The Shaper Fables

2010 FANTASY FOOTBAL HELMET

2010-08-22T23:07:00.000-05:00

New Piece #2

2010-03-11T21:33:00.000-06:00

Not brand spankin' new, but newly photographed.
Title, Vesica Pisces.

check out the website | www.richardwcummings.com

Two New Pieces, #1

2010-03-11T21:31:00.000-06:00

Not brand spankin' new, but newly photographed.
Tentatively titled, Rocket.

check out the website | www.richardwcummings.com

Loss

2010-02-27T12:39:00.000-06:00

I am bereft…but not joyless.
My eyes ache from weeping.
My head is sore from grief.
I walk about in a daze.

Too late, now, for "someday"s and "oneday"s.
They have passed like a missed sunrise.
No regrets for sentiments left unsaid,
But wishful yearnings of a final goodbye.

Yet, my heart rejoices on this day of loss.
A contradiction of feelings,
Our loss, the completion of one man's joy;
A temporary hiatus before the ultimate family reunion.

Life continues, as it must.
But, today, I realize love a little more;
I appreciate moments a little more.
I realize, without fear, that all this is temporary.

See you later Papa! September 22, 1916 - February 27, 2010

Joy

2010-02-21T21:04:00.000-06:00

She brings a gift called Joy.
She, the adored light of her family.
She is the delight of all who know her, The quieter of the restless soul; The bringer of peace.
Her love is immovable bedrock. Her grace flows and wanes not.
Divine Scripture would call her blessed, But I…I call her beloved wife.

Pointing to the Divine Mysteries

2009-12-15T23:03:00.000-06:00

Tonight it is good to be a parent,
Helping to guide a life,
The Sacred responsibility of a father.

Shared moments of trust,
Unfettered paths of communication;
Cheshire smiles and the melting embrace of a son.

Amen.

2009 Fantasy football helmet

2009-08-18T21:45:00.001-05:00

Feeling Groovy

2009-07-15T00:52:00.000-05:00

Things have settled some and I am feeling…well, groovy!

School's Out for Summer!

2009-05-23T16:52:00.000-05:00

For those of you who know me and read my blog, you will know why the title of this entry as well as the song now playing in your head is special to me. I am FREE for many, many weeks! So much to do and so little time to do it in.

First off, I want to say thank you to Aaron, R's Soccer coach. He did a great job with the kids this season. ALL the kids did great and learned a great deal. It was exciting to watch the games every week. It was R's last game today for the Y season, and just let me say that he made it a good one. He was on fire today and scored 5 GOALS. If this is coming off as proud, I can't help it. I am a proud daddy, but it wasn't just because he scored 5 goals. He played so well; finishing his shots, getting around defenders, passing to his teammates and being aggressive to the ball. You should have seen the joy on his face all game. I love watching his teams play. I love to watch the kids improve and be successful. I love the way that his coaches know the value of playing kids equally and in all positions. Congratulations Green GATORS!

[a picture of R scoring goal #4]

Life changes so fast around here. It seems that just yesterday we were telling W that his B-day was 4 wks. away and all of a sudden it was here and gone. We had a great day with W. We saw, Night at the Museum II, at the movies, had cake and ice cream, wore silly hats and generally had a great time as a family.

Alana and I have been running 3 times a week. We cover between 2 and 3.2 mi. each time…maybe one of these days my expanding gut will get the message that it is supposed to be shrinking. We both ran our FIRST 5K two weekends ago, WooHoo! We both RAN the whole thing under the time we wanted and neither of us expired after the race. Our friend, Shelley, ran with us and did great also.

I look forward to getting some work done in and around the house this summer. I have a few ideas of what I would like to get done.

We look forward to celebrating my parents 50th wedding anniversary in FL. in June

I am working on a Gallery book for CIVA that will be revealed at the CIVA biennial convention, which I will be traveling to in June as well.

I should do some more art as well.

We are also in the middle of Coach-Pitch baseball for R. Busy, Busy!

Wird to yuh Mutha!

Alive

2009-03-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

I am alive.
been experimenting with polyester resin.
want to build a fountain this summer.
Spot is house-trained.
Not shedding near as bad as he was.
He is lying in my lap as I type.
CofO men's basketball team won the NAIA Div II National Quarterfinal today. Semis on Monday. Girls won too!
This is a sucky post/

P.S. I have the cutest niece of all time!

28 random nonsenses about me

2009-02-04T23:08:00.000-06:00

Got sick of being perpetually tagged in this one by people on Facebook, so I finally did it. Enjoy!

28 random nonsenses about me

1] My wife is smokin' hot!

2] I am situationally addicted to orange Tic-Tacs®.

3] I know the keyboard shortcut for the registered trademark symbol.

4] I also know the keyboard shortcut for the © and ™ symbols.

5] I have a dog named, Spot.

6] Over the last two days I have lost over 50,000 chips on FB Texas Hold'em.

7] I am currently accepting any offers for chips for FB Texas Hold'em.

8] At 3:30 a.m. this morning the transformer in our heat pump burned out.

9] At 7:30 a.m. this morning I noticed that the outside temperature was 14º F.

10] I also know the keyboard shortcut for the º symbol.

11] I collect PEZ® dispensers

12] My graduating Design Majors often buy me PEZ® dispensers for me to remember them by.

13] I write their name and graduation date on the inside and place it on the wall ledge around my office.

14] I own a KRAP-load of PEZ® dispensers.

15] I am also situationally addicted to PEZ®.

16] I quickly devour lime Tic-Tacs® as well.

17] My favorite book is Grendel by John Gardner

18] My favorite band is Smashing Pumpkins.

19] U2 is a close second.

20] I am an artist. [seriously]

21] I work in assemblage.

"Raptor" or, "The Great God, Tash"
electrical tape, wire, clay, wood, stone glass, plastic, pumpkin stem
2008

more at bitsofredemption.etsy.com

22] I am an Associate Professor of Art.

23] I work in an ideal job.

24] I get 4 months off per year.

25] I love Jesus, but don't feel like I have remind everybody of it all the time.

26] I am not holier than anyone.

27] I don't believe my own press or others' perceptions of myself.

28] I believe that all my fancy keyboard symbols will show up as gibberish in this format.

See Spot…

2008-12-23T15:12:00.000-06:00

Hello,

I am Spot… at least that is what my new human pets call me. They came to me on Saturday, December 19, 2008. [I am pretty good with human dates] They seem like a nice bunch. The little ones don't bother me too much, though they are energetic and in my face more than I would like. The Alpha Male seems kind enough. He takes me outside and says stuff like, "good potty." Sometimes in the house he says, "bad potty!" I haven't quite figured out the relationship between those statements, though I am trying to please my new pet. The sole female of the pack doesn't seem to know what to make of me yet. I think she thinks I am cute, but she doesn't seem interested in me sniffing or licking her. I guess no one ever taught her good dog manners. Anyway, I thought I should show you a picture of me maxin' and relaxin' at my new digs. Please pray that my new masters love me and keep me, and that I figure out this "potty" thing.

Dog Bless,

Spot

Prodigy!

2008-11-23T21:38:00.000-06:00

Okay, my wife has a far more civilized and reserved post about Richie's first ever piano recital. You can find it [including pictures and video] here. But, I will have to say that he was AMAZING! We are so proud of him! He was acting all nervous and shy and stuff for days beforehand, but when got up there, he nailed it and you could see that he enjoyed it so much. Dr. H is such a great teacher. We couldn't ask for a better instructor for Richie. We really appreciate his approach to pedagogy and he is so great with our boy.

Long Lost Family Portrait

2008-11-19T00:53:00.000-06:00

Unearthed this one in the attic. I believe it is a 17th century Dutch painting of one of my French ancestors, Mssr. Richart D'Cumín. My wife believes it is a Rembrandt, but I think it is by one of his students, Robert van Ross. The "wet-in-wet" technique is uncharacteristic of Rembrandt, and I believe that if one closely examines behind the feather, one can see a happy little squirrel.

Two pieces from the Union Exhibition and more

2008-10-25T21:11:00.000-05:00

Here are two pieces from the Union University exhibition Bits of Redemption. The artist statement from the show is included in a recent post as a re a couple more pieces from the show. The first piece in this post is titled, prehistoric camera. Thanks goes out to Jayme Burchett for that title. I thought that when she revealed her impression about the piece, it was perfect, because you can hold it in your hands just like a camera and pretend you are Fred Flintstone or one of the Geico cavemen taking some sort of prehistoric photo. The second piece is, recomposition with mower blade. This is my largest asemblage piece to date. It is the one that had a catastrophic failure as I was placing it in the box to ship. [no worries, I fixed it… TWICE… before the exhibition.] It is good and sturdy now. Alana and I returned home yesterday from a trip to Union where I gave a lecture, attended a reception and reclaimed my artwork. To top off a hectic week which began with the breaking of my arm, today I presented a paper at a Christian Aesthetics colloquium titled, Christian Aesthetics: Why Good Christian Art is Good no Matter what it Looks Like. It sure would have been convenient to break my arm this Sunday [tomorrow] instead of last Sunday.

prehistoric camera

recomposition with mower blade

Cheers!

The Joys of Pick-Up Soccer

2008-10-20T18:42:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: I am typing with one hand. Please forgive any typos or misspelled words.

So… I am trying to lose weight and exercise as all 34-year-olds should, so I have started playing soccer with a motley band of college students on Sunday evenings. Last week, I was tearing it up and schooling these younguns. [I scored four goals] This week, I was out there for about 5 minutes, going hard for a ball, when [I think] that I was tripped up from behind. That caused me to lose my balance while running nearly full tilt.

