:: more wooden wall ::

i want to go here.  sleep here.  read here.

:: i just want to float ::

today i thought...
       "i just want to float." 

i sent a text: "i wish we could go skydiving this evening.  i just want to float right now." 

but no could do. life must be done and there was no time (or budget) for that sort of thing. 

so i took a bath.  i couldn't think of anyone who has a heated indoor pool i could use to float my cares away in.  or on. 

and then i thought of a car ride.  thought that laying back in a seat, someone else driving, windows down...i thought that might be the kind of floating i needed.  but i ended up driving.  i wanted to. 

and then i went to a chinese buffet and had 4 plates of food.  definitely not weightless now.  

i feel better, but really,
         i just want to float. 

:: sliding doors ::

working on a laundry closet renovation - dryer vent portion of the project is complete (woohoo!) and now i just need to figure out a door solution.  have been considering track doors for some time (since i came across this, this, and this).  love this idea: 

not sure where this image is from, so forgive the lack of credit - 

if you know, let me know!

:: wash your spirit clean ::

keep close to nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. wash your spirit clean. [john muir]

:: question ::

from facebook.com/postsecret

:: craving, but not wishing for ::

thanks to michelle at blue moss and her latest blog post, i am craving some colder weather.  well, maybe not the weather itself, but colder weather fashion/dress.

loving so much about this look book.   

:: a sweet update ::

a complete stranger just made me cry on the phone. in a great way.

i called to find out about a riding evaluation / lesson and got an unexpected update on my beloved first riding instructor, jennifer jones, who i have not seen or heard about in well over 15 years. miss jones visited bramblewood last summer, giving her seal of approval on the former foxcroft farms. she's 80 years old, just stopped riding, and is still living in the UK (since leaving the states to care for her mother many years ago). her bright blue eyes still sparkle.

i love that the stranger thought to tell me that.




update to an update:  that same stranger made me cry again.  with this.  i can't wait to be back at this place.  it sounds like, despite the many changes to the land over the years, the spirit at Foxcroft / Bramblewood is the same.  i'm looking forward to feeling that. 

:: long time gone ::

that's all, really.  been a long time.  miss you.  miss writing here.  life is good.  moments of quiet contemplation (and attractive alliteration), but not many moving the pen to paper.  life is moving. 

:: breach man's mind ::

classic. favorite.  frightening.  important.  beautifully so. 

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said.  A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there.  

It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”

:: letters home - favorite son ::

 

9 April 1945

Dear Mamma,

Well here is your favorite son again.  I haven't had as much time to write as I would like but maybe before so very long.  I can't see how this war can last so very much longer & it would be over this month, I hope.  Wouldn't it be funny if it should end on my birthday?  If we get some nice weather so that the air corps can operate it will speed things up an awful bit. 

You said in your last letter that I never mentioned receiving your letters.  I'm sorry if I haven't but then you'll have to remember that I have been unusually busy and my letter writing hasn't been under the best of conditions.  I'll try to tell you each time that I get one of your letters but if I forget don't think that I don't appreciate & enjoy them just the same.  I haven't received a package in some time now but should get one any day now.  I could really go for some fried chicken, say about a gallon can of it.  How to you like the way my German pen writes?  I have 3 now all brand new. 

Lots of love

Arthur Jr.

:: carlos, kelly and jolene ::

i love this story. 
(hate the layout, love the story.)


enjoy. 

:: happy anniversary ::

11 years ago i graduated from college and started working full-time at mountain entertainment. i'd been working toward my career for four years before that - talent buying, stage managing, promoting artists and shows.

...back when "cutting and pasting" really meant "cutting and taping" (and xeroxing) to make event calendars. which i distributed via CPO boxes.

...back when band newsletters were postcards that came via snail mail. there were no eBlasts.

...back when radio would play (even break!) local & regional bands. and i was one station's Gig Gal.

i had heard scary things about the music business - about backstabbing and underhandedness. but i didn't see those things. or chose not to focus on them, perhaps. instead, i saw people taking me under their wings. sharing experiences, advice, wisdom. giving me opportunities. i was like the little sister of the industry and through all the ups and downs, it's been a true blessing to grow up in this crazy, dysfunctional, yet wonderfully passionate family.

it hasn't always been an easy road (not even close, at times!) but it's certainly been a blessed one. immensely grateful for the relationships, art, experiences and lessons God has given me throughout this career.

