Author Archives: Stu Branston

‘Catch me it you can!’ by Tom Bayly is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. You look out your car window and there’s this dog running along side your car doing about 30 miles an hour!  Or worse yet, the dog is nipping at your tires.  What in the world is this knot head dog doing?  Well, scientists sayContinue reading “CHASING CARS!”

 Photo by Stephanie Buffington on Unsplash Did you know that one in every three families in America has one?  Is it any wonder?   Dogs are intelligent and easily trained, make a faithful friend and love you unconditionally! Konrad Lorenz, regarded as one of the founders of modern ethology, the study of animal behavior and shared winnerContinue reading “DOGS!”

   Free image from PxHere                             Did you ever really look at dew.  I mean the on your knees kind of looking.  Every drop of dew has an image in it.  (See photo above). Look closely and you can see yourself!  Of course, you are upside down.  I wondered if perhaps this is because God, from His position wants to see youContinue reading “YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!!”

Shutterstock Image Did you know that a mamma Crocodile which can weigh as much as 2600 pounds and be up to 23 feet long, carries her new-born babies in her mouth from a riverside nest to the water?  Fortunately for the babies, instinct prevents the mother from closing her jaws which have the strongest bite of anyContinue reading “WHAT A CROC?”

Sylke Rohrlach, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0. Sea slugs are called the ‘butterflies’ of the ocean!  God’s paintbrush has given them a Technicolor appearance!  Their loud coloration rivaling that of a butterfly wing is actually a defense mechanism to warn potential predators that they are poisonous and not worth the pain!  The ‘Blue Dragon’ pictured above isContinue reading “BE CAREFUL!”

   Aspen photo by Donald Giannatti on Unsplash                                                                                             Well over 100 years ago, John Muir, American Naturalist and ‘Father of the National Parks’ knew something fantastical was happening in a forest. He held a “deeply religious response to trees as living, sentient beings” and endowed them with a “kind of personhood.”  Current research suggests that Mr.Continue reading “PANDO!”

 ‘Yellow-billed Oxpecker’ by Sergey Yeliseev         is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Did you know that ostriches and zebras are buddies?  What an unlikely pair!  They really look weird together.  Here’s an Ostrich that has great vision, but not great hearing and a lousy sense of smell, and a Zebra with a great sense of smell and hearing, butContinue reading “DOWNRIGHT SYMBIOTIC!”

                            ‘Guernica’ by Picasso hbp-pix is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0                                                      Pablo Picasso painted ‘Guernica’ shown above in 1937 as a reaction to the Nazi’s devastating bombing practice on the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.  It shows the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon innocent civilians.  There is ‘something wrongContinue reading “WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?”

        Photo by David Clode on Unsplash                    And who is the champion napper?  You guessed it.  The Koala Bear.  It sleeps 18-22 hours a day!  All this rest is necessary due to the koala’s diet of eucalyptus leaves. This plant takes a while to digest and provides little energy output.  And all you cat lovers know full well that house catsContinue reading “NAPPERS!”

 ‘Common Loons’ by Gary J. Wege, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Midwest Region is marked with CC PMD 1.0. The beautiful loon!  Its call will take you to the moon!Why did God make it so beautiful with such an alluring, ethereal call.  Perhaps it is because He has something important to tell us. God made loons special!  Just likeContinue reading “LOON!”

  Photo of coffee beans by Lazarescu Alexandra on Unsplash.                                                                       There is more to coffee than coffee!  It’s liquid love!  It brings up memories of my wife and I having coffee at Starbucks with my adult son or daughter, or friends.  It greets me in the morning with its warmth.  It over-shadows my morning mouth and stimulates this old body…..yesContinue reading “COFFEE! COFFEE!! COFFEE!!!”

In Memoriam: Ecuador Megadiverso is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Camouflage offers the world of insects, animals and fish fascinating protection from the dangers of the natural world.  Check out the Leaf Moth photo by Andreas Kay on the right!  God is good!  He is telling you that you also need protection!  Not so much from the natural world,Continue reading “THE ULTIMATE CAMO!!!”