[I feel here that I should mention that we were playing on asphalt tennis courts and not on turf]

Somewhere during those last fateful moments [on the way down] I realized that no good was going to come of this. I tried mightily to careen into the fence to soften my fall, but alas, gravity had other plans for me. I simultaneously crashed my left arm and head into the conjunction of fence and court.

My head hit the fence post, splitting it open on the left side, and my left arm took most of the brunt of the fall and ended up pinned between the asphalt court and the fence. I was concerned about my head, because I knew that I had hit it pretty hard, but it never really hurt. It didn't take long to know that it was bleeding profusely. My first concern after figuring my head injury was superficial was to extract my arm from its weird location. I knew that I had hurt it, but I checked its range of motion and it seemed fine. The more time that passed, however, the worse it began to feel, especially if I moved it. The college paramedics arrived and checked me out and drove me to the ER. At that time I still thought that the head laceration was the most serious thing wrong. I knew I was going to need stitches. [Actually, they are staples, so I look like the Frankenstein monster]

Anyway, after x-rays, which was the most excruciatingly painful part of all, it was revealed that I had a radial head fracture. According to the AAOS [American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons], Radial head fractures are common injuries, occurring in about 20 percent of all acute elbow injuries.

Here is a picture:

So, yay for me.

Piece Christ

2008-10-12T00:06:00.000-05:00

Howdy Folks,

I thought I would share a recent work with you, Piece Christ. This is the first piece I have done utilizing one of the crucifixes given to me by Sandra Bowden. It is currently on display at Union University as part of my exhibition there, Bits of Redemption. The exhibition contains 17 pieces of my found object assemblage work. I will be heading back there to give a lecture and reception and to bring back the work later this month. Some of you have probably heard that a few pieces [ok, 17 out of the 18 that I sent] were damaged in shipping. I joked that we could just call the exhibition, Bits, but I decided to take the 360 mile trip to Jackson, TN to repair the pieces. I am so glad I went as all the pieces save one were perfectly repairable. Anyway, It was a good trip, and all went well with the repairs. I also met several wonderful people and talk about the work on an informal basis with students and faculty.

Below the work, I have included the artist's statement that accompanies the exhibition. All comments are welcome.

Not everything is fragile, but everything is broken. Time, age, use, obsolescence… All things become lost, trashed or forgotten. The works in Bits of Redemption are composed of the discarded and forgotten pieces of our culture and the fractured, decayed elements of nature. Sticks, stones and bones unite with oxidized metals, bits of worn plastic and broken pottery. The process is redemptive. Pieces long forgotten and thought worthless are given value in their potential to unite with other redeemed bits to form a new aesthetic. Beauty is shaped from the raw substances and the forgotten evidences of our existence. This process of redemption becomes a physical metaphor for a spiritual truth. Christ takes our ugliness and brokenness and sees the beauty and potential in us. He redeems us back into a wholeness and unity with God. I am made keenly aware of this as I work, and a s a result every piece, for me, becomes a meditation on Divine essence.

And, They're Off!

2008-09-19T22:26:00.000-05:00

Well, today I just shipped my artwork [18 pieces] to Union University in Jackson, TN for an exhibition at their gallery. The exhibition is called, Bits of Redemption. I am very excited about it, but the last month has been stressful as I have been preparing for it. It includes brand-new work, as well as a few of my favorites. I had a "catastrophic failure" with one of my pieces, so I had to postpone shipping the work until I could get it reassembled. That was even more stressful when it disintegrated as I was lifting it to place it into the box. As my colleague said today, better to come apart here where I could fix it than at the gallery where they would fret, because it was broken. Don't worry. I got it put back together just fine and stronger than ever. I love epoxy and sheet metal!

Here is one of the new pieces I made for the exhibition. I will post more as I get them prepared.

Enjoy!

Movie Night

2008-09-05T21:49:00.000-05:00

My wife has lots of friends [and a significant following at her blog]. Consequently, she is periodically out with her girlfriends. On these evenings, like tonight, sometimes my sons and I will have what we call "boys movie night…"

… Monster's Inc. is NOT a good movie to watch with your children right before bedtime.

revised fantasy football helmet

2008-08-30T21:40:00.001-05:00

recomposition, wedge with stick

2008-08-23T21:42:00.000-05:00

Here is a new piece on ETSY:

An aggressive piece that communicates an aura of strength, yet, looking closely, one can see the frailty of its component parts. Strength is a fáçáde, for all things strong have weaknesses.

This re|construction measures 14" x 8" and is mounted on a saggar-fired base with two hangers.

You can see the listing here.

It's my birthday, Woo-Hoo!

2008-08-20T21:31:00.001-05:00

nuff said.

ETSY site

2008-08-17T20:17:00.000-05:00

Hello all [both] of my loyal readers. I just wanted you all [both] to know that I now am selling my artwork on ETSY. You can go to my shop here.

Thanks for noticing.

Fantasy Football Helmet

2008-08-12T11:13:00.000-05:00

I've been "Memed"

2008-06-23T22:19:00.000-05:00

I am so [not] excited. I have been tagged for my very first meme. [It only took a year]

My Dr. friend tagged me for this. There can be only one-word answers.

You are welcome for the insight this meme gives you into my psyche.

1. Where is your cell phone?tray

2. Your significant other?sexy

3. Your hair? spiky

4. Your mother? energy

5. Your father? generous

6. Your favorite thing? time

7. Your dream last night? strange

8. Your favorite drink? situational

9. Your dream/goal? achieved

10. The room you are in? living

11. Your hobby? living

12. Your fear? buzzing

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? earth

14. Where were you last night? bedroom

15. What you are not? female

16. Muffins? blueberry

17. The last thing you did? count

18. What are you wearing? epidermis

19. Something you are not wearing? spatula

20. Your mood? contemplative

21. Your summer? productive

22. Person you tag? Olga

There… now you know.

…can't wait to see what Olga puts.

Thoughts on a Helpmeet

2008-05-30T00:21:00.000-05:00

[originally posted as a comment to this post]

Alana,

You are sexier, cooler, more confident, and amazing than you were in college.

[And you are even a better writer]

I chuckled at the skinny [but extremely attractive] soccer player I once was in college. [What an amazing surfer hair cut I had back then. I sorta want it back.] I too look back and think what would have been useful to know then, but I wouldn't change my journey with you for anything. We have grown together. We have expanded and multiplied our love and brought others into it. We have built a home and a life. We have hugged, cursed, traveled, fretted, rejoiced and clung. We have persevered. We have progressed and we have grown…

together.

I fell in love with the girl you were then.

I fall in love daily with the amazing woman you are now.

…did I mention sexier?

Parental Units

2008-05-26T22:38:00.000-05:00

Parents are here! Have had a couple of great days. My wife is so awesome and capable at making them feel at home and I look forward to their entire stay. Dad and I are starting on a downstairs bath tomorrow. I am sure we won't destroy… much.

The Monarch of Rock and Roll

2008-04-12T21:05:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I have been working on a butterfly for "Butterflies at Branson," a fund raiser for CAM [Christian Action Ministries] a faith based food pantry for families in need. They are trying to get a permanent facility so that they can provide assistance to even more than the over 4000 families they currently help per year. 65 fiberglass butterflies were brought to CAM and they were decorated by artists from around the region and the country. I did mine on Elvis, being an entertainment town. During the kickoff event, mine was unveiled by an Elvis impersonator at one of the local theaters. It was a total blast. Thank you to all of you who have sent me clippings from the paper. All the butterflies will be auctioned in October. You can go to the CAM website to find out more info.

Here are some pictures of me working on the butterfly, the unveiling and my working "sketch." And, Oh Yeah, if you didn't get it, the name of the butterfly is, The Monarch of Rock and Roll.

Peace Out!

O.K. One More

2008-03-30T18:00:00.000-05:00

Art Carousel Keeps on a'Spinnin'

2008-03-29T23:11:00.000-05:00

Just in case you had not got enough.

'nuther Work of Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrt!

2008-03-27T23:22:00.000-05:00

You are all probably getting sick of these by now, but here are two other recent works. Thank you all for your recent comments.

More New Work

2008-03-26T21:10:00.001-05:00

New Piece

2008-03-18T23:50:00.001-05:00

• Recently completed, intimate piece [only about 8 in. wide by 3 in. tall]. Click to enlarge.

Scent of a Life

2008-03-02T22:37:00.000-06:00

I really would like my life to smell of bergamot and wheat grass.

Well… I guess that is it for this post.

The difference between a three-year-old and a six-year-old boy:

2008-02-26T23:29:00.000-06:00

The difference between a three-year-old and a six-year-old boy is…

• While ordering at Culver's, the six-year-old has [quite ingeniously] discovered how to hang his coat from one of your coat buttons as you are placing an order for a kids meal. Meanwhile the three-year-old has plopped his own coat down on the floor in front of the counter without a single thought as to what would ever become of it afterward.

• While leaving the table to get a straw for the three-year-old after just setting the dinner tray down, the six-year-old has completely consumed his chocolate milk by the time you return with the straw. [elapsed time: 15 seconds]

• While shopping in Target, the six-year-old is twenty feet ahead of you and you are trying desperately to slow him down. The three-year-old is twenty feet behind you and you are desperately trying to speed him up.

• Somewhere between Target and home the three-year-old finally finishes his chocolate milk. [elapsed time: 1 hr. 15 min.]

Nuff Said.

Snow Day

2008-02-01T22:58:00.000-06:00

Some days approach perfection.

