Snow And Dead Sea Scrolls, Apr. 1, 2013

This posting is one that I don't know where to start as the last 2 or 3 weeks have been a blur with so much activity so as the story goes I will start at the beginning  as best as I can recall with the help of my trusty camera. March this year was a wonderful month because as you can gather from an earlier posting Daughter, Joyce drove the long ways from New York for a few days visit. I appreciated this more than you can imagine. We had a great time looking at old slides and photographs and trying to accurately recall old events and I must admit that on some of the details I did not have perfect recall. Of course it took 3 of the girls ganging up on me to prove I was wrong. Joyce helped me clean out some more drawers and helped me decide it was time to throw away a lot of old stuff that no one would want or have any use for.

It has finally decided that winter should act like winter. We have had a couple of pretty good snows with snow flurries just about every day while Joyce was visiting. With the colder weather and the snow the wild life has been active in my back yard.

Four Of Seven Deer In Yard At The Same Time

Something Spooked The Deer And All 7 Are Just About Ready To Leave The Yard

The 7th Deer Gets A last Bite Of Apricot Tree Before Jumping The Fence

Joyce and Charlie visited a Orchid show in New York before she came to visit me and she brought me a beautiful Orchid. I love Orchids and it's a beauty. Since she went back home it has a new stem with 5 blossom buds on it and it looks like another new stem is starting to come up. Now all I have to do is keep from killing it.

Orchid

Isn't  That Beautiful

Joyce Headed For The Cincinnati Museum Center

The Cincinnati Museum Center is located in the old Union Terminal which is still active as a train station but currently also serves as the home of the Museum Center which has a display of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Joyce and I went to see it. Currently at the Museum Center there are several scrolls on parchment, animal skins and all sorts of ancient pottery items and coins from those ancient biblical times. There are roughly 900 Dead Sea Scroll still in existence. Only 10 were on display at this stop in Cincinnati. The most cherished scroll is The Ten Commandment Scroll and it was not on display when Joyce and I went. In the Bible the Ten Commandments are mentioned in Exodus and Deuteronomy. The scroll on display here is from  Deuteronomy. There are only 2 ancient manuscripts that contain the Ten Commandments. The other Ten Commandment manuscript, known as the Nash Papyrus, is at Cambridge University. The Ten Commandment parchment on display here is 18 inches long and 3 inches wide and is estimated to be between 2010 and 2060 years old. It is written in Hebrew and has 2 pieces sown together. The Antiquities Authority of Israel requires that this particular particular scroll be stored in darkness for one year after every 10 days of display. The Cincinnati Museum Center was able to get this 10 days extended to 17 days. Unfortunately it was not on display when Joyce and I were there. Concerning the other scrolls on display no photographs were permitted of them. There were monitors every few yards to make sure no one took any photos. It was not that they did not photographs taken but they did not want the exposure of the scrolls to the bright flash of light. The lighting in the rooms and display cases was subdued. They even would not let you use your cell phone and we saw several instances of people being asked to turn off their cell devices and put them away. They were ready to ask you to leave if you did not follow directions. This scroll display will go from Cincinnati to Boston. It has been to North America only twice before. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947 in caves near an ancient dessert settlement of Qumran, near the sea. It is not know for certain who wrote them and placed them in the caves or even why. The story goes that an individual was near one of the caves and tossed a rock inside and heard the breaking of pottery. This led to the discovery of the scrolls and numerous other artifacts. Many of the items on display were discovered during excavation of and around the old settlement of Qumran.

Aerial View Of The Ruins Of Qumran In The Judea Dessert

Large Pottery Jars ( See Three Photos Below Describing These Pieces Of Pottery )

These scrolls are important to the Jewish, Christian and Islam faiths.  Much controversy  exists among many religious groups about the scrolls and their meaning. The one thought I have is I wonder why God kept the scrolls preserved in such good condition and permitted their discovery in 1947. Being in the large pottery jar in the dark caves and the arid climate of the dessert area helped preserve them but why? After their discovery I knew they were discovered in caves by the sea and I always assumed they were just slightly higher than the beach by the sea but that is not the case at all because photographs of the cliffs where the caves are located show they are many feet up from the sea and not easily accessible.

After Joyce went back home I went back to the Museum Center to see the ten Commandment scroll but guess what. I did not get to see it because they were all sold out. I may try to buy a ticket on line and go back before it moves o the Boston.

Also, at the Cincinnati Museum Center in the IMax theater was the movie of the flight of the Monarch Butterflies. It was amazing and I highly recommend it if it comes to your area. It is a story about a boy who is fascinated with nature and eventually studies butterflies and wonders where they come from and where do they go. This turns out to be a life long study for he and his wide as they learn how to tag the wings of butterflies and get reports back from people who have found the tagged ones. Long story short he eventually teams with a young man in Mexico who helps him track them and actually finds where they winter. He and his wife visit the site and he finds one of the butterflies that he had tagged. Very inspirational movie and once again proves how awesome our God is in all the aspects of nature and the creatures He placed in His creation. The mother butterfly flies from Mexico to Texas where she  lays an egg on a weed that is distasteful to animals. The egg hatches a worm which feeds only on this weed and eventually morphs into a beautiful Monarch butterfly who flies on North as far as Canada. There she lays  an eggs which turns into a worm and eventually a butterfly who before winter flies to Mexico. In Mexico they stay in one particular pine wooded area high in the mountains where they cluster together by the tens of millions and provide warmth to each other. They are so thick on the boughs of the pines you can't see the greenery. This is a most beautiful movie, very educational and inspirational as well and you should see it.  I was told the DVD won't be out for another 6 to 12 months.

The Cincinnati Museum Center is home to many outstanding displays some of which are of John James Audubon. The following plaque tells about his work.

John James Audubon Plaque On Museum Center

Cincinnati Skyline Looking From The Museum Center

Mural On Wall Of The Dome In Main Lobby. From This Lobby You Enter All Other 

Areas Including The Amtrak Train Waiting Room

Mural On Another Wall In Main  Lobby Under The Dome

IMax Theater Projection Room

If you love organs and organ music the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal is the place you need to come. On specific dates they have noted organist perform concerts on the Museum Center organ. If my memory serves me right this organ was once in Philadelphia and was moved to Cincinnati in 1987. It was restored and installed in specifically designed organ chambers in the Union Terminal. The main chambers are located on either side of where the Rotunda meets the rear concourse. The antiphonal division is over the entrance to the Cincinnati history Museum There are more than 4,000 pipes which are played from a console with four manuals.The next recital is April 29 of this year and I hope to be able to get tickets and attend.

Well I better close out this posting as it is time to fix something to eat and I have way to much more to talk about and this would get way too long. So remember God loves you and I love you also.

Grandpa Bill