Photo by Greg Lasley on Unsplash                                                           Have you ever taken the time to think about migration?  It makes me think of Luke 1:37,‘With God nothing will be impossible.”  How in the world can a tiny dragonfly called the ‘wandering glider’, fly over 3000 miles (see pic above) or a gray whale swim 14,000 miles or the record holder,Continue reading “GPS!”

‘Mount St. Helens before and after the eruption’. USGS photo. In 1980, Mt. St. Helens blew its top.  The heat and steam were just too much!  It erupted, sending ash 80,000 feet into the air.  Its superheated core set off gigantic explosions of steam, rock, ash and debris flattening entire forests, killing some 7000 large game animals, anContinue reading “VOLCANIC!”

I AM UNDONE!!!!!  I am overwhelmed by the God I serve!  Do you realize that your body was made with 7 billion billion billion atoms!  That’s, 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000! 7 with 27 zeros!  AND, your body replaces about 98% of them every year! ThoughtCo.  No wonder King David wrote, ‘You (God) created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’sContinue reading “ADAM ATOM.”

Photo by David Wirzba on Unsplash The beauty of the natural world screams, ‘God is, and He loves you!’  Beauty extends from the edge of the universe to the microcosmos!  It is everywhere, because God is everywhere. It is an attribute of God Himself.  As it says in Romans 1:20, ‘His invisible attributes are clearly seen in the thingsContinue reading “BEAUTY, GOD’S CALLING CARD!”

Song by Chicago ‘Sundial’ by njj4 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Ever since God called the light ‘day’ and the darkness ‘night’, man has figured out what time it is by the rising and setting of the sun.  But the Ancient Egyptians weren’t satisfied with such broad time telling, so they invented the sundialContinue reading “ANYBODY REALLY KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?”

‘Beach Clam Pearl’ from Free Great Picture. Did you know that sand in the craw can make a pearl out of you?  Make you something beautiful, honorable, and successful.  Take a lesson from the oyster…. An oyster forms a beautiful pearl when a foreign object, an irritant, like a grain of sand slips into the oyster betweenContinue reading “SAND IN THE CRAW!”

 ‘Archer Fish Spitting Water’ by Warren Photographic. Yes!  There is an extraordinary spitting fish, another of God’s wonders!  You kids think you’ve ‘got one up’ on this fish with your Adventure Force Water Strike Storm Drencher, Nerf Super Soaker Hydro Frenzy or Xshot Typhoon water blasters.  This Archerfish can spit a precise blast of water that can knockContinue reading “SPITTING FISH???”

  Photo by Eberhard Gros on Unsplash I was raised in Seattle.  Rain, especially in the summer was such a blessing.  Even in the 1950’s and 60’s, the sky would get full of smog.  Then it would rain!  I noticed the cleansing effect it had on the air!  It would stay gloriously clear for a few days and then get smoggyContinue reading “THE CLOUD OF FORGIVENESS”

Six hundred years before Christ, a frustrated Habakkuk the prophet wrote, ‘How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?  Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there isContinue reading “IBEX!”

‘Large Copper Dung Beetle’ by Berniedup is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. So you’re not particularly fond of poop?  WELL, If it wasn’t for the Dung Beetle, the earth would be covered with it!!!  They love it thank God!   They use it for food, food storage and as a ‘brood ball’. ONE piece of elephant dung canContinue reading “BOOK OF NATURE RECYCLERS…….. THE REMARKABLE DUNG BEETLE!!!”

‘Raven’ PXHere free image. The Raven is a beautiful black bird whose ‘color’ is the envy of anyone wanting really black hair.  You can purchase Manic Panic Raven Black or Color Ultime 1.1 Raven Black hair dye on Amazon!  Edgar Allen Poe wrote a famous poem entitled ‘The Raven’.  In the poem the raven is asked its nameContinue reading “‘NEVERMORE’!”

