Had a Wonderful Day....

..... hope you did too!

Getting Ready For Christmas!

'tis the Season!
Come visit me at my Terra Nova Design blog (see link on sidebar) for more frequent updates!

George's Baptism

Today was little George's baptism. We are honored to be his Godparents. Trying to decide on a gift for such a momentous occasion is not easy. The idea of a vessel came to me, along with a vague idea of a Scripture verse. I began a hunt and at the first shop, right near my house, found an amazing, aged, 20" diameter, hand carved, well used, wooden bowl. I loved it but was not immediately convinced that this was "it." B. and I shopped around near and far and the more we shopped the clearer it became that the first vessel had indeed been "the one." The next day I returned to the little shop near my house and brought home the giant old bowl. It felt totally right. Last night I poured out some verse and today the large vessel was accompanied by this poem, read by his mom to the gathered friends and family.


Your Vessel

I am a humble vessel
aged and well used,
here from a distant land,
by the name of India.
I was of service to a man
for rice and such necessities.
Journeyed now to Amherst
George’s vessel I shall be.
Sticky grain may not fill me up,
a vessel of toys I may be or
some other precious commodity.
Though one day perhaps
you may knead bread with me
or toss within my handsome walls
some garden greens so sweet.
However I might serve you,
it need not trouble me
I only ask to journey on
and your useful vessel be.

2 Timothy 2:21
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from evil things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

What's my excuse?

Wow..my last post on this blog was July 4th. That's bad! I do post more regularly on Terra Nova Design if you want to click over there but still.... I should have posted on here a few times over the summer. What's my excuse? Well, around mid-July I began helping Jess & Ben pack and get set for their move to their first house! Once they officially bought it and over the month of August we began daily work (in between our jobs) on their house. We did a lot of cleaning and demo and tons of painting. Then there was the clearing of over grown land and the beginnings of new gardens. Yeah...that is where the summer went. They are still building a dormer and doing many different projects but they are living there now and we are all busy with work and teaching so the progress is slow but sure. It will be a great little place with a wonderful view (!) when they are done. Here's a shot of them and their place. They are standing in what will soon be the study/art room, sticking their heads above the old roof line. In this location now there is a big dormer which will have a 6' wide west facing window. Also is a picture of my own stream and garden here at Sweetside. Yes, the stream is "done." There's always more that can be done but it looks just the way I dreamed it.

4th of July BBQ

Despite the rain, a bunch of our friends gathered at our house for the 4th. At one point, the guys took to the kitchen -- Aaron chopping peppers and onions and Ben & Pete having a mini Iron Chef competition -- concocting creative burgers and handling the grilling. We also had a chance to hang with the Martins who were in town from San Jose. Jess used to baby-sit for their girls... many moons ago.

I'm over at Terra Nova!

Hi there! So, if you are checking in on me at this blog and thinking I lead a very boring life b/c I seldom have anything new to say.... well... check me out over at my other blog. It was mostly created for design (house/art) stuff but that seems to embrace a lot of my life these days so most of my posting is over there. You can either click on the link in the right sidebar that says Carol's Art or go to ~

http://terranovadesign.blogspot.com/

Book mark it... and... click on the RSS feed so you know when I've got a new post up :-)

and by all means..... comment don't just lurk... lol

Ben's Gradiated

CONGRATS
BEN!!

Yesterday was the grad reception at the UMass Amherst Mullins Center. Ben's done with his Masters in Educational Technology. Yeah!!!

Here are Ben and Jess waiting for events to begin, Ben holding his nifty pen that he received and Ben & Ian (who also graduated, same program) with Florence, the head of their program.

All Jacked Up

No, not me, the house...at UMass! Don't know why I am finding this so fascinating but I am. The house at UMass that is being moved was all jacked up yesterday morning and will be moved 2.2 miles to a new lot next week. I hope to catch some pics of the move but here it is all jacked up!

Changes Are Afoot

Yes indeed, only a few weeks ago I heard that there will soon be a "round-about" installed on the North side of campus, where a traffic light now snarls traffic, especially every afternoon when people leave their offices. Behold, the evidence appeared this week as "they" began excavating around the large grey house, prepping it for a relocation. Haven't heard where the house is moving to but the big beams and jacks are underneath it as of today. I trudged around the dirt piles this evening to get some shots before all is changed beyond recognition. I think we'll have to do one of 1 hour "ambient" films, setting his camera up to catch some real time images of a round-about here in Amherst. I have yet to see people really know how to navigate them in this part of the US. Should be very interesting indeed.