:: new media marketing thoughts ::

i don't really like to complain without having some sort of helpful feedback or solution for the issue i'm complaining about.  a few minutes ago, i was about to gripe about something on facebook and it occurred to me i could, instead, post some suggestions that might actually help some of the culprits who were inspiring the gripe.  

figured i'd post the update here, too, in case someone comes across this who's not a friend on fb.  feel free to leave a comment with feedback, questions, or..well...even complaints! 

some thoughts on new media marketing: not a fan of shortened links from twitter on my newsfeed. especially from a business and when linking to images/videos. you lose the visual of the image/video that you get when you post directly to facebook (plus, the shortened urls look spammy).

if you're a business that links twitter to facebook, be more selective with which tweets automatically update to fb. push copy-only tweets to fb but manually enter any posts containing images/videos/links. there is an app called "selective tweets" than can make this easier for you.

and never ever tweet something and then post it as a status (too) if you have your twitter/fb accounts linked. redundant back-to-back posts are a quick way to be hidden.

:: a children's story ::

a few years ago, i answered a call to teach in Children's Ministry on saturday nights.  i was placed in the Clown Fish class (2-3 year olds).  there were nights of utter chaos.  nights of being late to Big Group because of dirty diapers and potty training.  nights of a teacher learning about balance.  learning patience.  there were nights when i left feeling like i was nothing more than a babysitter with a well-thought-out lesson plan.  nights i questioned whether anything i read, anything i said, any craft i glued/stapled/stickered was sinking in. 

i doubted, I questioned, i worried. 

but i loved, laughed, danced, sang, and hugged, too.  a lot. 

so at the end of the year, i asked to be promoted with that crazy crew.  we moved on to Sea Turtles.  and then on to Kiwis. 

at times it felt those years were much of the same – only we were all just a year or two older and wiser.  but there was much, much more going on:  i watched the kids learn to write their names, to use scissors and the stapler, to peel and stick their own stickers.  (oh, the joy!)  i watched them come to know one another by name and to learn my name.  i found myself partnering with their parents in various areas.  community was forming right before our eyes. 

and now we are Blue Jays. 

now they can write more than just their names.  they can read.  they enthusiastically volunteer to read or recite the memory verse each week.   and they actually remember the passages now.  they ask questions.  they want to understand and want know more.  i am seeing them wrestle with and come to love the Word of God. 

admittedly, sometimes we're still late to Big Group, but not because of dirty diapers or potty training, like the old days.  now it's because the students themselves are reading the Bible story (which takes a little bit longer than when I do.)  or because we are wrapped up in a prayer circle, thanking God for the blessings in our lives or confessing our sins.  Children talking to God.  a good reason to be late.     

this past November, we were teaching a unit about the prophets.  one Saturday night, my group of five and six year olds were listening to me tell the story of Isaiah.  they heard me read,  

Then God said from heaven, “Who will take a message to the people?” And Isaiah, who had seen that God was the greatest Holy King said, “Here I am. Send me." It’s like he raised his hand and said, “God, please pick me.” [Isaiah 6:8]

i stopped speaking.  i silently re-read those words.  i've seen them many times before, but this time, there was a weight to them i'd never felt before. 

we've all been asked the same question.  we've all been called to take a message to the people.  and those of us in Grace’s Children’s Ministry have all raised our hands and said, "here i am.  send me." and have committed to taking The Message to the youngest of His people. 

and we can rest assured that it is, indeed, sinking in.

:: a fine line ::

banff mountain film festival magazine [2011-2012]

"the line between badass and dumbass is not only fine, it is a grey, wavy line, and in a different place for each individual.  it's hard to recognise, easy to miss, and painfully clear when overstepped.  it's the concept of pushing hard and not giving up, balanced against blind ambition and getting in too deep.  basically, when you start to get really scared, you are probably approaching your line."

adventurer, climber, BASE-jumper and para-alpinist Leo Houlding, in response to being asked how he knows when he is approaching the "fine line between badass and dumbass."