     ‘Corpse Flower’ by Lornagrl is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.  What’s that smell?  You are one of the 20,000 people lined up outside the Chicago Botanical Garden to see and smell, a blooming Corpse Flower!  It’s a rare event.  Some bloom every seven years.  Others only bloom every few decades.  Not only is this bloom a rare event, butContinue reading “CORPSE FLOWER!”

  Leatherback image by Reiner.Kraft is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. My word!!!  Did you know that prehistoric sea turtles still exist?  The Leatherback turtle pictured above has been in existence for more than 150 million years!!!!!  They were around when dinosaurs roamed the earth.  They are the largest species of turtles in the world and are definitely our friends.  THEYContinue reading “THE LEATHERBACK!”

‘Superb Lyrebird’ by David Cook Wildlife Photography  is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.     The Superb Lyrebird pictured above doesn’t know who he is!  One minute he is barking like a dog, then he sounds like a car engine, even a chainsaw!  This amazing bird is THE master of mimicry!  It can mimic anything heard in its immediate surroundings.  When it sings,Continue reading “IDENTITY CRISIS!”

  ‘Tamarisk Trees’ by VBecker is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. I’ll never look at an evergreen tree the same again!  Don’t you love them?  Should have figured out their symbolism myself from the word ‘ever’ which means ‘at all times’ or ‘always’.  They stay green all year and are symbolic of all things eternal.  I happened to read thatContinue reading “EVERGREEN!”

Photo by Jack Finnigan on Unsplash It’s a beautiful day in Mr. Rogers neighborhood, is it beautiful in yours?   OR, do you live in a neighborhood where it rains all the time…making you feel isolated, lonely, depressed.  RAIN, RAIN, RAIN. It is a popular belief that the suicide rate peaks during the winter months, especially whereContinue reading “‘IT’S A WONDERFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD’!”

    Euphorbia Milli by Dinesh Valke is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. The Euphorbia Milli pictured above gets its common name, the ‘Crown of Thorns’ from the legend that the thorny crown worn by Jesus at His crucifixion was made from this plant.  Here is this beautiful flowering plant being made into a crown of thorns toContinue reading “EUPHORBIA MILLI!”

Amaryllis Belladonna photo by MRB. IT’S EASTER, RESURRECTION DAY!!!! The Amaryllis Belladonna, also called the resurrection lily pictured above, is a perfect, God given metaphor of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ!!!  Here is a plant that grows a giant cluster of leaves in the early spring.  You ask yourself, ‘hey, where are the blooms?’  ThenContinue reading “AMARYLLIS BELlADONNA”

  ‘Turkey Vulture’ by Steve Harvey on Unsplash. (Reader’s discretion advised) It is almost Easter, a time when we celebrate the death and resurrection of our savior, Jesus Christ! I thought it would be healthy for us to take the time to REALLY THINK ABOUT what it cost our savior to die on the crossContinue reading “TURKEY VULTURE!”

Showy Lady Slipper by TBoard is licensed under CC BY 2.0. The lady’s slipper is an orchid whose spectacular flowers are designed to attract bees.  The bees are after the flowers’ nectar, a sugary liquid secreted by the plant to encourage pollination.  The nectar provides an important energy source and the pollen provides vital proteins and fats.Continue reading “The Lady Slipper!”

Photo by Alfred Schrock on Unsplash Achene, not acne…the botanical word for those beautiful seeds that blow in the wind. Who hasn’t blown away the seeds of a dandelion?  You probably never thought about it,but you’re doing the dandelion a big favor. Of course, your parents may not appreciate having its seeds spread all overContinue reading “ACHENES!”

  Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash It’s SPRING!!!  Seems like everyone is out planting seeds.  Did you ever stop to think about the miracle of a seed?  That dry old thing in a paper bag that looks very dead?  Then you plant it in the ground and voila!  A beautiful flower or veggie appears.  They say that seeds are dormant, notContinue reading “ALL RISE!”

Lupine Flowers by Andreas Christiansen on Unsplash. Thinking about Spring? Read on!!!!! Nitrogen really gets around!  It makes its appearance as a blue or purplish red color in the Aurora Borealis when charged particles from the solar wind collide with it in the earth’s atmosphere.  It lights a fire under me when I hear the word NITROContinue reading “Nitro and the Lupine!”