My Sibs & Me

Went to see my brother and sister-in-law, Hank and Lynn and their 3 kids and 4 grandkids, today. My sister Linda and her husband Jim and my mom were also there. It was really great to have the whole family together.... even more than usual since my brother had a heart attack and surgery 2 weeks ago. That was a real shock because he is the type of person who would be on one's "least likely to ever have a heart attack" list. He's recovering well, thankfully.

Happy Mothers' Day

Mother's Day was a beautiful Spring Day here in Amherst and we had a wonderful time with the combined families - ours and that of son-in-law, Ben, here at Sweetside. It was our first time using the picnic table this season. The kids did a great cookout with Ben BBQ'ing trout that he caught this AM, as well as wild salmon, while Jess made potato salad and fresh Hadley aspargus. Desert was mini chocolate cakes (also by Jess) with strawberries and whipped cram. Yum, yum! Pictured here are Jess and Ben with our family and his. Just in case you don't know which is which - Ben's is the family of girls.

Yesterday I went to the Berkshires to see my mom, for an early Mothers' Day, and we went over to Pontoosic Lake and had lobster rolls at O'Reilly's. That was really yummy too! We also looked at all the old family photos I have scanned into my iBook. It was fun showing her what this little machine can do!

A's Floor is Going In!

This is the week, at long last, that A's birch floor is going in. Aaron, Ben and Sam have been working on it. It is a few board away form being done, as I type this. YaHoo! Then A. will sand and poly it before moving himself in.

Shameful Military Discharges

I'm mad.......

I don't have time to make a link right now but check out this article in The Nation (link below) about wounded soldiers being given a 5-13 discharge status:"Previous Personality Disorder." Why is this happening? Because if they get discharged in this way, they receive NO BENEFITS! So they are being sent home, seriously disabled with no help. Somehow, it was supposedly a "pre-exisiting" mental issue that got them wounded??? Yup, you got it. The story is about a Sergeant serving in Iraq, decorated 7 times and then hit by a rocket. After initial medical treatment he was discharged (and demoted!) under the 5-13 status. Now he is left high and dry. He did NOT have a previous psychiatric condition at all. I heard about this from a local colleague who has a woman client whose son had this happen to him too. It is not an isolated incident..... as the article explains.

SHAMEFUL !!

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070409/kors

Altered Books with Bernie Berlin

Jess and I went out to Topsfield yesterday to take an all day class with Bernie Berlin on Altered books, painting and layering. It was lots of fun, an amazing time and a wonderful way to learn a lot about techniques and product use. I got a big start on my first altered book. More pictures to come. If you are wondering: YES, this is the same Bernie Berlin who runs the dog rescue and NO, I did not bring home another dog :-) Much to our beagle Chloe's dismay it is still 1 dog to 4 cats here at Sweetside (actually she loves her kitties, tho!)

Churnings...

Not sleeping much tonight. Not sure why. Too much Coke & Koala (see next post) ? Anyway, the issue churning in my mind tonight is the concept of "Paucity of Spirit."

I feel I keep crashing into this paucity in various ways: with clients, students, peers, sometimes even in friends and family. The idea of being in community, in any real sense - large or even small, seems to be evaporating. The instinctive inclination towards real benevolence, to help, even at a cost to oneself, when one sees or hears of a need, seems to have lost a lot of ground, except perhaps in "institutionalized" and sterile ways; "Send $20 and feel better." Maybe that instinct to care for and help others got gobbled up by our twin "needs" for more "money" and for "leisure."

It seems odd that when I see or experience the opposite -- open handed generosity such as I experienced this past weekend from someone I barely know -- it catches me off-gaurd and pretty much overwhelms me. Then, the realization of my shock, saddens me. Why am I so surprised? It shouldn't be so unusual. But yet, it is...... at least in my world.

More often I feel like the rules of the game changed and no one told me. Worse still, I keep trying to play by the rules that I know and cherish and then I feel suckered. I've played my chips once again to benefit someone or other, only to find a turned back once their need is met. In my shock and hurt I may even think I hear others snicker at my naiveté. It's a maze I want to escape but as I look around, I fear it is bigger than my own small world. Perhaps it is endemic, or worse yet, epidemic.

The concept of mutuality is important. Mutuality is key. Who wants to play in a game of "Give & Give"? Which equals "Take & Take" and adds up to " loss." Who wants to "give 'til it hurts" and then share a request for help only to be met with silence? Or have your needs held against you or used later in a game of one-upsmanship? At times I have withdrawn into my own cocoon of self-sufficiency. It really stinks in there. Oh sure, I'm technically OK there. I can even be really good at it. But I am not happy or satisfied there. I want to scream, "This is so not me!"

