creation!

We also spent time especially in latter years, relaxing in the back yard, having a hot drink and enjoying the sunset or some other sky time feature, such as this sun dog.

Of course without Marie excelling in gardening, etc., the flowers aren't quite as abundant, so I don't spend as much time sitting in the back yard, bringing back the memories or photographing the butterflies. Sometimes, but not often.

 

If you would like to subscribe to Life Is A Journey, send an email to: prairietramper@gmail.com