We've Got Something Permanent

"The more I read the papers, the less I comprehend the world and all
it's capers and how it all will end"

My birthday is coming up in a few days ... and suddenly I feel old. I'm not really that old. There's so much ahead of me, I know. But when I think about how much is behind me, I am amazed.

Think of how much can happen in a lifetime.

I remember when Friends premiered.

I remember when this was a nice phone. -->

I remember when Prince was "the artist formerly known as Prince" (dummy)

If I was a computer, I would be "retro" and I wouldn't work anymore.

When did this happen?

I was thinking about it all last night. If in the first few decades of my life things can change this much, what will the world be like when I am 30... 50... 80? Will every change be scary?

But really ... what do we have to fear? In every change I feel God, because He is unchanging. And isn't that comforting? To know that in ten years God will be the same.

Think about it. Exactly the same. We change so much every year, so can we even fully comprehend the idea of never changing?

Did you ever hear the story about the blind men and the elephant? Three blind men are given an elephant, and instructed to figure out what it is. They touch the unfamiliar shapes and because they each touch only one part of the elephant they cannot comprehend what it is.

As I think ahead, feeling my way blindly through the future, I cannot know what it is I will find there... except for God, His truth, His love, there in that unknown.

Finding Him in the dark unknown is like handing a teacup to one of the blind men - familiar, comforting. Something we know in the midst of all we do not know.

"In time the Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar may
tumble... they're only made of clay, but... oh, our Love is here to
stay."

Let the Nerdiness Begin!

Tonight brother-in-law Dan and I are starting our long-expected Lord of the Rings Extended Edition watching party! Tonight we start off with Fellowship of the Ring. I'm expecting it to be just as amazing as ever, possibly even better as I haven't watched these in years.

Love,

An Excited Nerd

currently listening

i thank you God for most this amazing day

This past week I've been in Graham at my grandparents for Thanksgiving! Our whole branch of the Pyles family was there (except my sister, wah. MISSUMS!) and it was loud and crazy.

The cousins have a weird tradition of playing charades (we call it "transmography" actually. think calvin and hobbes) Thanksgiving night - and I say it's weird because our charades cards are just... crazy.

Some of my favorite things that were (unsuccessfully) acted out over the weekend:

Man Sitting Down On Meatloaf

Minnesota Forests

Woman Drinking Tea While Running A Marathon

Oz Tries To Catch A Moose

and my favorite, which I tried very very hard to get them to guess...

Sarah Palin Assembles A Bookcase While Eating Cake

That one was super interesting.

Also, while we were out at the farm I attempted to learn how to drive stick, in my grandad's 1975 pickup, and let me tell you it is SCARY! Way scarier than it looks! I killed the engine so many times. By the end I was doing a little better, I think, but I think I'll stick with automatic for now.

Ooooh also, I was down at Fireman's park and a goose tried to bite my face! It was scary, and I felt tiny and completely unintimidating, so... maybe, just maybe I pulled over on my way back to the farm to scare a herd of cows. And maybe it was thoroughly satisfying to see a herd of big animals running en masse Because Of Me.

Sunday after church, on our way out of town, we met the Lunsfords for lunch, which was super fancy!

It really bugs me when I forget to take pictures when I'm out of town or with cool people, because afterwards I want to throw pies at my feet. So... I need to work on that, because I can't imagine pie between the toes would feel... oh yuck that's ... really gross.

Sorry this is so rambly. I don't like big conglomoratory posts like this, but hadn't posted in a while!

A lesson from your friends, No. III

Cecil and Percy recieved another letter from our dear friend Emily, requesting Gnomely aid and council.

