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photo from flicker, with crop and tint

Yes, sometimes i get tired of my own stuff so when i saw the old typewriter image on flicker, i scooped it up and started to play with it a bit.  A little cropping and a bit of tint was all.  But, i would not want anyone to think that it was my piece of work, because it’s not.
I like it when people share.  Especially when they share ideas and art.  I understand that there is an extreme to not sharing and an extreme to using.  What i am talking about a kind of exchange that is amicable.  Where one person is not opposed to sharing an idea, and another person uses it in a new way that does not take advantage of the person that shared.
For example, let’s say that i showed five people an idea and told them to do a piece of their own art with that idea in mind.  I am certain that there would be five new and different pieces of art that did not look at all like the original.  In that case, i would see these as being done by the five artists.
Ideas are reprocessed and changed, and they become new ideas.  Then those ideas lead to new ideas.  If you are not going to use an idea…you don’t have to keep it to yourself.  You can share it with others.  Maybe even create something with another person or a group of people. 

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iStockphoto

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Above is this week’s “free download” shot from iStockphoto.

I’m looking at the iStockphoto web site this morning.  Actually, i’m going through the training manual as to what they expect for stock photos and getting the idea that they need to be very direct and clean.  Great for the use intended, and to sell as stock photos.  And yet, in their perfection they can present the unreal as real.  I like photos to appear unreal, yet, i get kind of tired looking for, and seeing, plastic perfection ( in a “this is what your life should look like” kind of way).  Though, i don’t think that all the photos that iStockphoto accepts are plastic perfection, they are certainly in the advertising art genre.  I am going to continue to look through and see what i can learn in the process.

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Continued Reading

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Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis

When this book was written, there was a popular idea that he wrote about, that is similar to ideas of today.
“For when you get down to it, is not the popular idea of Christianity simply this: that Jesus Christ was a great moral teacher and that if only we took His advice we might be able to establish a better social order and avoid another war? “
Well, this lie may have just enough truth to it to make the whole thing seem true.  Yet, it is a lie.
Jesus does teach us.
However, Jesus was not just another teacher.
Jesus the Christ is the Son of God.
Jesus gives us much more than advice.
He speaks to us of new life, in Him, with the Spirit of God.
A Christian Life is for living, now and forever, with God; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
A life that involves the body, mind, heart, spirit, and soul in communion with God.
You can ask Jesus to show Himself to you.  He knows your heart.

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10 Top Travel Tips

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Ten traveling tips for visiting the land of Childhood.

1.  Pretending is a way of life.
2.  You can dance, sing, laugh, cry, and sleep anywhere and at anytime.
3.  You can spit out things that don’t taste good.
4.  You can colour outside the lines.
5.  You can sit under tables.
6.  You can wear any colour and pattern of clothes that you like.
7.  You do not need to know how to tell time.
8.  Reading is optional.
9.  Making up stories is encouraged.
10.  Making up words is also good.

*check with the nearest child for more information and tips.

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in the vineyard

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Have you ever worked in a vineyard?  We have a small vineyard at our house.  It was planted just a little bit before we started to build the house.  That should give you a hint about my husband’s priorities.  
This morning, while it was cool, i decided to have a go at trimming the vines.  The grapes are a bit behind this year.  The set was good, because the weather was dry when the grape flowers opened.  But, then the weather turned cool and stayed that way.
Anyway, i thought i knew how to trim back grape vines, you know, just cut them back.  Well, after all these years, i learned a bit more.  Thing is, that knowing these few things made a difference in what i cut.
I found out that these leaves only process the sunlight to energy for around sixty days.  And of course the older leaves are much bigger and darker than the new leaves and they tend to shade the grapes too much, as grapes need the sun to ripen. 
I also learned there is something called a “second set,” where new flowers try to form new bunches.  These can really drain a lot of energy that should be going into the grapes.
The next little bit of information was that that each grape cluster needs ten leaves to provide for it.
And the last thing i learned was the reason for why i have always cut the new growth off of the tops of the vines.  I was informed that they can cast shade on the grapes of the next row.
So as i was cutting, i was thinking of these things.  Cutting back the large dark leaves from around the grapes, picking away the little flower bunches (lots of perfume for such a small flower), trimming back long growth off the top of the row,  picking back other big, old leaves farther up (but not too many), and either cutting-off or tucking-in vines that were growing out sideways because they shade the grapes.
I thought that maybe this would possibly help our grapes to ripen, since they are so far behind this year.
There were also grape plants in the columbia gorge that got frozen this winter, and they will not produce a crop at all this year.
I have a few more rows to go.  Tomorrow morning, perhaps.

