October Photohunt Challenge: All of 'em together!

Whew! Got the October Photohunt Challenge done just in the nick of time! What fun it was to look for these photos. It made me look at the world around me with much more observant eyes. And what a wonderful Creation we live in...

Thanks to K at Prone to Wander for letting me know about this challenge. You can see her entries here.

Bear with me, bloggy friends. I know I've posted these all individually (...except the "Texture" entry...I picked a new one for that category tonight) but looking at the rules for the Challenge, I need them all in one post. Ack!

1. A Fall Activity: An afternoon nap at the train station in the cool fall air.


2. A Fall Treat: Mary munching down on carmel covered marshmallows.


3. A Harvest: A "harvest" of golden leaves.


4. Leaves: Beautiful orange leaves against an overcast sky.


5. Fall Colors: The coloring of these leaves fascinated me. They look like flowers, but they're not!


6. Something Orange: Blurry orange pumpkins behind yellow straw and green grass at a church pumpkin sale.


7. Something Spooky: Bizarre bikini-clad sun-bathing skeleton in Society Hill, South Carolina! Note the wig and rings.


8. A Cemetery: Annual graveyard display at a house in town.


9. A Costume: Ok, it's two. But they go together. The bad fairy and the good fairy. :-)


10. A Black and White Photo: Not ALL the way black and white, but I like it the emphasis of the door and pumpkins!


11. A Critter: This is Charley and she's adorable. She needs a home!


12. Symmetry: This is an old gate in a brick fence along a road I walk. I thought it was charming and...well...it is symmetrical!


13. Contrast: I caught this contrast of the sparkling green pine needles against an astonishing Carolina blue sky one day as I was leaving work.

14. Texture: Oh, dear. I had a "texture" photo of hay bales but then I took this one today and I think I like it better. So - here's an old pine tree trunk along the road I walk.


15. A Logo/Mascot: The Sparkling Goat Cafe in Thomasville, Georgia. Really.


16. Something Neon: Whew. This one was hard. It was the last one on my list and just as Mary was going out the door tonight for Trick or Treat, she popped in these "teeth" and gave me a "neon smile"!


17. Something Inspiring: I loved this lone little persimmon hanging on it's bare, bare tree. "Determination," I thought. Matt said, "Stubborn." :-)


18. Something Entertaining: The cast of the Missoula production of Jack & the Beanstalk! What a great arts program!


19. Something Fast: My dear hubby dashing home on his last mile of a TWENTY mile run this morning. Note his feet are both off the ground. And his socks don't match!!!! Run, George, run!


20. Something Slow: This was my first photo of the month. It was just an elderly man walking down a quiet road with his cane. He paused every few minutes to rest and look around. I doctored it up a bit in Photoshop. I like the way the shadows stripe across the road.

All done! I think I'll do this again. It was good for me.

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A Costume

Ok, so it's TWO costumes....But aren't they cute? The good fairy (my M) and the bad fairy (her friend M.)

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Something Entertaining

The cast for the production of Jack and the Beanstalk! VERY entertaining!!

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October Photohunt: Symmetry

I noticed this gate while we were walking today and liked it. And it's symmetrical. So there.

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October Photohunt: Something Neon

Mary's "neon" smile...

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October Photohunt: Fall Harvest

There's a lot of these beautiful yellow trees around town with their leaves shed on the rust-colored pine straw. I think this is a lovely "Fall Harvest" of leaves! If nothing else, doing this photohunt has made me enjoy the turning of the leaves more than ever this year.

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October Photohunt: A Cemetary

:-) This is a front yard in town that has its very own graveyard every year! More tastefully done than most, I'll add. (See the Something Spooky photohunt entry from last week!)

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October Photohunt: Fall Colors

These are leaves, not flowers! I thought they were beautiful with the bit of green left at the stem.

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October Photohunt: Fall Activity

:-) Napping on a bench at the train station! It's a beautiful day here in NC.

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October Photohunt: Something Fast

Matt, running, of course! As we were taking the persimmon shot, who but Curious came running by on the LAST MILE of his twenty mile run this morning. Note his feet not touching the ground AND the mismatched socks! :-) Run, George, run!

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October Photohunt: Something Inspiring

Ack! The last day of October and I have ALOT of photos left to find. During my loooooong walk this morning I found a few and then Mary and I went back and grabbed the shots before heading off to lunch. This one we're calling "Something Inspiring." It was one little persimmon hanging on to its tree all by itself. All the others were long gone along with the leaves.