  Water Lily Photo by Jay Castor on Unsplash. The water lily pictured above floats on the surface of the water.  The two-to-three-foot stalks and leaves contain air spaces that make this possible.  The leaves of lily pads have a waxy surface and are notched to help them shed water.  These pads have thorns on the bottom of theContinue reading “HOPE!”

The photo above is a real eye grabber!!!  It is supposedly a frozen Alaskan Tree Frog!  However, according to Snopes, the facts checking website, there is no such thing as an Alaskan Tree Frog.  In fact, ‘this widely-circulated image appears to simply be a garden ornament covered with frost!’ However, there is a wood frog that livesContinue reading “FROG IN THE FREEZER!”

‘Lovebirds’ Shutterstock photo. Love is in the air! Look at the pair of lovebirds in the photo above! These lovebirds are extremely loving creatures! They preen each other, kiss and even feed each other (like an overly affectionate couple in a restaurant of Valentine’s Day!) Then there are Prairie Dogs that appear to kiss whenContinue reading “LOVEBIRDS!!!”

(Tomorrow is Valentines Day!  Let’s celebrate the gift of Love!  Tell someone (especially God) that you love them!!!!!!!!) God gave us the gift of love.   Love is universal.  It is known in every language and culture.  It is omnipresent in this world.  It is everywhere at once because God who is omnipresent is love. I John 4:8.  Love and God are synonymous.  ToContinue reading “LOVE!”

  Photo by MRB A Flake and a Smile ‘Snow’, exclaimed the old lady With a dried apple faceAnd no teeth A part of us Never grows old It peeks through The wrinkled veilA glimpse of whoWe really are.  MRB                                      An old woman got out of her car in the Reasors grocery store parking lot, held out her handContinue reading “SNOW!!!”

Aurora Borealis photo by Maria Vojtovic on Unsplash The Aurora Borealis is absolutely beautiful!  See above photo!  People come from all over the world to the ‘hot’ viewing places like Norway just to get a glimpse of it.  Did you know that the Aurora is a biproduct of the earth’s magnetic field?  The invisible magnetic field that protects usContinue reading “BEAUTIFUL PROTECTION!”

Photo by Alejandro Luengo on Unsplash. I was following my twelve – year old grandnephew on a mountain trail and was amazed at how easily he could walk over this varied terrain.  I wondered if he thought about what an incredibly complex miracle walking is.  I called him a human Segway.  A Segway is a self –Continue reading “THE HUMAN SEGWAY”

Photo by MRB, cropped to hide the preacher’s identity. Isn’t the photo above absolutely amazing!  Here she is preaching a sermon with her notes, her bible, a prop and a bottle of water at the ready.  Then she moves her bottle of water to the back of her prop, a glass container of water.  I didn’t hear anotherContinue reading “THE END THEREOF”

Speed Blurrr, Rainbow Eucalyptus Edition by Corey Trevor 808 is licensed under 2.0.  The Rainbow Eucalyptus tree is considered to be the most beautiful tree in the world!  Its trunk is beautifully multicolored with colors of brown, green, maroon, blue, pink, red, orange, purple and every other color of the rainbow reminiscent of an artist’s abstractContinue reading “RAINBOW EUCALYPTUS!”

Sun with ‘earth scale’ compliments of NASA. We were singing a song by Richard Smallwood in church called‘Jesus, you’re the center of my joyAll that’s good and perfect comes from you…..’ And it suddenly became clear that I had missed the biggest, greatest and most obvious metaphor that God ever gave us. Because it is true,Continue reading “SUN-SON!”

 ‘SunFlower:  the Fibonacci sequence,  Golden Section’ by Lucapost is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.    Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician born in 1170.  He is best known for his discovery of what was later named the ‘Fibonacci sequence’.  It is a number sequence in which each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers, 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,34,55 etc., or 1+1=2,Continue reading “FIBONACCI!”