Yesterday was one of those days as I awoke to find a blanket of snow covering the roofs, yards and roads of my neighborhood. "Looks like I won't be making my 8:00 class," I said to myself quite happily as I switched off my alarm and nestled back into bed. I LOVE sleeping in.…

Pancakes from scratch;

[Boy #1] "Can I help dad?" [Boy #2 in quick succession] "Can I help dad?" — Of course they can help, and they do to their abilities. Some flour gets spilled. Stirring casts debris over the top of the pan. Giggles, purposeful, concentrated movements, [a minor burn as well], but mostly giggles and achievement and parental wonder at how grown up these two boys are becoming. When does it happen, the moment that your three-year-old actually CAN help, the moment your six-year-old can competently flip pancakes in a skillet? We miss so many exact moments in life. When we take the time to actually notice those we love, somehow we realize they are now more than they once were. When did they get that way?

But we are also blessed with some moments where we see growth, wisdom, knowledge, sophistication. Yesterday I witnessed my older boy expand an intellectual knowledge of the concept of "hot pan" into an experiential knowledge. Better to have a small lesson than a big disaster.

Sledding and a snowman;

Snow is always profoundly colder to my bare skin than I remember. It is a painful cold that lingers several moments after the clump of snow leaves my fingertips. Lacy white leaves sore, fleshy red. It is hard to believe that something so beautiful can be so painful… but bare hands make better snowballs, so I suffer through the first ten or so before I retreat to the garage to find my gloves. Boy#2 can now make his own snowballs and throw them [sort of]. This is new. When did this happen… the moment his dexterity matured enough to make snowballs in awkward mittens?

When it is time to make the snowman #2 is all aglow and excited, but #1 is trying his hand at getting the sledding thing down on his own [and doing it]. He is so big and handsome and all boy, all traces of toddler long removed from his face and lanky body. I remember him at #2's age, at his build, with a rounder face, yet he seems to have always been who he is now. I can't remember him in the past. I've known him as long as he has lived, but it seems he has always been the boy he is at this age.

Amid volleys of white spheres #1 pauses to throw snowballs at the house. I am intrigued at the quite satisfactory splat and subsequent icy explosion when they hit the side of the house, so I throw a few myself. After a few I am quite pleased with the white splotchy pattern on the brick above the garage door, so I turn my attention to #2. I ask him if he would like to sled. Of course he would. At first I sled with him, but I realize that he can now sled for himself. I push him down the first time and between his dark reindeer hat and his dark jacket, I see a bright toothy smile. The next few times I push him faster, going for both distance and speed, achieving both. It is a grand moment and I watch, aware that this is indeed a grand moment. And I am not bold enough to say that I will always remember this particular moment, but I will remember that I have had not one, but several.

The snow part of our snow day ends with #1 and #2 taking turns on the sled, amidst giggles and volleys of wet snow. "Two more turns on the sled, boys… One more turn…"

Red cheeks, wet coats, stomping boots and the promise of hot cocoa.

A good time was had by all.

[for pictures]

Dart Locations and new logo

2008-01-28T22:09:00.000-06:00

OK, so someone asked me to inform them where I found the missing darts from the last post. hmmmm… I can only confirm that I have found one dart. I suspect that I may have found the other one from the thrift store projectile launcher, but I wasn't too careful in my investigation as I have about a billion other things to do on a daily basis. The one I found had somehow ended up in the Lowe's bag I am going to use to return the floor sliders back to Lowe's. I am not entirely sure how it got in there. The bag was rolled around the item and it was sitting in the bin where I keep "my stuff." This bin is about 3 ft. off the ground. However, those of you who have kids know that they can pretty much leave toys anywhere.

On another unrelated note. Here is a logo I just finished. The Lightning Brothers don't know that it is completed yet, but I am pretty sure that they will approve. Maybe one of my many readers will make them aware of the logo's completion.

On a third unrelated note. I am editing my last post, adding a link to a previous post where you can see what becomes of my "bits." Here is another one.

Peace out everyone! [I don't know why I just said that]

New Beginnings[ish]

2008-01-12T23:24:00.000-06:00

Okay, I am not promising much with this post, and for the two addicted people who actually check this site every day… here is your hit that will see you through the next drought.

I will not bore you [too late] with what has happened since my last post, Oct, 31? 2007, but I will randomly spew what I feel is writable information.

First of all, I had a great day with my 2 boys. We went to the Banana Republic outlet in town as I had a $25 gift card from Christmas. [Thank you Gordon and Lucy.] I needed a pair of jeans and I was hoping to find one on the clearance rack. [I don't buy clothes at full price, EVER!] Anyhow, my search for a pair of jeans blossomed into a T-shirt, 2 long-sleeved shirts (one with buttons), and, oh yeah, the sought-after jeans. Grand Total, $25.10. Can you believe it! [I had to borrow a quarter from my 6-yr old as I operate in a cashless society.] I was so excited. After that, my boys and I took our quarters [that's right, I said quarters] on our thrift store trifecta adventure. They each had $1 in quarters in their own zip-loc™ to spend, and I had $10 in quarters in my zip-loc™. Those were our budgets for the day. [BTW I left my baggie in the van before we went into BR, That is why I needed to borrow a quarter from my 6-yr old. I paid him back when we got back to the van.]

Store #1, I got a pair of jeans, Ralph Lauren, $2. Boy #1 got a plush dragon $.25. Boy #2 got three plastic cones, the orange kind used in soccer drills, $.35.

Store #2, I got a beautiful 40R grey wool sports coat, $4. Boy#1 got a free plastic dragon [What's with the dragons?] Boy #2 got a free Doc Hudson toy from the movie Cars®. The lady at the desk was so impressed by how well my boys behaved that she gave them each the toy that they were going to buy for free. As a reward, I let them spend a quarter each on Skittles® and MMs®. There was a candy dispenser at the shop.

Store #3, I got a vintage 40R brown leather jacket for $4. It was labeled $5, but as I only had 16 quarters left, the nice gentleman let me have it for $4. That was the end of my $10 in quarters. Boy #1 got a plush Donatello Ninja Turtle for $.25 AND and an air hogs 6-shot foam dart gun [complete with two/sixths of the original darts] for $.25. That was the end of his quarters. Boy #2 became attached to a yellow hard plastic sphere that looked like a choking hazard and like it had once been attached to something very important. As boy#2 is so darn cute, the clerk gave it to him at no charge. Gee, Thanks! Boy #2 did not spend all of his money and would return home with $.40 of his original $1.

After Shopping, it was time to eat "yunch" as boy #2 calls it. We went to our favorite Scottish restaurant, McDonald's. As my boys are such hefty eaters, they split a Mighty Kids Meal. Luckily McDonald's is trying to get rid of their Happy Meal toys, so it was two toys in one happy meal today. Woo-Hoo! You can see how the stars were aligning for this day.

After, "yunch" it was to Lowe's. We needed refrigerator light bulbs [They both blew at the same time.] and I was needing some casters for a drawerish thing that I got from the theatre department when they were getting rid of stuff. I will use the drawerish thing for the bigger bulkier bits I use in my artwork. I have been spending parts of the last several evenings over the past week or so in the basement, trying to organize my studio and all my, "bits." Right now they are organized, but taking up space on the basement floor. I am hoping to have them organized in drawers or containers very soon. In the light bulb aisle there was a number of discarded shallow light boxes that were the perfect size for my bits, so I took several of them before I left the aisle. Casters were too expensive, so I bought some furniture sliders instead. I will probably return those, however, because someone gave me some old, used casters that work great! I t ended up being $7+. I used a gift card from Christmas to pay for it. Thanks Gordon and Lucy!

After Lowes, it was to "Daddy's wook" [work] for me to print some things out. Boys behaved admirably. I picked up some things being held for me in the theatre department, then I went to the construction earth-dumping pile, where I had noticed a couple of days before that they had dumped two piles of 1.5" - 2" thick concrete slab pieces. The first thing I thought when I saw this was, "I can make a flagstone patio out of that!" I will stain the concrete with iron sulphate and it will look beautiful in my backyard near my shed. So for the last few days, I have been loading down my vehicle with these beautiful concrete slabs. From here, We finally went home after about 5 hours. It was a glorious day of boy shopping. Boy #1 and I played a bit of Star Wars Legos on our PS2 when we got home, and my youngest beat me twice at air hockey. [Pretty good for a three-year-old.] Then we 3 boys ran though the house bombarding each other with foam darts from the projectile launcher Boy #1 got from his cousin for Christmas and the one that we got today at store #3.

Somehow, we can now only find one dart for each projectile launcher, hmmm…

Anyway, A good time was had by all.

Only in…

2007-10-31T22:02:00.000-05:00

We live in a small town [population-wise] that has a thriving entertainment industry. There is a little quirk here that has never manifested in any of the other places we have lived. And that quirk is… Early-Onset Christmas. You see, tonight is October 31, HALLOWEEN! We have had all our friends and their kids over at our house and neighborhood the last couple of years. We all have dinner and then take the gang Trick-or-Treating. Tonight, one of our close friends whom we were walking with was talking about putting up her Christmas tree… TOMORROW!

You have to understand, that around here, this phenomenon is quite normal and indeed ingrained into the locals from birth. The reason for this [I hypothesize] is that all of the theaters in this town begin their Christmas shows on November 1. I have never heard anyone talking about Thanksgiving as the next Holiday, nor is Thanksgiving ever mentioned in any of the post-October shows I have seen. It is not just the local families, though that suffer from early-onset Christmas, however. It is also the town. Tomorrow [if they haven't started already] the city workers will begin putting up the Christmas stars on the lamp posts. In a few days [if they haven't started already] they will begin erecting the community Christmas light display. It's just what people who live around here are used to.