bottle

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glass wine bottles .  2011
bottle
mid-14c., originally of leather, 
from O.Fr. boteille (12c., Mod.Fr bouteille),
from V.L. butticula, cim. of L.L. buttis “a cask,”
which is perhaps from Gk. (bouttis) vessel.
Bottle containers were originally made from clay or of asphaltum sealed woven containers.
Though no one is certain when glass was first produced, the early glass bottles are believed to be produced by the Phoenicians.  These Phoenician examples, that varied in length from three to six inches, were thought to have been used for perfume.  Hey, if you lived without deodorant…  ‘nuf said.
The glass bottle was an important development as far as the aging of wine.  When combined with a high-quality stopper, such as a cork.  (Of course we all now know that glass stoppers are better than cork.)
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porter with a wineskin
by Niko Pirosmani
Niko Pirosmani
1862-1918
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Do you think that someone must be renewed before the new can be poured in?
When the Bridegroom was taken from the disciples, were they renewed, and the Spirit poured into them?
from matthew 9 : 16-17
 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
feast with organ-grinder datiko zemel 1906
Niko Pirosmani

wednesday night post

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I was asked to take someone to the truck repair shop today.  The shop guy said that it has been there since the late 1960″s.  It’s a totally cool place.  So much character.

If i look at that door for very long, i start to see images of things in the blue and black areas.

There has been bottling going on at the winery this week.  Thus, the truck at the repair shop.  Why stuff happens when we truly need the truck…i don’t know.  But, they fixed her up quick and got her back on the road.

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faith and more faith

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Mr. Lewis wrote two chapters with the same title.  
Does that happen in a lot in books?
Perhaps there is a lot to talk about.  Yet, i don’t really think so.  The way i see it, is that instead of talking about Christianity, it is much better to be talking to Christ.  Instead of having directions to the castle, we can walk there with the King.
Yes, we can walk and talk with the King, every step of the way.   And He leads us in everything.  We can do nothing…and do nothing better than just this.  He knows all about the things going on that we can not see.  He takes care of the all those things as we talk to Him and listen, listen, listen to His voice informing our heart and mind in His way.  He uses what people say and what people do for His will and His glory.
There are no words to describe exactly what happens after believing in Christ.  I can say that we are connected Spiritually with God.  And sooner or later we see that a special thing takes place in the way of togetherness and relating with Father, Son, Spirit.   As relating is taking place, one can be aware of such things as His presence, a refilling of faith, a desire for His will to be done (i think this is sometimes felt as wanting the world and all to be right and good again), and sometimes we are aware of His will “being done” in, for, with, and through all of us.

We just walk with God, talk with God and Listen…and we hear His voice.

Yes, we know His voice.  It is a wonderful voice.  A soft, guiding, and sometimes gently nudging voice.

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More posts on this book, today, at the blog of Jason Stasyszen


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traveling

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Take six people, six journals, six different addresses, and add some words.  And you have yourself the makings for “Traveling Journals.”

At first i had the expectations that the journals would go from one person, through the mail, to another person and so on.  So far so good.  But then, i expected that each journal would spend about a week with each person.  Time enough to write a poem and be sent along…ahem…to the next person…cough cough choke silence.  Well, that is where the expectation started to be chiseled away and trust took it’s place.

The journals actually do arrive at each house, and then, here’s the catch, they land in the middle of a home, lives, stuff, things going on.  And this is the part i left out of the planning.  Planning only took me so far, and then i ran into waiting… for a year.

Yes, it has been a year since i sent the pages on their way to be covered with words.  Yet, in that waiting were surprises that i didn’t expect or plan for.

There were e-mails, and questions.

And there was five other busy lives,

and yet, there was connection.

Hiding in the waiting was trust, patience, Love, giving and sharing.

Yes… there was…

for a whole wonderful year.

traveling journals

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my traveling journal has been traveling for about a year, and now it has returned home again.
the first place that it traveled to was to louise in calgary.  there louise added a poem called “love’s memory.”
after calgary the journal went traveling to saskatchewan to be with melissa, where she wrote for the journal two poems, “lock box” and “all mush” dated august 2010.
after being in canada, the journal returned to the united states to visit with erin in iowa.  erin gave the journal two of her poems, “you everywhere” and “confession” dated february 2011.
then the journal skipped on over to to the east coast to maureen‘s house in virginia, receiving her poem ” a powerful pull.”
the last stop before returning back to oregon was to go and see heather in mississippi.  heather gave the journal a gift of two pieces of writing without titles.
note to the traveling journal owners:
thank so very much for allowing my journal to stay with you all, and for your gifts of words that came back with it.  what a trip!
~
i also received…

melissa’s journal, which after it’s visit with me in oregon, will be going back to canada to see louise, before returning home.

and erin’s journal, which after hanging out in oregon for awhile, will also be going to see louise and then melissa, before returning to iowa.

:-)