Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Blog Stew
Yesterday was the last full day of winter and it was 75 degrees today.
Also, remember, when you die your not gonna say “wow, I wish I would have spent more time working”. So ……….
Saturday I’m going to New Orleans and I know it’s gonna be hot. I’m taking nothing but white cloths. I’m taking white linen pants, over sized white cotton shirts, white “v” neck tee shirts and white buck shoes. I don’t wear hats much, else I’d find a nice white hat to sport.
Tonight Stacey and I are going to a fund raiser for the ISAW/UAPO foundations. Click on it to learn more about it. There will be a auction and a dinner. I donated this painting to the auction.
Also, remember, when you die your not gonna say “wow, I wish I would have spent more time working”. So ……….
Saturday I’m going to New Orleans and I know it’s gonna be hot. I’m taking nothing but white cloths. I’m taking white linen pants, over sized white cotton shirts, white “v” neck tee shirts and white buck shoes. I don’t wear hats much, else I’d find a nice white hat to sport.
Tonight Stacey and I are going to a fund raiser for the ISAW/UAPO foundations. Click on it to learn more about it. There will be a auction and a dinner. I donated this painting to the auction.
How’s ya Brackets
March Madness is here. I love it. I bet I don’t watch one game all year til March. When the tournament starts I watch every game I can. I love it and I always fill out a bracket. I was 12 and 4 yesterday, but the first round is fairly easy. It will get tough in the second round and guessing, like I do, ain’t gonna get. But, it’s fun to do anyway.
I just finished these two paintings last week. everyone loves the Hank Williams painting, no one commented on the American Flag Pig. Go figure.
I have mentioned before how I love thrift shops. Well look at what I found yesterday. The black shoes are Gripfast, made in England, they retail for $150, I paid 8.99. The brown shoes are made by Rockport and I don’t know what they retail for, but I paid 10.99 for them. Both pair are like new, I can’t believe how lucky I got. I’m as happy as a little girl.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
NOLA Revisited
I could go again and again and again and……. but you get the idea. If your like me and you like old things, good food, strange people, good music and cool bars than ya gotta love New Orleans. We are on our way back there this Saturday. To see the Mardi Gras Indians again. It will be only our second time to see the Indian gangs and their scouts and fly boys. Last year the uptown Indians were the only gang to parade, this year we get to see the Downtown parade. I hope so any way because it’s hard to get info on the Indians and they do what they want when they want. They have no parade permit, they have no set route, they have no set date. This makes it kind of hard to find them. We are actually very lucky this year. I thought they would parade the first Sunday after St. Joesph day, which I think is this Sunday the 22nd. But I read in the New Orleans News Paper, online of coarse, that they were due to parade last Sunday and got rained out. So we’ve been planning on this weekend for a while and had the date wrong the whole time. Good thing. That’s Wabi Sabi for ya right there.
At this point I have no idea where we will eat. This is a huge decision. It requires lot’s of research. I’ve been using the New Orleans news paper, TheTimesPicayune, for that research as well. There is tons of info on food and drink and where to get it. Currently there is both a bar and a dining guide offering hundreds of places. And I love reading about all these restaurants. New Orleans has got to be one of the best food cities in the world. I had some idea of where I thought I would like to eat, but after reading some of the dining guide I now have no idea. I do know I want to go to Tujague’s for a bloody mary, maybe some food.
We are also going to try and see Spencer Bohren play at the botanical gardens Sunday evening. The gardens are in city park and we have never been there. The park looks really large on the map. Mr. Bohren is a musician with a very interesting background. You should click on his name and read a little about him. The last time I heard him was about 30 years ago at a little bar named Judge Roy Bean. It was in Montrose, Al. and a friend in high school had a brother who ran the place. We were in high school, drinking free Heineken’s, listening to Spencer Bohren sing and play all these old, beautiful guitars. Those were the day’s!
This is a photo taken by Stacey. It is from the uptown Indian Parade we went to last year. I think I may try and paint this guy.