Tonight I paused and watched my oldest boy run from house to house… happy, joyful. I didn't just passingly notice him. I actively watched him in the cool, fall air of a perfect October evening; Arms thrown back, hair bouncing with each stride, smile plastered on his face, laughs and squeals, racing and jostling with his friends. "Look in my bucket, Daddy," he says. And I do. He is so excited. It is one of those perfect moments. Maybe he doesn't realize it, but in the cool October night air, among the rhythmic swaying of glow-sticks and flashlights… I do.

Exhausted… but pleasantly.

2007-10-23T22:56:00.000-05:00

Greetings Earthlings!

I have recently returned home from a fourteen-and-a-half-hour day. It began around 7 a.m. and ended around 9:30 p.m. Most of it centered around my duties as gallery director at the College. Lots of adrenaline, caffeine and Pixie Sticks™ were required just to make it through, but it was all-in-all grand. The opening went well and the work was well-received by all. The artist Russell Wrankle, is a very talented clay artist with a solid reputation and amiable personality. I really enjoyed getting to know him over the last couple of days. After each artist comes in, I am always wanting to do more of my own artwork. I have completed several pieces recently and am in need of documenting them so I can move them from my workspace and make more. I haven't been agonizing over the pieces lately, just working and following my instincts. I know not every piece can be a masterpiece, so I bring it to resolution and let it sit for awhile. After a few days I look at it again with fresh eyes to see if it is really resolved, if it needs something else, if it needs to be significantly reworked or if it needs to be completely trashed. I figure the good pieces will come through. Some pieces go together fast and furiously, with little effort. Some pieces have a very solid initial visual impact or interest, but the more I add, the more difficult they become to resolve. Others get close to resolution then stagnate, waiting for that one last perfect piece to bring harmony out of the dissonance. When I get pictures, I will share more.

God Bless!

—RWC

I see emptiness. Oh wait, nope. I just had my eyes closed.

2007-10-06T21:55:00.000-05:00

I used to have this friend who was a musician psychologist pawnbroker. He had this great blog I liked to read that often incorporated humorous [of the wry and dry variety] anecdotes and observations. Then suddenly, like a wet towel pop to the backside, all posts disappeared without explanation, pomp or circumstance. The black nothingness of his blog page was like the black emptiness of my soul… or at least like the blackness of a pool of used motor oil puddled on the ground.

Yeah…

2007-10-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

I have been reading this book that has been dealing with Christian Aesthetics. There was a fascinating chapter on the aesthetic philosophies of both St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. If I understand it correctly, Augustine based his philosophies on Platonic ideals [as seen through a Christian worldview] while exploring his ontological conception of God. In many ways he reinforces the contemporary view that the Idea is what is Beautiful. He would argue [I believe] that the physical world, even though corrupt, is beautiful, because it is a physical, though imperfect manifestation of the abstract Divine idea or Logos. To this conceit it is important to note that Christ, the divine God taking on the form of flesh, justifies the concept that the Beautiful can be perceived in this world. Though I believe the idea behind or subject of a work is vastly important, how a work is framed, contextualized and in any way executed in terms of environment, scale, cultural bias etc. is also of supreme importance. We live in a world of forms and we make tangible the realm of abstract concepts by framing them in the terms of what we know or have experienced. We can experience something for what it is, but we can't describe it [the whole] without breaking it down into characteristics of itself as related to something else that shares common essential characteristics. For instance, without relating it to anything else explain the flavor of grilled steak to someone who has never eaten meat.

Comments?

think of it as a desert

2007-09-29T21:56:00.000-05:00

It's not so much of a drought as a climate change. During the Summer, the climate is good to post often. It is the rainy season, but now we are in the lean days in our little geographical metaphor. School and life [and getting up so early to get R to school] have caused a posting hiccup. There is so much that I would write about if there were only time and energy. Any energy I have had in the evening recently has gone to creating artwork. I have been pretty prolific recently. It feels good to be creating again. I have an exhibition at Union University in TN next year and that has caused me to be in the studio more. Also, we just had an opening of Sandra Bowden's work at our Gallery at College of the Ozarks. She was President of CIVA [Christians in the Visual Arts] for 15 years and was a delightful guest. She seemed to really like my work and I was excited to have her in to lecture.

One post I have been meaning to write came as the result of R's Kindergarten Picnic held a few days ago. I had some tough days in school being the youngest in my classes growing up. Richie would have had a similar age difference with his classmates. His pre-k teacher thought that we should keep him an extra year in k4. It was a hard decision to make, because my pride knew he was intellectually capable. I also knew, however, that being a sensitive kid [like me] maybe being the oldest and more mature would benefit him long-term. We are certainly glad we did decide to keep him in k4. That second year in k4 we saw a huge change in him. He became a leader in his class and his confidence greatly increased. The Kindergarten Picnic was the first glimpse into how it had transferred to this new phase in his life, Kindergarten. He was swarmed by his buddies from his class, boys and girls alike. It warms and melts your heart to know that your child is liked by others. That is something that I struggled with for years growing up… but this isn't really my post.

My post is about another dad and his son that I saw at the kindergarten picnic. I don't know them, nor did I meet them. He and his son were in front of us in the food line when I first noticed them. The boy didn't run around like the other children who were there, but he did have this awesome-looking chair. It had wheels and it had a really cool color. I want to say it was either blue or orange. As you have gathered by now, this little boy was in a wheel chair. I noted this fact and thought for a moment how difficult that must be as a parent. There were so many children running around. How sad it must be to not have the ability to run or to propel yourself. If I want to go over there, I go over there without thought or effort. I wondered if the father wished his son could run like all the others, I wondered what thoughts or emotions I would have in a similar situation. Though this conceit was going on in my head, everything seemed pretty normal at the picnic. There was food and kids and a playground literally swarming with kindergarten children.

We got our food and ate, met our friends and chatted. The kids spilled their food and got totally messy and then the wanted the join the writhing tumult that was the playground. There had to be about 100 kindergarten children plus siblings interacting with the playground equipment. It was the textbook definition of chaos. Eventually my two kids cajoled me into letting them play. Luckily we knew several of the parents around who are good friends. We played the "when was the last time you saw" game. Basically, when you see a kid you know, you keep a mental marker of that. When you haven't seen your kid for awhile you ask, "When was the last time you saw…" Usually at that point your kid pops back into view. If not, someone that you know has seen your child in a non-panicky amount of time.

It was at this scene that I saw the boy from the food line only he wasn't in his wheelchair anymore… He was running in and out of the playground equipment, one of the little cogs keeping the chaos running. I guess to be more accurate, I should say that his daddy was running for him with the boy in his arms, under the slide, though the hole in the rock wall, right in the thick of it. And you should have seen the face of this child… it was ecstasy and joy… It was light. I felt joyful just watching it. And I thought again, how lucky was this man who could bring such joy to his son just by being his legs. Will we be able to know love so completely as this man and his son, or are we too comfortable in our lives to be the legs for someone else?

posting drought

2007-09-12T21:52:00.000-05:00

Whew! It's been awhile since my last post. The easy explanation is that school has started and I haven't the time to devote to blogging as I am focussed on being the best educator I can be. This, however, is only partially the case. I believe the real reason for the posting drought is the fact that I have been taking R to Kindergarten four out of 5 days a week. This entails getting up at 6 a.m. on weekdays, which I have NEVER done before other than for special events or commitments and only for one morning at a time. I will have to admit that I get more done by getting into school earlier after I drop R off. But I go to bed much earlier as well, and I am much more tired earlier in the evening. By the time the kids are in bed and I have sat down to check email and check up on the "Mighty" Dolphins [as R calls them], I am tired and I don't feel like posting.

Things are going very well at school. It is proving to be a great semester and I look forward to its remainder. I am taking guitar lessons at school and my fingers hurt. My hands are starting to actually go-[ish] where they are supposed to go when changing chords. Did I mention that my fingers hurt?

My mom had her 67th birthday yesterday. For 60 of those years, September 11th was pretty much a pretty unmemorable date on which to have a birthday. As we don't live close to my family, I call my parents and siblings on their birthdays. I can still remember calling my mom in 2001. It was the strangest birthday call ever. How could one wish someone "happy" anything on that day. Yesterday, however, we had a nice conversation on the phone. She had a very busy day, taking a 24 block walk, going out to dinner with dad, etc. She was amazed [as was I] that my oldest brother was the first one to call her on her birthday [@ 12:05 a.m.] Way to be considerate, bro.

Sorry to the half dozen of you [or so] that have missed my more frequent posts. I won't promise that I will be any more frequent, but keep coming back and I will have something for you… eventually.

Peace Out! [what does that even mean?]

Happy Birthday Dad!

2007-08-31T21:39:00.000-05:00

My dad today turned 71.

Now, when I see someone in their seventies, most of them look like they should be there, but my dad simply does not. He looks so young.

I talked to him this evening as he was driving home with mom from one of their favorite restaurants, 1200 miles away from me. He had prime rib tonight, one of his favorites, and even though he didn't say so, I could tell it [and his day] must have been pretty good. His voice was so clear. I could tell that he was happy… and I was happy. We joked. We laughed. We light-heartedly lamented the ill-timed demise of an air-conditioning unit and the surprisingly low cost to fix it… Stuff fathers and sons talk about with joy. We said how much we missed each other [and we do]. We said we loved one another [and we do]. And then, as all conversations do, it ended and we said a yearning-laden, inevitable goodbye.

