The Zumach family was to celebrate Christmas on December 9, meeting at a steakhouse in Mason City, Iowa. However, a snow storm in Minnesota (over 10 inches) cancelled Christmas. It was wise not to travel in the storm. I traveled, though, at home, in the Twin Cities, taking pictures with a weather-proof camera. There are a few photos below. To see the rest, follow the the link below. Click on the thumbnails for bigger images, or click "slideshow" in the upper right.

http://zumach.zenfolio.com/p856654841

In the last 200,000 years, God let severely handicapped children die. 

Wow! That's an outlandish statement. It's what popped into my head, though, after hearing a radio story about children with severe disabilities in poor countries. While industrialized nations can save many such children, poor countries can't, and certainly not tribes of our ancient ancestors. Modern humans (like us) have been around for about 200,000 years. Modern medicine for just a fraction of that time.

So, there's the age-old question:  why suffering?

If you believe in evolution, the answer is "that's the way evolution works."

If you believe in God, the answer is more complicated ... and perhaps less satisfying.

What kind of photos should accompany the topic of handicaps/evolution/God? I chose "handicapped" trees - a product of evolution, a product of ....

Fall, with its colors, is beautiful. The end of fall, with fewer leaves and less color, is subtly beautiful. I've tried to capture this beauty in photos. Here are two examples.

There are risks in exhibiting subtle pictures because less obvious beauty elicits less spontaneous oohs and aahs, less positive emotion. The photos shown here have been edited to enhance certain features. Not everyone will like them. Perhaps it's like appreciating some jokes:  you had to have been there.

ABOVE:  Mississippi River below the Summit Ave overlook, St Paul

BELOW:  Mississippi River below the Franklin Ave Bridge, Minneapolis

You gotta' love those digital cameras and lenses that can shoot in the dark.

Well, actually, they all can. It's just that some are better at it than others. Mine's not tops, but decent. And I shoot without a tripod. That means whenever I wiggle the camera - which is often - I get blurry pictures. People who carry a tripod, people who have more patience than me, have fewer blurry photos.

Last evening I walked the Stone Arch Bridge area in downtown Minneapolis, along the Mississippi River. It's gorgeous at night. There are a couple photos below and here's a link to a few more. http://zumach.zenfolio.com/p785424610. The blue-lighted bridge is the new I-35W bridge (that replaced the one that collapsed in 2007).

The dark, dark shadows of the pictures have been brightened a little so you can see what's there. At night our eyes automatically make this adjustment. Digital pictures need a little help to see what your brain sees.