At this point I have no idea where we will eat. This is a huge decision. It requires lot’s of research. I’ve been using the New Orleans news paper, TheTimesPicayune, for that research as well. There is tons of info on food and drink and where to get it. Currently there is both a bar and a dining guide offering hundreds of places. And I love reading about all these restaurants. New Orleans has got to be one of the best food cities in the world. I had some idea of where I thought I would like to eat, but after reading some of the dining guide I now have no idea. I do know I want to go to Tujague’s for a bloody mary, maybe some food.
We are also going to try and see Spencer Bohren play at the botanical gardens Sunday evening. The gardens are in city park and we have never been there. The park looks really large on the map. Mr. Bohren is a musician with a very interesting background. You should click on his name and read a little about him. The last time I heard him was about 30 years ago at a little bar named Judge Roy Bean. It was in Montrose, Al. and a friend in high school had a brother who ran the place. We were in high school, drinking free Heineken’s, listening to Spencer Bohren sing and play all these old, beautiful guitars. Those were the day’s!
This is a photo taken by Stacey. It is from the uptown Indian Parade we went to last year. I think I may try and paint this guy.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Brittany’s Thoughts from Uganda
As many of you know, our close friend, colleague, and UAPO Founder Brittany Merill is in Uganda right now. She sent an email yesterday that read like a stream of consciouness journal entry and I had to share it. This is such a beautiful sentiment on life and makes me long for Africa! Thanks, Britt.
We are winding through the green hills of southwestern Uganda in a race to reach the city by nightfall. Our car teeters on a steep ridge allowing short glimpses of villages buried in the handprints of small mountains. The hazy orange sun flights to prove his colors stretch across the sky. Rolling farms resemble a tapestry of colored strands with blue sky and brown straw huts. Smells of fresh fruit, clean air, and raw earth fill our car as it plunges deep into a valley decorated with miles of banana plantations. As the sun flights to find us, branches of banana tress turn electric green with its light. It is a sight that can only be properly voiced by Hemmingway and Churchill.
As I flight to get the windows down, I notice scratches covering the palms of my hands down to my knees. Wonderful battle wounds from a weekend spent exploring unturned rocks, waterfalls, and watering holes of the Nile. In a weekend romp, we played under a tapestry of stars, slept in bandas, ate roasted pig, and read under Jackurunda trees. It was if we had landed in a deserted jungle that beckoned us to discover its secrets.
Cool air rushes through the banana plantations, wisps strands of hair across my face, and makes it way into my heart. It whispers beautiful things and fills my spirit with hope. It took leaving the city to remind me of the intoxicating beauty of Africa.
At the same moment U2 sings, “grace finds beauty in everything.” Beauty in the struggle and beauty in the triumph… in the difficulty and the purpose… in spectacular scenery and even in refugee camps.
I feel an incredible range of emotions when I am in Uganda. Exhausted but filled. Frustrated but exhilarated. Lonely but loved. I have learned that whatever emotions may exist- I always feel deeply human and alive. I am reminded that with all the difficulties that come with my work, I am living a grand adventure… and most importantly, I am living.
I have followed my dreams, taken risks, lived boldly, failed miserably, cried, laughed, and loved deeply. I have experienced the touch of the divine, shared food with orphans, danced with widows, and seen beauty unspeakable. I have fought for justice, felt defeated, tired, and frustrated. I have also felt rare joy, witnessed answered prayers, achieved the impossible, and watched love change my heart.
I think about the rest of my life… How many hours do I have left? What will they bring? How will I use them?
“God grant me the courage to change the things I can…”
Today we leave for the refugee camps in Northern Uganda. Once again I feel totally incapable and even lack the desire to go. How will we bring hope to such a dark place? What dangers await us? Do we have the ability to transform a refugee community? How will I stay there for five days? And then I hear the words that have spoken so clearly to my heart over the last five years and given me the audacity for such tasks. “I will always go where you go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places- firm muscles, strong bones. You will be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.” -Isaiah 58
Fear is normal and can be overcome. The most important things in life cause us to risk humiliation and failure. Have the courage to live. To love. To pray. It is in these things, however difficult the journey may be to find them, that we experience life… and life was designed to be lived.