I haven't lived within 500 miles of my parents for over 11 years and I usually only see them two-or-three times each year.

Those of you who have family close by, please count your blessings.

Happy Birthday Dad! Wish I could be there.

School is… in.

2007-08-24T21:11:00.000-05:00

Well, my summer life of leisure has come to an end, and I am back in the world of higher education, warpin… uh, I mean, shaping young minds and building the character of the region's college kids. I am always amazed at how the maturation of a student can be a long and labored process, and you never quite know what kind of an effect you are having on them. Most of the time they seem indifferent or scared [or lazy], but every once in a while you get a glimpse of the greatness that each student possesses. It is kind of like going out for a round of golf and stinking up the course and then [on the 14th tee] you hit that one perfect, effortless drive that sends vibrations of triumph and total contentment through your body. After you have spent the whole day cursing and swearing off golf, suddenly you know that you will one day return to the Elysian fields of green tranquility.

That analogy is much like how it is to be an educator. The journey for students can be tough or painful, mostly because students have such low expectations of themselves. I look at them and see how Beautiful they are, what great potential they have. I often times feel that it is my job to get them to see. To see themselves with new eyes, not as children who need permission to succeed, but as adults who dare to fail so that they may succeed greatly. I shame, cajole, support, joke and beg them [in total frustration] to please, please, please evolve into what I know them to be… but, I know that it will take patience and a lot of love and sometimes some unpleasantness and awkwardness and tears and cheers and both disappointed and approving looks. Sometimes, you will even think that you have failed to make any impact at all and then… you get a package.

In it is sweet candy… and sweet words and a small, fitting reminder of one you thought was lost… but now feel confident has found herself.

Bring on the next group!

Things that have kept me busy this summer:

2007-08-19T00:35:00.000-05:00

Don't you PC people wish that you could make bullets easily like on a Mac?

Things that have kept me busy this summer:

• 2 boys
• my beautiful and talented wife
• her blog design
• the boys' birthday parties
• projects for church
current sermon series:

also designed fabricated and installed [with a lot of help] the Kids InC. [Kids in Christ] worship area at our church [a separate post with pics will be forthcoming]
• the Whale Room
• crater details in the Rocket Room
• an incomplete success with regards to creating homemade batteries with water as the electrolyte [yeah, I know]
• my Artwork, Here and Here
• my attempts at making homemade concrete stain. [quite successful-ish]
• design possible floor plans and uses for our basement [currently unfinished]
• designing an outdoor fountain for the backyard [designed, but not fabricated]
• installing a metal gazebo in the back yard [looks good, but no furniture… boo!]
• designing outdoor furniture made from railway ties [designed, but not fabricated]
• designing an outdoor fountain for the backyard [designed, but not fabricated]
• researching and getting a specimen of native bamboo [arundinaria gigantea]
getting one out of three to live isn't bad, right?
• designing various outdoor lighting [designed, but not fabricated]
• experimenting with electroluminescent wire [cooooooooool]
• graphic design [see previous post]
• breathing
• blogging… [duh]

Goodnght everybody!

[I am sure that I am forgetting something]

Sorry for my absence

2007-08-19T00:08:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I know all [3] of you are heartbroken. Let's just say that I have been busy, and the whaling room has only been a part of it. The room is mostly done, and I will post pictures of it next week sometime. I say mostly done, because it is not 100%, however it is in a state of finish and mostly now it is just some finish pieces and detailing. I will have to admit I am very pleased with it so far. I still have to build a boat hull shelving unit, which is the only major piece of the concept yet to be realized. In addition to designing [and building] my child's room I have been doing design for church and my favorite non-profit organization, The National Institute of Marriage. They have created, with a couple out of California, a resource for churches titled: Marriage 911, First Response. It is a lay-person mentoring and counseling program for couples whose marriages are in crisis. I have been involved from the creation of the logo to numerous book and workbook covers as well as page layout for the two main workbooks as well as ancillary materials. Needless to say it has kept me busy all summer. I will share the logo with you below:
If you go to NIM's website, you can check out their resources and see other things I have done for them. I have done much or their current printed work. It is a great organization and a great ministry.

Well… that's all for this post.

[abrupt ending here]

Miami Dolphins, Miami Dolphins, Miami Dolphins Number One!

2007-08-11T21:02:00.000-05:00

Okay,

I have become [over the last few years] an avid Miami Dolphins follower. Now, I loved them growing up, lost a little track while in college and between Alabama and England and Indiana and having a baby and a move to Missouri; I lost track. Besides, After Dan Marino retired in 1999, I king of wondered if I could like them again, being geographically distant and all.

Not to worry. I rediscovered them sometime around football season in 2002. Richie was about a year old and I just caught a game on the television. My interest has steadily grown every subsequent season since then. With the internet, information is readily available, and I nervously await and plan for any televised game. I will have to admit that I get grumpy if I get interrupted by the kids when a game is on . At this moment I am listening to the game on internet radio. Alana got me a NFL radio subscription for my birthday. She wanted to get me NFL Sunday Ticket, but it is only offered on Direct TV, which I think stinks to high heaven. So my tv coverage will be limited this year [as usual] and I will run back from church each week to see if by some chance the AFC game is the dolphins game. This will only happen if the Kansas City game is not at the same time, because the KC games always take precedence.

I don't know, cognitively, why I like the dolphins so much. Yes, I grew up in Florida, but I had almost forgotten about them in college. But I definitely desire to watch them and fanatically want them to win each game.

It is weird, a person's dedication to a sport's team. I often ask myself, "Why do people care so much?". But like most things commercial and entertaining, I feel that there is some metaphor of some deeper human process involved. After all, there is a struggle between two forces. One team represents an outcome that you desire, the other team represents the forces opposed. There are David and Goliath scenarios and confidence and overconfidence. There are heroes and villains, struggles, overcoming of odds, etc. All things that we encounter in life, but all kept at a safe distance and lived out by other people. Sports were the first reality TV. We recognize the humanness in ourselves when we see it enacted out in others.

Well… It looks like the Dolphins are going to win their first pre-season game. Sounds good, but it is really all meaningless until the season begins.

Thanks for listening.

Sorry for the absence

2007-08-11T00:05:00.000-05:00

To whom it may concern,

I have been doing design work and constructing Will's Whaling Room the last few days s0000000… No Posty!

Tonight I made a harpoon out of pvc pipe and blue outdoor insulation foam, but you will have to wait for the finished pictures of the room. If you would like a preview, see this post.

Newest Piece of Aaaaaaarrrrrrrt! [said as if by a pirate]

2007-08-06T00:43:00.000-05:00

Hello Folks,

Thought I would unleash my latest creation on you.

The pieces I create are metaphors for redemption. I see the potential in the discarded and unusable in this world. By seeing the relationships between pieces, I shape a thing of Beauty from what the world has broken and deemed of no value.

Does this sound familiar?

[no glowing holy Paul Bunyan Jesus here!]

A Whale of a Tail [Bed]

2007-08-04T14:43:00.001-05:00

For the thousands of you clamoring to see a picture of my 3-year-old's whale bed, here is a picture. I installed it into his room today. It is the first step of the transformation into his whale room to counterbalance my 6-year-old's rocket room done earlier this year.

For the two or three of you freaks that like to look at injuries to others, I offer you this picture of the damage from the construction of the whale bed.

O.K. the toe picture was a little too much, even for me, so I have spared you all from it.

Recent Things I Have Learned

2007-08-02T23:56:00.000-05:00

I learn a lot every day and I have been learning more than a few things recently. As I must place content upon this blog to keep my large audience of 3 coming back for more, I thought I might share some of the recent things I have learned. [There is no significance to the number or the order of this list.]

#1. If you write a blog on "man love" carefully, there will be be no negative repercussions with your friends and they just might verbalize normally stifled, and always irritating sensitive emotions.

#2. A six year old can be a HUGE help with building things provided you give him simple tasks and you don't care how long it takes to accomplish them. My Richie saved me 2-3 hr.s of work on Will's bed by helping me out over the last couple of days.

#3. When drilling a 1/4" x 4" deep hole for a carriage bolt to pass through a 4" x 4" leg for a bed, place one foot firmly atop the post to prevent it from spinning out of control when the drill bit catches.

#4. When drilling a 1/4" x 4" deep hole for a carriage bolt to pass through a 4" x 4" leg for a bed, it is best to wear shoes or protective footwear as a a fast spinning 4"x4" leg for a bed makes an effective bludgeoning device for unshod feet.

#5 . You know how sometimes when you hurt yourself, it can take a moment for the blood to start flowing from the wound… Well, when your big toe gets injured whilst building your 3 year old's whale bed, the blood pretty much spurts out immediately.

#6. Toe injuries hurt far more and far longer than you can possibly imagine.

#7. When it sounds like you have cut off a finger, or injured yourself seriously, or are in great, excruciating pain; your wife will run down the basement stairs and have a genuine look of concern on her face.

#8. A good wife [like mine] will look at and tend to your wound even if you can't bear to do it yourself, because a.) you think that it is possibly a very, very bad injury or b.) the excruciating pain is causing you to to feel faint and it is all you can do to elevate said throbbing toe above your head so you don't pass out.

#9. Biddy T-Ball is very stressful and reinforces the correctness of my career choice in higher education.

#10. A Suburban is made by Chevy.

#11. Sunscreen does not adhere to your child after he is wet from diving in the pool.

#12. Red cheeks are cute on your children

#13. Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common form of skin cancer.

#14. Some people thinks I write good.

#15. Other people think commercial forms of Christian "art" suck too!