‘Poinsettias’ by Moffet is licensed under CC BY 2.0. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! ‘The Legend of the Poinsettia’ a bit of Mexican folklore. There was a poor Mexican girl named Lucida.  It was the custom of her village to walk to their church every Christmas eve to place a gift at the manger of the baby Jesus.  Having noContinue reading “GIVE AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN!”

Christmas Cactus photo by my wife Kris. Our Christmas cactus is exploding like fireworks with blooms in celebration of the season.    I can almost hear it singing and shouting, ‘O holy night!  The stars are brightly shining.  Oh night divine!  Let all within us praise His holy name!  It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!!!!!!’ Is it anyContinue reading “IT’S CHRISTMAS!!!”

 Photo by Ricardo Gomez on Unsplash. Did you ever wonder why the leaves of trees turn such beautiful colors in the Fall? The leaves are experiencing death and it’s beautiful. The tree itself lives to see another day. So it is with us!  Our outer self, our physical body will die, but our spirit will liveContinue reading “THE STING OF DEATH!”

Photo Montage created by my son Nick! God has given us life, a body to live in…with the ability to experience love, joy, peace, goodness, faith…hearing, sight, touch, smell, taste.  The ability to speak, feel and remember. The ability to give and receive the love of friends and family, of dogs, cats, parakeets, parrots. He hasContinue reading “GIVE THANKS!”

The photo on the right is a ZEISS Microscopy of ‘Human blood with red blood cells, T cells (orange) and platelets (green)’.  It is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Did you know that our heart beats about 100,000 times a day? That during an average lifetime (70 years), the human heart will beat more than 2.5Continue reading “IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BLOOD!”

‘Red Fox Hunting’ photo by Fred J. Lord. There are some amazing critters out there!  They were created to ‘see’ what they can’t hear and hear what they can’t see.  Eagles and falcons have some of the best eyes in the animal kingdom.  These majestic birds are designed to spot prey from high above, and then swoopContinue reading “SEEING AND HEARING THE INVISIBLE!”

 Photo by Rafael Rodrigues on Unsplash. Ever heard of a ‘homing pigeon’?  It’s another of God’s wonders. This simple, rather ordinary looking bird can find its way back to its ‘home’ or nest from extremely long distances.  Believe it or not, these pigeons can fly at incredibly high speeds, averaging 60 miles per hour over a moderateContinue reading “HOME”

Black-Capped Chickadee photo by Stephen Walker on Unsplash. The Black-capped chickadee is one special little bird!  It is one of those birds that doesn’t migrate, but rather ‘blooms where it is planted’ singing its cheerful songs 365 days a year regardless of its circumstances or the weather.  God gave it everything it needed to be ableContinue reading “BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE”

Photo by Jan Zikan on Unsplash. You’ve heard of a hermit crab, those ‘crabs’ that live in other people’s houses, (in borrowed shells). See photo above. Those clever crabs migrate from one shell to a larger one as they grow.  The shell gives them needed protection since their exoskeleton is rather soft.  Fascinating critters, they can reachContinue reading “IT’S TIME FOR A SUPERNATURAL HOME MAKEOVER!”

Galileo’s illustration of gravity by Nick Branston! Do you remember the quote by Izaak Walton from my intro?  He said, “God sends us 10,000 truths…but we are shut up to them.”  Take a moment and ‘open up’ to gravity.  Think about it.  Drop something on the floor.  We all just take it for granted.  It is what holds everything together!  Without itContinue reading “A WEIGHTY MATTER”

‘Starling Murmuration’ by Gary Armstrong-Sly is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0. Have you ever seen one?  I was walking on the coast of Washington State admiring the surf and sand, when all of a sudden, a dazzling cloud of hundreds of Sandpipers flew past in a phenomenon that scientists call a murmuration.  It is aptly named, becauseContinue reading “Murmuration”

Photo by Aurelie Tack on Unsplash I HAD NO IDEA!  Did you know that sheep produce their own anti-venom!!!      As I was reading about sheep, I stumbled on an article written by a man who lives off the grid on a farm. Luna, one of his sheep came to him with a swollen headContinue reading “BAAAAAAAAAAA+”

Photo by Thomas Bormans on Unsplash. Just look at that cute face pictured above.  Think about God loving us enough to carefully and purposely create a sheep whose characteristics would be so close to ours that it would serve as the perfect metaphor to help Him communicate to us the intricacies of a relationship with Him.Continue reading “BAAAAAAAAAAA!”