“In different times and different ways, our heavenly father offers us a simple proposition; Follow me beyond what you can control, beyond where your own strength and competencies can take you, and beyond what is affirmed or risked by the crowd- and you will experience me and my power and my wisdom and my love.” – Garry A. Haugen, CEO International Justice Mission
This journey has taught me to live deeply… from my heart, my mind, my body, and my spirit. If I believe, I will always find my way.
Grace finds beauty in everything because God is a part of it all and has the ability to restore the darkest of places and even the darkest of hearts.
My prayer is to restore beauty and hope to a war-zone. It is a lofty goal but I have to believe that with grace it is possible. If he can change a heart like mine- how much more difficult will it be to transform a small community?
But even if we fail, I have been reminded that grace and beauty can truly be found in any corner of the word and in the crevasses of the heart.
Hold me in your hearts the next several days…
Brittany
We are winding through the green hills of southwestern Uganda in a race to reach the city by nightfall. Our car teeters on a steep ridge allowing short glimpses of villages buried in the handprints of small mountains. The hazy orange sun flights to prove his colors stretch across the sky. Rolling farms resemble a tapestry of colored strands with blue sky and brown straw huts. Smells of fresh fruit, clean air, and raw earth fill our car as it plunges deep into a valley decorated with miles of banana plantations. As the sun flights to find us, branches of banana tress turn electric green with its light. It is a sight that can only be properly voiced by Hemmingway and Churchill.
As I flight to get the windows down, I notice scratches covering the palms of my hands down to my knees. Wonderful battle wounds from a weekend spent exploring unturned rocks, waterfalls, and watering holes of the Nile. In a weekend romp, we played under a tapestry of stars, slept in bandas, ate roasted pig, and read under Jackurunda trees. It was if we had landed in a deserted jungle that beckoned us to discover its secrets.
Cool air rushes through the banana plantations, wisps strands of hair across my face, and makes it way into my heart. It whispers beautiful things and fills my spirit with hope. It took leaving the city to remind me of the intoxicating beauty of Africa.
At the same moment U2 sings, “grace finds beauty in everything.” Beauty in the struggle and beauty in the triumph… in the difficulty and the purpose… in spectacular scenery and even in refugee camps.
I feel an incredible range of emotions when I am in Uganda. Exhausted but filled. Frustrated but exhilarated. Lonely but loved. I have learned that whatever emotions may exist- I always feel deeply human and alive. I am reminded that with all the difficulties that come with my work, I am living a grand adventure… and most importantly, I am living.
I have followed my dreams, taken risks, lived boldly, failed miserably, cried, laughed, and loved deeply. I have experienced the touch of the divine, shared food with orphans, danced with widows, and seen beauty unspeakable. I have fought for justice, felt defeated, tired, and frustrated. I have also felt rare joy, witnessed answered prayers, achieved the impossible, and watched love change my heart.
I think about the rest of my life… How many hours do I have left? What will they bring? How will I use them?
“God grant me the courage to change the things I can…”
Today we leave for the refugee camps in Northern Uganda. Once again I feel totally incapable and even lack the desire to go. How will we bring hope to such a dark place? What dangers await us? Do we have the ability to transform a refugee community? How will I stay there for five days? And then I hear the words that have spoken so clearly to my heart over the last five years and given me the audacity for such tasks. “I will always go where you go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places- firm muscles, strong bones. You will be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.” -Isaiah 58
Fear is normal and can be overcome. The most important things in life cause us to risk humiliation and failure. Have the courage to live. To love. To pray. It is in these things, however difficult the journey may be to find them, that we experience life… and life was designed to be lived.
“In different times and different ways, our heavenly father offers us a simple proposition; Follow me beyond what you can control, beyond where your own strength and competencies can take you, and beyond what is affirmed or risked by the crowd- and you will experience me and my power and my wisdom and my love.” – Garry A. Haugen, CEO International Justice Mission
This journey has taught me to live deeply… from my heart, my mind, my body, and my spirit. If I believe, I will always find my way.
Grace finds beauty in everything because God is a part of it all and has the ability to restore the darkest of places and even the darkest of hearts.