#16. A two-step liquid process of strong brewed tea and a solution of vinegar and iron [or steel] will make new wood look convincingly aged in a matter of minutes.

#17. The $10 Rocket sprinkler toy I bought the boys at Wal-Mart is way cool. You can make it hover and blast off, adjust the altitude up or down and make it land softly, all on a controllable stream of water.

#18. The Splash Mountain ride at Celebration City breaks down a lot.

#19. One good friend is worth more than a thousand friendly acquaintances.

#20. Craftsman wrench thingies with the simple notch that makes them work like a ratcheting wrench are one of my favorite tools, because they are simply designed, work great and have a lifetime guarantee.

#21. My 3 year old likes to throw things up in the air and watch them fall to the ground.

#22. The bigger the thud, the more successful the throw.

#23. We are going to have to implement the concept of "toy jail" with my 3 year old.

#24. Sometimes I feel obligated to post to this blog thing.

#25. My wife may be addicted to blogging.

#25. Quarterback John Beck, the Miami Dolphins 2nd round draft pick is looking good in training camp.

#26. Brady Quinn who EVERYONE thought Miami was going to pick with the #9 selection in the NFL draft is still holding out of the Cleveland Browns camp.

#27. My wife and I have developed a bad habit of not going to bed until 2am.

#28. I am feeling a yearning to create art again before the Fall semester starts.

#29. Even when you swore that your toenail was going to fall off and that there was a moment you thought you might have to go to the emergency room, you can wake up the next day and peel off the gauze and find that… Hey, it doesn't look that bad.

See you next time!

Christian Art Sucks [sort of]

2007-07-31T23:51:00.000-05:00

Parts of this post are taken from a comment I made on this blog site.

Kate, the author of the above blog wrote a great musing on the state of contemporary Christian Art. She likened the depictions of Jesus seen in Christian "art" as, 'a holy, western, Paul Bunyan.' I too wryly smiled at the glowing Jesus remarks she made. I teach at a Christian College in Missouri and I often have these discussions with my students. Unfortunately I believe that the depth of commercial Christian Visual Art is reflective of the spiritual depth of the average Christian. It is so sanitary and safe, an oversentimentalized unattainable ideal, irrelevant to unchurched individuals. We live in an A-Christian society. I was raised in a church. I get the visual flannel-board vocabulary and understand its nuances, but what about a person unfamiliar with its symbols or stories? How are the images and safe topics that wouldn't be frowned upon in a church building going to connect with an individual without a similar frame of reference? Good art and that includes good Christian art speaks to all humanity and not just a narrow slice of an evangelical population.

This last Easter, Christianity Today asked me to submit a piece of work for an Evangelical approach to the Stations of the Cross. Mine was for the thirteenth station, Jesus is Laid in the Tomb. Viewers could leave comments, and [I will have to admit] that pieces that were not realistic were often viewed with disdain or downright accused of being anti-Christian. The opinions were extremely polar, either very positive or extremely negative. Few fell in the middle, but I was struck at the sheer ignorance and vehemence of a few of the negative comments, questioning ones faith because one was working in an abstract fashion.

Here is the piece that was on Christianity Today Online. Its title is, Pieces of the True Cross. A description will follow.

The body of Jesus is laid to rest in a borrowed tomb. His pierced corpse is hurriedly but lovingly cleaned and wrapped in a cloth and placed into the excavated hillside. There is no time to properly tend to the body. Evening is approaching and it will soon be time for the Sabbath. Flecks of glass, crumbling iron and splinters of wood help compose the now cold flesh of a man once alive, once whole. But He is now dead and broken, like us.

Time passes. Loving women return to tend to the body abandoned for the Sabbath. Time is decay’s friend, and in this knowledge brave women make their way to the tomb and are met with… a folded cloth, the sparkling glint of glass, some bits of oxidized metal and splintered fragments of the true cross.

There is beauty in the broken, discarded and unnoticed. At one time most of the objects in this work had a specific function or were an integral part of a natural process. Each comes to this piece with its own complex yet anonymous history. The fragments that make up the work reflect our own brokenness and secret pain. Rusted, dirty and shattered, our scars remind us that we are no longer whole.

Though the setting is the tomb, this piece is about the triumph of Christ’s resurrection. The newly perfected body, now gone, leaves behind the embedded fragments of his torture and death, a testimony to His, and through Him our, triumph.

If you don't get any of that by looking at the piece above, don't worry. Christians, like most individuals, just do not have a great education in Visual Art. That is not their fault, but nor should it be a hindrance in trying to understand and appreciate sophisticated and deep expressions of visual Christianity. After all, isn't that our witness and our evangelical gift? A gift given to we practitioners by the original and greatest Creator?

The fact is that if a particular visual expression doesn't "move" you, it doesn't mean that it won't have a profound effect on someone else. God uses a vast array of media to get our attention, to focus our eyes on Him; accidents, ecstatic events, still small voices, friends, strangers, visual art, praise songs, dance, theatre, music, plagues, famine, snakes, pillars of fire and columns of smoke and dirty innocuous-looking rabbis with a rabble of fishermen and tax collectors for companions.

In addition, I don't believe Christians should necessarily get outraged over secular art that is overtly anti-Christian. Chances are that the individuals creating the artwork have had a bad experience or two at the hands or lips of Christians.

"Christianity would be great if it weren't for the Christians," is something that I say at times and I know that I am referencing myself in this statement as well.

Can you, the reader, recall a time or two when you did not Do as Jesus Would Do?

We are all broken. I think too often we Christians tout our difference and separation from "those sinners." But we are sinners too. The only difference is that we are covered by a Divine Grace that many of "those sinners" don't even know about. To connect with them, they have to know that we are the same, but different. They have to know that we are broken too. The current mainstream Christian Visual Art is doing a WAY inadequate job of giving broken people anything to relate to.

Luckily there are MANY excellent Christian artists out there. CIVA [Christians in the Visual Arts] is a great organization that has many, but not all, great visual artists who are also Christian, and from many Christian traditions. [Civa.org] And there is hope. People of my generation are tired of phoneys and as our purchasing power increases, so will the offerings of the mainstream Christian Commercial outlets.

Thank you for indulging me, and I hope that you all keep an open mind to non-representational expressions of faith as well as realism, but that is a whole 'nuther post.

—RWC

Man Love!

2007-07-30T01:00:00.000-05:00

No, not the Brokeback Mountain kind, but the type shared between a father and son or close friends, like the biblical David and Jonathan. It is a strange feeling that whatever is happening [or not] at a particular shared moment is somehow an ordained gift from God, shared between two or more men at a particular happening.

I say "happening," because unlike woman love, which requires an exchange of verbal feeling, man love requires no verbalization of feeling whatsoever, but an act of non-verbal doing. Men share an experience, and it is these experiences themselves that act as catalysts for those sublime moments. And these events can really be anything, a quiet walk down the sacred aisles at Lowe's or Home Depot, [a personal favorite of my father and mine] sharing tea and biscuits in a cold studio during a British January, watching Star Wars on a homemade 11ft. screen or sawing on a massive stump in the pouring Indiana rain.

Having a well-developed feminine side, I can probably express these feelings better than most men [or at least acknowledge that I have them]. There are moments when I can pause and look at the event happening before me and realize that I am experiencing a moment of man love, where two or more fraternal or paternal souls are harmonizing with each other and sharing on an intimate level a piece of themselves. Of course, no man would mention that any of this is happening at the time. [or probably that it has ever happened] It is not what we men do. We store these moments to be used later… a brighter smile at first sight after a long absence, a harder pat on the shoulder when greeting friends, and a longer, more firm hug when saying goodbye.

Man Love; If you don't have it, find a way to get it! And the best way to get man love is the best way to get any true, worthwhile type of love… GIVE IT! [but I wouldn't put "Man-Love" on the invite or even mention it unless referencing this blog post] It's not very macho sounding and it would make your guy friends feel weird around you. [Hey Guys!]

Live long and prosper!

No Pay @ I.M. Pei

2007-07-25T13:13:00.000-05:00

I am sitting in the Bartholomew County Library in Columbus, IN, enjoying the High-speed wireless internet that is free to patrons. I have had to do some emergency design work for a client of mine and it was impossible to do so at my in-laws who only have dial up. The library was designed by I.M. Pei, an architect of international renown. The glass pyramid outside the Louvre Museum in Paris?… I.M Pei. I am sitting in a little nook with an ample window looking out upon the front plaza of the library. Henri Moore's Large Arch is visible. Henri Moore was Britain's most famous sculptor of the last century. The piece is a beautiful, towering bronze, and I always love to see it. It reminds me of my graduate schooling in England. Henri Moore grew up around where I studied and there was a large sculpture park devoted to him at my school. It was amazing and quite pastoral to see these beautiful world-class sculptures nestled in the sheep pastures.

We are having a great time in IN. Check out Alana's blog in a few days and she will probably tell you of our pathetic existence in a wireless-free world and the lengths such an existence will drive one to.

Peace out Earthlings!

Who's this party for anyway?

2007-07-20T01:16:00.000-05:00

This question [or some form of it] was posed to me last Thursday, on the way home from final errands for Richie's 6th birthday party. There were fewer than four hours remaining to party time and the stress level was about at critical mass. I will have to admit that I too was wondering why we had ever decided to do this. My poor wife was being dragged along behind my big ideas for the party. And I suppose it was a bit over the top. But you see, IT WAS A STAR WARS JEDI PARTY!

Now her question above was valid, since I was the primary cause for the stress involved, and I had to think and pause before I answered her the following:

"It is for both of us."