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Book Review: Blessed are the Hungry

Blessed are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper by Peter J. Leithart, 186 pages
Publisher: Canon Press (December 19, 2000), ISBN-10: 1885767730

Rating: 5 STARS of 5
Source: Picked up forever ago at a Classical Christian School teacher's conference

While I was teaching a Survey of the Bible class a few years ago to middle school kids, I used Leithart's Old Testament survey A House for My Name. Out of all the materials I had for the class, that one was probably the best. I was excited to start Blessed are the Hungry last month as my morning devotional book.

Leithart's 28 short essays move you through the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation expounding all the way on the meaning of the Lord's Supper. He shows how we start off in Genesis "from the hand of God" not "calculating and measuring" but hungry. And in Revelation, with the promise of finally being filled at the great Wedding Feast, Leithart tells us with every growl of our stomach "we are reminded that we need the world if our life is going to continue, and that ultimately we need Life if our life is going to be sustained."

But the real gem of the whole book is the long closing essay: The Way Things Really Ought to Be. Just those 29 pages are worth the whole book. In it's closing, he says "The Eucharist shapes the church because Christ is present at the meal by his Spirit, and therefore the church is, like the apostles (Acts 4:13), changed by communion with her Husband. The Supper makes the church the church because the communion that takes place at the Supper makes the church like Christ."

Blessed are the Hungry is not a scholarly or academic book. It's a long, slow walk through the pages of Scripture looking for glimpses of the Lord's Supper all along the way. Leithart has written an excellent book and it's great to use as a devotional from one communion Sunday to the next (if your church does communion only one a month.) I'll definitely have this one on my "reread" list.

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Book Review: The Search for God & Guinness: A Biography of the Beer that Changed the World

The Search for God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer that Changed the World, Stephen Mansfield, 304 pages, Publisher: Thomas Nelson (October 13, 2009), ISBN-10: 1595552693

Rating: 4.5 of 5 STARS
Source: Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers program

This is the first book I’ve reviewed through the Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers program. Once approved to be a reviewer you can choose from ten books or so to review. Of the ones available, God and Guinness was the only one that really caught my eye. I was still doubtful that I would enjoy it, but wanted to get involved in the program so I sent in my request. I thought I’d plod through it, not really like it that much, and write a review so I could get on to another selection I would enjoy more.

I was wrong.

I really, really liked this book. I liked the first chapter that focused on the history of beer pre-Guinness. I liked the second chapter that told the story of Arthur Guinness, his faith, and his philosophy on business and wealth. The third chapter goes on to describe the passing of the chairmanship of the company from one Guinness to another through each generation. The fourth chapter was excellent and focused on the social good that Guinness has done throughout the years by benefiting both their community in general and their workers specifically. The fifth chapter was an interesting look at the Guinness line that did not participate in the brewery business but went into various forms of ministry from evangelistic preaching to foreign missionary work. The sixth chapter took a look at the business as it grew into and through the twentieth century. Finally, Mansfield ended with a superb epilogue that summarizes “The Guinness Way” and how we might learn from it today both in our business and our personal lives. This would be a great book for the beer lover or history buff in your family!

Favorite Quote: “Drunkenness is when the tongue walks on stilts and reason goes forward under half a sail.” - Martin Luther (pg. 30)

Favorite Passage: …it must also be true that a company should be measured by the culture it creates. Culture. It means “what is encouraged to grow,” the “behavior and ways of thinking that are inspired.” Despite what a company’s advertising may boast, aside from what mascot it adopts or the slogan it uses, it is what is inspired in the life of its people that is the most important indicator of how noble a venture that company may be. (pp. 121-122)

DUH Moment: Did you know that The Guinness Book of Records originated from the Guinness company as a pamphlet meant as a promotional gimmick in 1954 for pubs in Ireland and the United Kingdom? Duh. Never put the two names together!

Interesting Fact: In 1954 Guinness dropped 50,000 bottles with messages dropped in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans with the intent for people to find them and then contact Guinness to find out where the bottle was originally dropped. Oh, and to receive a “suitable memento of the occasion.” In 1959, Guinness dropped 150,000 more bottles for their 200th anniversary. Bottles were found in the Azores, South America, the West Indies, the Philippines, and India. Bottles are still found today at a rate of one or two a year! Bet we couldn't have a company do an advertising promotion like that today!