My prayer is to restore beauty and hope to a war-zone. It is a lofty goal but I have to believe that with grace it is possible. If he can change a heart like mine- how much more difficult will it be to transform a small community?
But even if we fail, I have been reminded that grace and beauty can truly be found in any corner of the word and in the crevasses of the heart.
Hold me in your hearts the next several days…
Brittany
Monday, March 9, 2009
Mardi Gras Furniture
For the last two years I have been given wood from a Mardi Gras float that was gonna be rebuilt. I have used the lumber in lot’s of project, the latest is an order for a beach house on the Gulf Coast. Here are a couple photos.
This is heavy duty furniture. The table is 72″ in diameter and 1 and 3/4 ” thick. The lumber comes from a house at the corner of 7th and Penn ave. in Midtown, Atlanta. I got a call from a friend and he and his crew were the guy’s charged with replacing the top of this house, rebuilding it, if you will. I think a tree fell on it, I’m not sure. I am sure it is old lumber, the house is a 100 years old, easy. I got a lot of 2 X 8’s and some 1″ X 6″ lumber. I used that and the rough cut pine, from the Mardi Gras float to do 90% of this job.The bed has a lot of float wood used in it.
Next up is 2 commissioned paintings and a swing and maybe a bed . So once again….. there are a few more pieces in this order I will finish them and post a photot of them soon.
This is heavy duty furniture. The table is 72″ in diameter and 1 and 3/4 ” thick. The lumber comes from a house at the corner of 7th and Penn ave. in Midtown, Atlanta. I got a call from a friend and he and his crew were the guy’s charged with replacing the top of this house, rebuilding it, if you will. I think a tree fell on it, I’m not sure. I am sure it is old lumber, the house is a 100 years old, easy. I got a lot of 2 X 8’s and some 1″ X 6″ lumber. I used that and the rough cut pine, from the Mardi Gras float to do 90% of this job.The bed has a lot of float wood used in it.
Next up is 2 commissioned paintings and a swing and maybe a bed . So once again….. there are a few more pieces in this order I will finish them and post a photot of them soon.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Soy Sauce
This is what it looked like around here Sunday.
This is what it looks like today!
That’s what I like about the South. The weather was great for Mardi Gras. The Mystic Fish have been very lucky, it has only rained once on their parade, it wasn’t much and caused no harm. For the party Saturday night we also had great weather. That and good food, we were set. We ate about 10 or 12 dozen oysters, some raw some steamed. Stacey found these beautiful shrimp for the shrimp boil. Folks told her they were the biggest and best they had. Some of these folks were from the Gulf Coast and new of what they spoke. We also ate 4 bacon explosions. Six were cooked, one went home with Stacey’s lil Sis and one went home with us. The other 4 were eaten that night.
We had some new folks join us for the festivities this year. Some rejoined us after a break of a few years. They were busy having kids or something. Some folks we missed for the first time in a long time and hope they are back next year. It’s not the same without ya’ll.
All that being said I have to say it was one of our best years. Everything went very smooth. All the prepration was more like play then work. I think we have finally got the hang of it.
This is what it looks like today!
That’s what I like about the South. The weather was great for Mardi Gras. The Mystic Fish have been very lucky, it has only rained once on their parade, it wasn’t much and caused no harm. For the party Saturday night we also had great weather. That and good food, we were set. We ate about 10 or 12 dozen oysters, some raw some steamed. Stacey found these beautiful shrimp for the shrimp boil. Folks told her they were the biggest and best they had. Some of these folks were from the Gulf Coast and new of what they spoke. We also ate 4 bacon explosions. Six were cooked, one went home with Stacey’s lil Sis and one went home with us. The other 4 were eaten that night.
We had some new folks join us for the festivities this year. Some rejoined us after a break of a few years. They were busy having kids or something. Some folks we missed for the first time in a long time and hope they are back next year. It’s not the same without ya’ll.
All that being said I have to say it was one of our best years. Everything went very smooth. All the prepration was more like play then work. I think we have finally got the hang of it.
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