My Dearest Cecil and Percy (Cecil, though you may protest and snarl and snap, I do find you to be quite dear indeed),
As of late I have been particularly singular in my musical philanthropies (most of my contributions have gone toward, well, alternative pop -- horrors). I feel that this behavior must change immediately, oh I may be in grave danger of adapting to the mainstream culture.
Any recommendation of anything even vaguely counter-culture would be most gratefully received and appreciated.
Kindest regards,
Me

and their response:

Greetings, dear child,

You are come to the right place. Human opinion of Gnomes has been made rather... askew... and you silly people have somehow got the notion that Gnomes are rather sedentary and unartistic. This rather awfully ignores a huge part of our culture! I (Cecil) amn't a singer or dancer myself (though I am rather gifted with the lute), it's too horridly silly for my taste, but Percival tells such goosey stories about Gnome dances and musical evenings!

Gnomes believe that there is a soul to music... that in the air there float many thousands of musical ideas, and that those ideas fly through seas and forests and far off lands, and each place they go shapes them. These musical ideas are like people, in this way. When finally they light on someone to give them form, the artist must show his talent in expressing the character and experience of that idea. It may sound like just the sort of silliness I would customarily scorn, but there you are wrong. There are subtleties in the field of spunk that I fear others often miss.

Percival and I have created a list of musicians we find evocative of the Gnomeish music spirit.

1 - Lisa Hannigan's album, "Sea Sew"
2 - H.E.M. - really any of theirs... start with "Rabbit Songs"
3 - Emiliana Torrini - start with "Fisherman's Woman"
4 - Landon Pigg's album, "The Boy Who Never"
5 - Feist's albums, "Let It Die" and "The Reminder"

We hope this helps you to break away from mainstream culture and explore new realms of art and beauty!

Sincere affection,

Cecil Alexander Beatley and Percival Eugene "Percy" Worthington

(Post Script: Emily, you are indeed a silly thing. I think perhaps your definition of dear is... askew. Humans. That being said, you seem to be rather an endearing one and so I shall let this lapse in propriety slip. Respectfully, C.A.B.)

thanksgiving week

May 20 : Very Early Morning

-

all the field praises him/all

dandelions are his glory/gold

and silver all trilliums unfold

white flames above their trinities

of leaves all wild strawberries

and massed wood violets reflect his skies'

clean blue and white

all brambles/all oxeyes

all stalks and stems lift to his light

all young windflower bells

tremble on hair

springs for his air's

carillon touch/last year's yarrow(raising

brittle star skeletons) tells

age is not past praising

all small low unknown

unnamed weeds show his impossible greens

all grasses sing

tone on clear tone

all mosses spread a spring-

soft velvet for his feet

and by all means

all leaves/buds/all flowers cup

jewels of fire and ice

holding up

to his kind morning heat

a silver sacrifice

now

make of our hearts a field

to raise your praise.

-Luci Shaw

the adventures of a scrapbooking pirate named penguinface

yay. i finally did it... i finally got my photos printed! and now i'm going to spend the afternoon scrapbooking ... not the way you're thinking, though. just trust me on that. i may scan the pages when i'm done, or you can come a'visiting and see them!

so many pictures! i hope the book can hold them all!

(this is so those of you who asked can see the headband i just found... and yes, the light by my desk is that awesome.)

watch out, i'm captain scrappy penguinface jones, the pirate, yarrr!

the invasion of Ukraine.

This is Kseniya Simonova, the winner of "Ukraine's Got Talent." She is a performance sand artist, and her work is amazing. This piece tells the story of the German invasion of Ukraine in 1945. The words at the end say "You Are Always Near."

i like: 1

i will be the gladdest thing under the sun!

i will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one.

i will look at cliffs and clouds with quiet eyes,

watch the wind bow down the grass, and the grass rise.

and when the lights begin to show up from the town

i will mark which must be mine and then start down.

animal portraits by the amazing

Sharon Montrose

poem by the amazing

Edna St. Vincent Millay

weekend love to you by

me.

ducks can swim and fly at the same time.

i taught my last class for the whole year today. i've taught for 11 weeks. my class is great, i love them, but it is lovely to have a break.

and i feel like things are on break. my world is clean, i've done laundry, and things just feel more able to breathe.

yay! now i can tackle that big art project for my sister and brother-in-law... the project that i see perfectly in my head but am not quite sure if it's actually possible.