But I am observant enough to know it is not just my experience, my small world where this is happening. Most of the time I have a big enough view to see beyond my personal experience of paucity. Then I think more broadly about people whose lives are almost exclusively lived in this way. People who are truly reliant on the generosity of others. This shift away from generosity and community care has got to be exponentially more damaging to them. I look to others for a sense of emotional and spiritual well-being. Others depend upon it for their survival. Yikes!!

Earlier in scanning the web for info for class prep I read this quote in some report somewhere:
"The blame also lies with the rich countries which, despite their rhetoric, refuse to look beyond their own short-term interest. Rich countries have the capacity to promote and champion the eradication of poverty across the globe. Their failure to do so reflects a paucity of spirit that offends the legacy of the founders of the United Nations."

The phrase "paucity of spirit" struck a chord in me. I felt my heart say, "I know this sickness! "

I don't know anything much about the founding of the UN but I do know about the foundations of my faith, where family and community and care for others (near and far) is central. If we can't get it right in small ways, day in and day out, how will we ever get it right on any larger scale? I've tried to live my life this way. Tried to model it for those in my world, tired to inspire it in others. Yet, I often feel like I'm slipping backwards in the climb. It's a feeling I keep fighting, but a battle I sometimes fear I may yet loose.

On a more hopeful and somewhat broader note: Can this tide of paucity be turned around? Call me naive; despite my above stated fears, I still have hope. I think that is why I am drawn to the work of Community Service Learning. I have a hope, a belief, maybe it is a dream, that deeply involving college students in community work might uproot this weed of paucity. Far fetched? I hope not. I must keep climbing - with or without the others. Something has to give.

From Mom to Kid Koala

Today I went over to the Berkshires to visit my mom as she had cataract surgery this AM. It seems to have gone very well.



Afterwards, I met Baird & Jess in NoHo to hear Kid Koala. I only knew a little bit of his DJ work but man, I was amazed by the live performance. He is really incredible. The most effective piece for me, because I knew the music so well, was when he used 3 turntables and 3 separate copies of the 33 rpm album version of Moon River. He had different things going on with all three turntables could switch between them and use his mixer to vary them and mix between them. He could also use his amazing fast fingers to go from one album to another without missing a beat or a word of the lyrics. Hard to explain but trust me, it was astounding. He said he did it for his mom, "so she could better understand what he does. Now she thinks I am weird and that it is 'just a phase'." He was joking. I bet she thinks it is amazing, too. It was also cool that he was there with his wife, who was taking photos. This is their "honeymoon tour." She is a set designer and after this tour he said they are going to do a graphic novel and video (3D, poor man's claymation style) about a mosquito who goes to the city to be a clarinet player. He played some of his mosquito clarinet music for us :-) For real! You heard it hear!

Other trivia: Baird got his signature on a BeDe card. His real name is Eric. He was born in Vancouver but lives in Montreal. He was quite interested in B's Electronica student's rotary phone project.

We missed Shnitzle who was home sick... BooHoo!
Get better soon!

( pic above from- http://www.discorder.ca/oldsite/features/03octkidkoala.html)

Carnival - Out of Season

Went to the "Out of Season" Carnival at UMass last night. Met some nice folks and heard some great drumming; missed the yummy food of previous yeras, tho. Really fun table decorations incuded two of these masks on dowels, stuck in styrofoam and covered with brightly colored tissue paper. Didn't have a camera to take a picture there but brought one of the hand painted masks home with me to show you all.

For pictures of & info on my Palm Sunday art piece at First Church go to my other blog: Terra Nova.

KitchenAid Comes Home

At long last, the fridge moved into it's rightful place in the kitchen today. This built in fridge with the compressor on the top weighs a ton so, it was very hard work for the 2 guys we hired and in our small kitchen it was a very tight squeeze but, it is DONE!

Coastal Spring

Just spent the past 30 hours winging our way around the North Shore and Boston/Cambridge. Beautiful early Spring!
Here are a couple of pics to wet your appetite. For more check Terra Nova.

Then and Now

Here's a look at "Then" Summer 2006 to compare with the "Now" Below. Yes, it IS the same space.

Painting Down in A's World

So we are back to painting down in A's space; this time ceilings and brick walls. Starting to shape up. Waiting now on delivery of some flooring material mostly. Doing odds and ends in the meantime. When the snow is gone A. will remove and renovate the old metal cabinets in the mini-kitchen. Here's a peak at the bedroom area and close ups of the brick and some of the craggy exposed granite.