Now the reasons behind this answer are very complex and rooted in nostalgia, personal identity, personal aspiration and a number of other universally shared and deeply private though inexplicable shaping factors.

Now when I was a kid, I wanted to be Luke Skywalker. I remember that very vividly. In fact, there were times that I almost thought that I WAS Luke Skywalker. I also knew that I was in love with and wanted to marry Princess Leia. [I think anyway] I am not sure my 5 yr. old brain really thought as far as marriage, but I knew that I wanted to kiss her AND be kissed by her. Thank you Mr. Lucas for making her Luke's sister and thus dashing the dreams of millions of impressionable young males, just for the sake of a plot twist.

We had this tree in the back yard that with the help of older males in my family we converted into the Millennium Falcon. On an old piece of plywood I can remember drawing colored circles and dots with markers to make an instrument panel. I then nailed it to the trunk of the tree where we had built a platform a few feet off the ground. After all, the Millennium Falcon was a space ship, so it needed to be off the ground, duh-uh.

Ahh… how many hundreds of adventures my friends and I had in the Millennium Falcon.

Boys emulate what they want to be, and Star Wars was a totally new avenue of expression. Whether you wanted to be the innocent young hero, [Luke Skywalker] or the charming scoundrel [Han Solo], there were two exiting heroes to be like. And they got to triumph over an arch-villain and dark, evil enemy. Also they got to use cool weapons like "blasters" and "light sabers." It was like playing cowboys, only instead of pistols, you had "heavy repeating blasters."

So many hours of my youth were spent pretending to be these characters with my friends that in the blur of memory it is difficult to separate the character from the boy. They were so interrelated. And it is not the specific memories of events that are important, but the remembrances or what it felt like, that eye-welling feeling of being the invincible hero in that one brief sliver of life; before you are cognizant of life's problems and tribulations around you. Everything in that made-up world was perfect and safe. The danger was there to make your heart race in exhilaration, but you knew that nothing would actually harm you, because you knew that good would triumph and that you would be the hero to save the day. [Or if you were the villain, at least you got to talk in that deep Vadery voice and playfully act mean to people.] And I know that this was not just my experience, but this was and is still shared by millions of not-so-young boys who still love those old movies and are bringing up the next generation of Jedi who are also falling in love with these characters.

To see Richie's face light up while wielding a foam and pvc pipe light saber to me is priceless. To hear him and his friends make the light saber sounds, "Whoam, whoam… ccchhh… woam… csprow!", to see them pretend to be the heroes…it lasts longer than this particular month of July.

The elaborate[ish] party is taking those feelings that I had as a child and creating an event and environment for Richie to experience them in a way I never could when I was his age. If he never remembers one thing he did at his 6th birthday party, hopefully he will remember that at one time in his life he felt like this…

…that sometime when he was a child, when pretending to be Luke Skywalker, he was safe and blissful and… a hero.

The gift is not the party, the store-bought toys or the foam lightsaber. The gift is him feeling what I feel now as I watch my son BE Luke Skywalker, chasing his friends while playing Carbonite Freeze Tag, wondering which girl is his Princess Leia.

The Jedi Training Grounds at Endor - aka 6 yr. old's birthday party

2007-07-13T15:08:00.000-05:00

The idea was to have a paduan [Jedi in training] party at the new Jedi Training Grounds on the planet of Endor [where the Ewoks are from]. Why Endor? Let's just say that our back yard resembles Endor far more than it does Tatooine or Coruscant. As guests arrived the kids could practice their Jedi targeting skills by picking up the local nuts [hickory] and trying to throw them through targets [i.e. speeder, AT-AT and Death Star] Of course we had snacks and drinks: Twilek Twizzlers, Naboo Nachos, Gummy Ewoks [look surprisingly like gummy bears], paduan pop-corn and Jedi Juice and… water. We also had activities. We came up with Carbonite Freeze Tag and Musical Planets, and the whole evening would be topped off with the Jedi Smack-Down after cake. Carbonite Freeze Tag is like regular freeze tag, only when whoever is "it" tags someone, that person has to freeze like Han Solo did when he was encased in carbonite in the movie, Empire Strikes Back. This game went extremely well. The kids joyfully played it for a long time. After a brief break we played Musical Planets. I had printed out a number of planets and a small Death Star. Musical Planets is played like musical chairs , only the person who is "out" at the end of the round gets to hold the Death Star and choose which planet gets obliterated before the game continues. Unfortunately the Death Star got lost before the game so we had to improvise the Death Star part. Skip battled it out fiercely with Baron at the end, but Baron in his Darth Vader costume was ultimately victorious. After that it was cake time. Richie showed how feeble his force powers were by taking several attempts to blow out the candles. Then came my favorite part of the evening [and the part that took the most effort and time to prep]… the Jedi Smack-Down. This involved black lights, PVC pipe parts, 1/2 inch foam pipe insulation, spray foam, spray paint and glow paint. Adults [even women] and kids all participated in the smack-down in the basement. It looked really cool and it was very therapeutic after all the stress from the preparation. All-in-all, I would say that it was a very successful party, and worth every frustration associated with it.

A great time was had by all. Some pictures below. [For more, see A Kiss, a Hug and a Squeeze]

target game

hey, no cheating!

A LOT! of Ewok Projectiles

Carbonite Freeze Tag

Guess who is "it"

[no caption necessary]

Special Guest!
[Mark Hammill wasn't available, Harrison Ford was too expensive, and let's just say that Carrie Fisher isn't what she used to be.]

JEDI SMACK-DOWN!
It looked a little greener, but this is definitely what it felt like… Awesome!

Come on People!

2007-07-12T04:20:00.000-05:00

Look at the time of this post! Do you think I really have anything to say at this hour?

The Seinfeld Effect

2007-07-09T23:56:00.000-05:00

What's with these blogs, anyway?

I mean, it's like a diary that other people read, right? Now, aren't diaries supposed to be private?

And the name, blog. That doesn't sound like a nice word.
It doesn't have a nice, pleasant, feel-goody sound.
It's like, "Oh, I had too much questionable sushi, I think I'm going to… ah, ugh… BLOG!" It surely doesn't sound like something you want to be engaged in. "blogging," …the act of blog. It sounds quite dangerous - "Oh yeah, Ralphie lost his arm while 'blogging' without the proper safety gear. It was a freak 'blogging' accident; Poor guy."

… or illegal.
"Yeah, I caught Alana blogging. Can you believe it? What am I to do? She is so young and has her whole life ahead of her. I can't believe she is a blogger, not my little Alana. Where did we go wrong? It's those friends of hers. They got her into it and now she's like, addicted. We have checked into rehab programs, but they are just so expensive, so we have checked with both an exorcist and a holistic healer. The priest is free, but we have a coupon for the yogi so we think we will try him first, don't-cha know."

------------------------------------------------

I feel like I am watching myself trying to be Jerry Seinfeld when writing these things. It is like, I have to be witty and clever or at least come up with some anecdote about nothing. The fact is that there are lots of things that are interesting [to me] and blog-worthy that happen every day, but I doubt that you guys really want to hear much about those:

• my wife THINKS Will peed on the potty today for the first time. [no conclusive evidence, but she heard a "sound."] This, however, could be a noise hallucination suffered from uncomfortably sitting on the bathroom floor for accumulated hours, waiting for the law of averages to yield a successful urinary evacuation.

• I spent the day coordinating and grunt-laboring in the kids worship area upstairs in our church. I designed what it looks like, and I will have to admit it is looking very cool. It is, however, taking awhile to complete. The main section is nearly finished.

• experimented with black lights and foam. [don't ask]

• frustratedly checked comments areas of my posts. [I love you Chris. You da man. We need to spend more time together. You understand my quasi-intellectual humor.]

• tried to come up with something witty for my blog since I haven't posted in two days.

• noted how the process of blogging reminded me of Jerry Seinfeld comedy.

All this is… is a show about nothing.

Good Night! God B! You've been a great audience.

Apology for Shaper Rant… and a new Rant. [just for kicks]

2007-07-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

I apologize for the existential rant below. [my previous post] It is just that sometimes I have to follow the white rabbit down the hole. If you don't know what I'm talking about read Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. [or at least watch the Disney® version… or the Matrix] That should cover a wide viewing audience.

I was talking with a friend at Richie's last T-ball game. He and his family are planning a trip to St. Louis area for a few days. We talked about the Zoo [great zoo] and the various activities one can do there. I mentioned the art museum, which is close to the zoo. Now he knows that I know a bit about art, so he informed me that he doesn't have much of a background in art. I mentioned the large Claus Oldham badminton birdies embedded into the grounds surrounding the museum and briefly chuckled at how "cool" they were. The fact is, that those sculptures are cool… and fun… but also great for assessing one's perspective in the universe. Imagine being a beetle on a blade of grass and seeing a massive shuttlecock plummeting toward you. The scale of a shuttlecock is of no consequence to us, but change the perspective and one gets a commentary on the microcosm and macrocosm of existence. Crap!, I am getting existential again.

[Ascend Soap Box]

Art can seem intimidating, because it is so foreign to most people who don't study it, but the truth is that there is no wrong reason for liking art. There is, however, numerous wrong reasons for not liking art. If you look at something and respond positively to it, or it moves you in a meaningful way, great! God has just given you a blessing… a shared moment with another human being, a revealed truth about or empathy with humanity.