I highly recommend this book. It's well written, historically interesting, and spiritually edifying. As a matter of fact, I’m passing it on to my boss next week! Enjoy -

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Week #13 Word List

Another interesting Five from Mrs. Martin's Fifth Grade spelling word list:

Writhe
Historian
Conveyor
Employable
Preyed

You can see the rules to play the 5th Grade Five Word Monologue Challenge here. Play, play, play!

Mary helps choose our Five out of her twenty or so words. Sometimes I veto her selections, though. If not for me, you would have punctilious this week! :-)

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5th Grade Five Word Monologue

And another Five Word from Ginger just in the nick of time! Beautiful!

Tangible, Mysterious, Bodily, Atmosphere, Apologies

"Bodily fluids restored,"
I heard the echo of voices
moments after they exited the room.

The physician. Was he
the tangible solution of my recovery
from a mysterious disease
or other malady?

A victim of this world
ingesting the pestilent atmosphere.

Dr. So-N-So had just delivered
heartfelt apologies
for his inability to locate and destroy
that which had taken over my body.

Brought me the grim news of
the impending...
that I refused to accept.

I heard another voice:
"Trust in the Lord."
And I knew in total abdication
this was no mystery to He—

He who is the Master Physician—
The Healer of body and soul
He who delivered me.


Read more from Ginger at her blog, The Gingerbread House.

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Thrum Thursday: If Love Isn't This...

Thrum - \ˈthrəm\- noun - A term for fringe or short lengths of materials which suggest fringe. Specifically, the end of warp which is not woven but remains on the loom when the woven fabric has been cut free.

Thrum Thursday: looking at the "margins" of my life and seeing how to make pretty "fringe" out of it.


It's been a long time since I've written a "Thrum Thursday" post. I used to do Monday Moiety, Tuesday Tangent, Wednesday Word, Thrum Thursday, Five Word Friday, Seven on Saturday, and Sunday Susurrus. Ho-hum. Got out of that habit, didn't I? I still try to do Seven on Saturday. And Five Word Friday makes its appearance on Thursday now instead. Just trying to keep all my bloggy friends out there on your toes! :-)

Anyway - I've been thinking about something and it seems like a Thrummy kind of thing. First, I gave away one of my favorite books some time ago to a good friend and finally got around to buying myself a replacement copy. It's The Quantity of a Hazelnut by Fae Malania. I was happy to see it had come in while I was away in Georgia last week and I've picked it back up to read. Already, Fae's words have struck a cord in my heart. In this passage, she's comparing listening to a Brahms Violin Concerto to paying attention to people:

"This is surely the clue to the kind of attention I owe to people. I must empty my mind of other claims and, in interior silence, let them tell me who they are. I must remain in watchful, active quiet as the basic architecture of a personality presents itself to my mind. I must learn to hear a slight variation on a theme, a modulation to another key, and inner melody, a discord, an individual beauty of tone.

If love isn't this, it can't be much.

But the minute the note of another human being begins to sound, my self leaps up in clamant alarm and yells: "What about me? I'm here too!" In the ensuing din, I can't hear a thing."

I read this passage Monday morning after having arrived home late the night before from a wonderful - but tiring - trip. Then I was up and off to work, going to the grocery store, checking in with a sick friend, picking up kids from school, and cooking dinner. We had a function at church to attend, but Matt was feeling too sick (running a fever) to attend. I wanted to skip myself, but I was bringing snacks and I had agreed at the last minute to play with a little boy while his dad attended the meeting.

So -

I went.

And I was blessed.

I'll call the little boy "Joe." I'd never met him before but had often seen him around church. Joe is seven, small for his age, wears adorable little glasses, and probably struggles with some learning (and possibly physical) problems. I really don't know his history, but Monday night Joe sang me his song. And God gave me enough grace to be silent, forget about being tired, about all the things I had to do, and allowed me to just be silent and listen to Joe's melody.

After an hour and a half of playing with play dough and being quizzed on which states I had visited... and if I had liked them or not... and if so, why exactly did I like them... I was charmed. (He is apparently studying the 50 states and their capitols with his mom.) Joe's small pauses before answering my questions, his way of peering at me through his glasses as if he were truly trying to find the best answer for me, and his matter of fact replies lifted my soul and made me thank God for making us each so uniquely different... even though sometimes that uniqueness may carry with it heavy worldly burdens.

I am glad to know Joe. And I am glad to have heard his song and to now be able to pick out his own individual beauty of tone.

Blessings, bloggy friends -

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