Kitchen March '06 & March '07

As of this morning, the kitchen project has been "signed off" on by the building inspector (the electrical inspector having signed off last Friday). Also,how fitting, since it was a year ago today that Baird and I saw the house and put in our offer! Imagine --- a whole year has flown by! Well, it looks quite different. Here's some Then & Now kitchen pics just for haha's.

New Video

Check out Christine Sine's new worship and meditation video based on Isaiah 58. She says many of the pictures are hers, from the years she worked at refuge camps in Thailand. It is a brief but very moving piece.

$2 per Day Challenge

Over at Mustard Seed Associates, again, there is something worth checking out. They have posted a $2 Mutunga Challenge, to eat on $2 per day per person for one week. There is a shopping list and sample recipes. Very thought provoking.

I'd like to try integrate some of these ideas, and the principles behind this, into life in some way - more than just a one week challege. Whether or not any of you, my blog readers, try the actual one week challenge or not, the idea is well worth seriously considering and even implementing in some way. We, as Americans that is, consume so much of the world's food supply and resources in general that it is rather nauseating. Even little steps of change on the individual level could make a huge difference when multiplied by tens of thousands. The power of the web, to get something like this moving in a bigger way is immense.

Lent at Mustard Seed

Reading the blog of the folks over at Mustard Seed Associates has helped me to tune into the journey of this season -- a time that commemorates the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness before this journey began. As they shared: "In the early church this was a time of preparation for those about to be baptized. Today it is more often regarded as a season of soul searching and repentance for all Christians as a preparation for the joy and celebration of Easter. Unfortunately for many of us our soul searching is as perfunctory as our sacrifices. We spend a little more time reading the bible and in prayer."

This Nouwen quote from their blog really also struck me as important:
According to Henri Nouwen, “Discipline is the creation of boundaries that keep time and space open for God – a time and place where God’s gracious presence can be acknowledged and responded to.” This is the kind of discipline we all need in order to mature into the people God wants us to be.

The short videos they are posting by Christine Sine are also wonderful.

Check it out when you have a few minutes.

Presidents' Day Weekend: French Connection - Breach - Borneo - and Mom

Friday eve we stayed warm at home with a fire and watched The French Connection. B hadn't seen it before and I had many years ago but remembered none of it. Great classic.
Then, Saturday, Breach: worth seeing...yes! Disturbing but not in an overwhelming sort of way. Utterly fascinating too. I really "enjoyed" seeing this flick with P, P & P.

and tonight.....
Expedition Borneo on Discovery Channel. Saw places no human has been known to traverse -- in modern times, anyway. Unbelievable footage of the rare, the previoulys unknown, the beautiful and the weird. Shocking, breathtaking and totally amazing. I have decided I want to spend one day (not a night - just a day - thank you very much) of my life as a gibbon, swinging thru the huge trees in this tropical rain-forest.

Exploring the amazing cathedral like caves...well.. I'll leave those for the dreams of the "Jet."
It's awesome to know that the work of this scientific / photographic team in documenting this rain-forest helped to result in the creation of the Heart of Borneo signed into being just last week (2/12/07)! One third of Borneo will now be preserved, as it well deserves to be.
Curious?? This 2 hour presentation will be repeated once more: Thursday night, 2/22 at 9PM on The Science Channel.

Today also included a visit to Mom and Connie over in the Berkshires. It was great to see them. Connie says he doesn't have as much get up and go as he did. Well, at 93, after all he's been thru in the past 2 years, and after pneumonia in the Fall, that's not surprising. We hope the Spring will provide him with some of his 'ole spunk.
Tomorrow: it's off to collect a few FreeCycle treasures and then B and I will walk up to the Amherst Cinema with Pete and Pam to see a new 35 mm print of the 1939 French film: The Rules of the Game (Renoir)

Then it's back to the "real world" on Tuesday.
Hope you've had a good weekend.

Jeremiah Wright's Speech at Amherst College

The content of Wright's speech has been made available on the web if you are interested, check it out here.

Wright was Rad and Obama's Fired Up!

Jeremiah Wright was at Amherst College Friday night... as was I (along with a bunch of others) and it was rad. Awesome guy. And..the very next AM he was back in Springfied, IL with Obama when he announced he is running. WooHoo!

Where Have I Been ?????

Wondering where I have been? Well, painting in A's new space for one thing and doing art stuff for another. Also starting to teach my 2 classes for the semester, based on the book Persepolis, about Iran this time around. I have actually created a blog for my CSL class! It is a closed blog (open only to the class) so I can't post a link but I am very excited about it. It will be used by my class as well as the other CSL class so that is about 37 people. Could be really fun. Time will tell.