If one dislikes something because one doesn't understand it , or because, "a child could do that;" One is missing the point. Art is so much more than about what something looks like, or if it is recognizable as a landscape, or a portrait or something "real." Art is about ideas and insight and revelation. It is not only about the way something is, but a playful or serious exploration of "what if?" I have 2 artists of my own. One is 3 and one is almost six. All children are inherently artists. Haven't you ever stood in wonder at an insight that your child provides? Will, just today, was creating his world of art by making connections between what he knew and what he didn't know. It involves making a connection between Yoda, from Star Wars and a picture of a Nosferatu vampire on a billboard. See A Kiss, a Hug and a Squeeze for the complete story. In that moment, he made my wife and I experience his world through his perspective. That is what art is for and where its value lies.

So, don't let art intimidate you. Go to an art museum. Many of them are free! And be free to like whatever moves you or gives you pleasure. Embrace what you like and like it with confidence, because you like it in a way that is completely your own and wholly yours. [did I mention the free part, too?]

[turn, descend from soap box, camera blurs, fade to black]

God Bless America… and B!

What's in a name?

2007-07-05T22:45:00.000-05:00

"The Shaper Fables" What a stupid name, right? Well I was in a kind of a hurry, because I wanted to comment on my wife's blog: A Kiss, a Hug and a Squeeze. The name is derived from two sources. The first reference to the character of the "shaper" [that I know of] is from Homer's Odyssey. [Estimated 7th - 8th century BC or BCE] When Odysseus is washed upon a foreign shore shortly before he returns to his home of Ithaca, he is honored by the foreign king with a banquet. There, a character called the "shaper" retells the heroic stories of the Trojan War, and all the big burly heroes weep at the remembrances, but more accurately, they weep BECAUSE of how the "Shaper" artistically frames the stories. This is the gift of the artist to mankind; the ability to see the essences of life and create a context that communicates those essences in an effective and moving manner. Much of our lives are created fables. Like the Shaper, we create a workable fiction that helps our world make sense. For instance, I tell myself non-verbally when I look in the mirror that I am more handsome than I really am. Thankfully, my wife reinforces this fable even though she and I both know that I don't look like Brad Pitt. I like to think that I look like Brad Pitt just as I like to think that I am a nice and decent person. This may or may not be true even though I may be nicer or less nice than any other specific individual.

Anyway,

The second reference to the Shaper [that I know of] comes from a more recent author, John Gardner. His brilliant book, Grendel, introduces a blind musician referred to as the "Shaper." This traveling bard figure finds his way to Hrothgar's hall. Hrothgar is a barbaric warlord who consolidates his power by conquering small tribes. The Shaper retells the feats of Hrothgar as heroic battles of good against evil. As a result, Hrothgar elevates his civility to the nobility of the fables. In essence, the art of the shaper exorcises the barbarism from the society and raises culture and humanity. Of course, the monster Grendel is breaking into Hrothgar's Mead Hall almost every night and devouring the brave and slightly drunk warriors that face him, but that is another commentary that goes beyond the scope of this post.

So there you have it; the idea[s] behind the name of my blog. Kudos to Dixie for knowing the Shaper figure from Grendel. By the way, Grendel is a modern day retelling of the Beowulf epic, but from the perspective of Grendel. It is a masterful book, one of my all-time favorites. Also, Gardner was killed in a motorcycle accident in, I believe, 1982.

Good Night, B! and don't forget that God loves you!

I'll take, "things that are pink" for $800

2007-07-03T23:15:00.000-05:00

The answer is, a blog created solely so that this husband could comment on his wife's blog.

Beep, Beep, Beep…

What is, The Shaper Fables?

No… I am soorry, that was correct yesterday. As you can see, the blog is now clearly manly gray.
Well, that is all the time we have for that round. We will return with Final Jeopardy, after the break.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————

As you can see the pink is gone. Alana has been begging me to change it since I first put it up as pink to test her blog graphics. If you haven't seen them yet, you can click here.

Had a good and productive day today. Cleaned bird poop from the front door. A family of house finches [our second nesting couple this season] nested in our floral display on our front door. I really don't mind them doing this, but this last nest was positioned so that the adult birds perched in a manner that maxed their potential for door coverage. I have been waiting for the baby birds to flee the nest so that I could clean up. They did during our vacation to TN. I have now resolved that there be no more nesting on our door. The pleasure of nature alighting on my doorstep was more than obliterated by the nasty cleanup in hot, humid weather. HOUSE FINCHES BEWARE! Richie was a big help in scrubbing. We worked well together cleaning the door and the flower arrangement thingy. [thingy is a less technical term than doohicky] I looked for our childrens' realistic-looking snake so that I could put it in the arrangement, hoping that this will deter any future denizens of the avian kind, but I could not find it. I instead opted for a rather large and nasty-looking toy black spider. I hope this will work for now, but I really would prefer a serpent. If you all know of surefire [legal and non-dangerous] ways of deterring house finches from nesting, please share your ideas in the comments section.

Richie did great at T-Ball tonight. It was his last game of the summer. He had two really nice hits and a nice fielding play. I finally took pictures. Got several good ones of Richie and his buddies. We had a little pick-up game with the dads after the trophies and snacks were distributed. A good time was had by all.

I must express my gratitude for Skip, Richie's coach. He is brilliant with these little kids and is the most organized and patient coach that I have seen. He really has done a superlative job with them, and I am glad the he is my friend and that I don't have to coach T-Ball as I am not as patient of an individual. That is why I teach college age and not littl'uns.

Also today, I made an invitation for Richie's upcoming birthday party. I will post what it looks like after people have received it in the mail. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise.

Goodnight B! [wherever you are]

Howdy

2007-07-02T23:09:00.000-05:00

I'm getting my face on here so I can put a picture next to my profile.

Blog design, swimming and teeth

2007-07-02T22:26:00.000-05:00

Fingers… hurting, Mind… numb, Seeing… PINK! Task… finished. Honor… restored.

For the fruits of my recent labors, see: A Kiss, A Hug and a Squeeze

See, I told you. I told you I would make a non sucky-looking blog design for my wife!
Psychoanalyze that, Chris! Mr. I'm so quiet, but I am really funny and, Oh Yeah, a computer guy too. "Can't do a daisy" she says, "Michelle has a daisy on her site." Very clever, Mr. Chris… or should I say… DR! Who is laughing now? It is I, the Blog Roi. Ah Ah AHHHH! [diabolical laughter] I would be more than happy to give you an autograph, however… for free!

The color of my site is in honor of my wife's new blog look. Today it served as a proving ground for all the stuff one has to go through to "customize" templated web pages.

First Step:
1. Experiment with what site can do
Next:
2. shudder at its limited capability
Next:
3. toil in frustration trying to make square peg [ingenious visual idea]fit into round hole [useful but rigid template]
4. Curse a little
5. Rethink what might be done
6. experiment with what might be done
7. Eureka moment!
8. Follow eureka idea until it doesn't quite work
9. throw hands up in air and curse minor deities [computer gods] in growling guttural voice
10. think some more
11. figure out work around
12. get frustrated with slow working internet and inexplicable and annoyingly timed technical issues
13. curse alot
14. work around works, but graphic not quite right.
15. take 5 minutes to increase size and change placement of graphic
16. 5 minutes turns into an hour-and-a-half
17. see #12
17a. see #s 4, 9, and 13
18. final preview
19. wife presses "update template" and squeals with joy at the results
20. take solace that I have made an amazing woman happy
21. eat chicken pot pie and drink iced tea, [provided by aforementioned amazing woman]
22. blog
23. repeat [in a few days… probably]

Other notes:
This July 2nd 2007 has been an eventful day for Richie. Something clicked today at swimming lessons. He finally figured out that he can string his breaths indefinitely. He swam the width of the pool for the first time today. To top it off he later swam the length of the pool by himself. He is such an amazing kid. Also tonight while brushing his teeth before bed, he yelled "ouch!" and discovered that his tooth was loose. This is his first loose tooth. How exciting!

Good Night B!

2007-07-02T21:26:00.001-05:00

2007-07-02T19:33:00.001-05:00

Sorry!

2007-07-01T21:28:00.001-05:00

I must apologize to my wife, whose friends are now getting cooler blog sites than her. I am a graphic designer and have thus far not made her a cool-looking blog. I really have no excuse. BUT! When I get to it, you just better look out Mrs. Janelle and Mrs. Michelle with her husband who is trying to make the rest of us look bad by making her a bloggy picture with her daughters. Like that is SOOOOOOOO! original or something. Come on Psychologist man! I can take you! Your not so tough with your analytical Freudian mumbo jumbo. [it could be Jungian] The great fable shapler has not been foiled!

Anyway,

I am very, very sorry my love. I am even soorier than Gilbert was to Anne.

Please forgive me.

We're Back!

2007-07-01T21:18:00.000-05:00

This goes out to all my blog reader!

No, that wasn't a typo. There really is only one reader who visits my blog. [and I am not entirely sure that she actually reads it] She has dozens of other blogs that she reads on a regular basis and this one is thus far so LAME!

We are back from our excursion to TN to visit family. I love my fam and had a great time, but… THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME! I would write about some of the family dynamics here, but in the off chance that my readership expands, and that expansion happens to include members of my family… I believe it best to just keep my comments in the inner space of my head and in the confidences of my beloved.

Peace Out!

[I can't believe I just said that. It is too bad that you can't edit these things once they are typed!]

No Post For You!

2007-06-28T23:20:00.001-05:00

Title says it all.

Kiss Hug Squeeze

2007-06-27T21:33:00.000-05:00

Why are you here?

Don't you know I am going to give Dixie a run for her money?

A Kiss A Hug And A Squeeze is the best blog on the planet. You should check out the June 22 post on her site.