 Photo by Janko Ferlic on Upsplash    As you recall from my intro, prior to the 15th century, people would refer to the natural world as a book to be read, ‘The Book of Nature’.  This book together with the word of God would help lead them to a knowledge of God.  Jesus was a master at reading andContinue reading “BIRTH!”

Shutterstock Image Did you know that a mamma Crocodile which can weigh as much as 2600 pounds and be up to 23 feet long, carries her new-born babies in her mouth from a riverside nest to the water?  Fortunately for the babies, instinct prevents the mother from closing her jaws which have the strongest bite of anyContinue reading “WHAT A CROC?”

Free image from PXHere. What do the owl and the pussy cat have in common and what is their remarkable message to us? Both have an amazing ability to rid themselves of harmful, even dangerous, undigestible materials.  The owl cannot chew its food.  (Got no teeth). It swallows its prey whole, bones and all.  This prey goes directlyContinue reading “THE OWL AND THE PUSSY CAT!”

    Single hair photo by MRB. A zygote is a human fertilized egg.  It is the largest of human body cells and measures 0.1 millimeters, about the same diameter as a single strand of hair!  Yet within this single cell, which is too small to see, is your DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) which is a microscopic set of instructionsContinue reading “ZYGOTE!!!”

                                                Photo by William Lehman      Meet the Acorn Woodpecker.  This woodpecker and its family use this dead tree as a granary to store up to 50,000 acorns.  Now that’s investing for the long term.  Keep in mind that the woodpecker has to drill a perfect sized hole for each individual acorn.  Not too big or the acorn would fall out,Continue reading “INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY!”

Tis the season!!!! BILLIONS of cicadas, BROOD X, 2021 are emerging, especially in the Eastern part of the United States, after spending 17 years underground! What’s the point! They emerge, shed their exoskeleton, fly around for a while, mate and die. Ask them!! ‘(Ask the bugs and they will teach thee)’ I believe God isContinue reading “CICADA METAPHOR”

                                                                                                                                                        ‘Camel’ photo by Mads Severisen on Unsplash.  So, you want to live in the desert!  It’s nothing but sand out there.  And it’s hot all the time, there’s very little water and almost nothing to eat!  You are going to need help if you plan to survive in this harsh climate.  You see an ad.  It says, ‘made to order,Continue reading “MADE TO ORDER!”

Thank you for joining me in the adventure and joy of getting to know this wonderous God who not only created you, the universe and everything around you, but also placed a message in everything He made.  A message ‘without words’ that screams in every language, ‘I LOVE YOU’!!!  Please read the following intro before readingContinue reading “WELCOME TO MRB’S BLOG!!!”

Photo by C-Valdez on Unsplash. The message is so simple!  Do you see the vast canopy of plants, everything green, plants sometimes desperately reaching for the sun!  Facing the sun, they receive energy that they turn into food through a process called photosynthesis.  Without the sun, all plant life would die (and so would we). Hear what the MallowContinue reading “LOOK OUT YOUR WINDOW!”

National Geographic photo by Kimiaki Ito. Bet you’ve never seen the artwork of ‘Pablo’ (as in Picasso) Pufferfish before!  (Can you see him at work in the center of the circle in the above photo?) Not many have.  In fact, these mysterious circles on the sea floor weren’t even discovered until 1995 and no oneContinue reading “Pablo Puffer!!”

  Free ‘Cow’ image from PX Here. Cows have four stomachs!!!  Wouldn’t that be nice.  You could always stand in the ‘All You Can Eat’ line!  They have four stomachs because ‘All Cows Eat Grass’ which is full of cellulose and very hard to digest.  Ever see a cow lying in the shade chewing ‘bubblegum’?Continue reading “UDDERLY FACINATING!”