World's Best Cup of Coffee

Do you know why this is the world's best cup of coffee?

Because I made it.

I'm not talking about the coffee. I'm talking about the cup. It's my first ever coffee cup made by me.

My coffee sure did taste better today as I sipped it from a piece of clay that I struggled to make into a cup. It's not going to win any pottery awards, but it's my best cup yet. Of course, it's my only cup. Yet.

Every Little Bit

I want to get back to basics.

This desire of mine started when I had my first baby and our income was half of what it had been. I relied heavily on Miserly Moms: Living on One Income in a Two-Income Economy which has been updated now to Miserly Moms: Living Well on Less in a Tough Economy. It was a great resource with lots of helpful hints to cut our expenses. One thing I learned from it: name brand companies are sourced by supermarkets to make their generic brands. So if you tend to go for the more attractively packaged name brand because you are familiar with the product, you may be spending money that you don't need to spend. At the very least, try out the generic brands. You might find that you like them (because they're really the name brand product!) and that you like the extra money in your pocket.

the [love] language barrier: an American in Paris

Me and my son sitting along the Seine in Paris.

I've travelled quite a bit in countries whose language I don't speak. I know what it's like to have that whole language barrier thing. I think that it's a good idea to travel with a language dictionary and try to learn some basic phrases you will need along the way. It's also a good idea to travel with a sense of humor.

I've been thinking about how my husband and I speak love to eachother - and how we want to have love spoken to us. It occured to me that being fluent in a language involves not just speaking, but hearing and listening and understanding. In Germany I can get around because I can understand German, though I can't speak it as well as I understand it.

As I was thinking about different love languages, I reflected on my travels in countries where I don't understand the language at all. Then I thought specifically of my travels through France and how some Americans complain that when they travel in France the French won't speak to them in English. I have always been a bit puzzled by that complaint. You don't need to become fluent in French in order to travel in France, but it's a good idea to learn (or travel with someone who has learned) enough French to get around - or at the very least have a French/English dictionary handy.

Collaboration Inspiration

Here is the poem that I chose to do my collaboration art piece from:

WALK WITH ME IN MORNING LIGHT
by Kit Rohrbach

Only ashes remain from the fire we built on the beach.
Its warmth is something now just out of reach.
Pale shells wash up across moth-colored sand.
Things aren't turning out the way we planned.
Make me believe that everything's alright.
Come walk with me in morning light.

Collaboration X

A while ago I blogged about my art history and my new favorite place and Marie who has been encouraging to me by challenging me to just dive in and do art. And so to fly.

At her urging I entered a poet / artist collaboration exhibit. Looking back, I was crazy to do it. I had only just learned how to make a clay tile when I said I would be an artist in the exhibit and use clay tiles as my medium. At the time I didn't realize just how difficult a medium it is to work with. Making flat tiles is tricky because the clay has a tendency to want to curl up. Painting the tiles with ceramic glaze is an exercise in adjusting your expectations.

Psalm 151 Recycled

I've been crazy busy between trying to get my art piece ready for the April exhibit and being a mom and making my seven year old's baby book (finally) and the whole trying-to-figure-out-what-went-wrong-and-how-to-fix-it thing - Oh! - and I had to read Hunger Games for book club. Of course, since it's book one in a trilogy I couldn't eat or sleep until I read all three.

So, like I said, I've been busy. Too busy to blah-blah-blog about what I am thinking about. So I thought I'd re-post something that I wrote in 2008 that still seems to reflect my thoughts in 2011.

> Psalm 151 | Originally posted July 3rd, 2008:

I was reading Psalm 139 this morning and these verses struck me, especially because of my last post.

If I say, "Surely the darknes will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night." Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as day. Darkness and light are alike to You. (verses 11 & 12)

It inspired me to write my own psalm:

- jumping in - and taking off (?)

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

I did something really crazy a while back. (And I'm not referring to my tattoo.) I submitted registrations to be considered for the Poet-Artist Collaboration X exhibit at Crossings, which will be on display in April.

For those of you wondering what that is, basically artists make art based on selected poems. Both the artists and the poems are selected by a panel of judges.

I entered as both a poet and artist. The poem I entered was Winter's Grace. The examples of art that I entered were just photos of my (then unfinished) clay tiles.

While my poem wasn't chosen (no surprise, I'm a novice), I was chosen to be an artist in the exhibit (big surprise, I am a novice!).

I just returned from selecting the poem that will be my inspiration. I started crying while reading the poem - it's beautiful. I don't know how I'll translate it to clay, but I had to choose that poem when I read it.

I am really, really, REALLY scared to make art for it. I hope I do it justice.

"Oh boy, here I go."

I feel a little bit like I am standing on the edge of a ledge about to jump, hoping that I sprout wings before I land.

Or if I don't, that I'll at least land on something soft.

My forever reminder

I've been thinking about butterflies lately.

I've been thinking about the pupa stage in particular. This is when the caterpillar is in the chrysalis. From the outside it doesn't look like much is going on. But on the inside the caterpillar is being transformed into a butterfly.

Within the chrysalis the old - and let's face it, ugly - body parts of the caterpillar are undergoing a wonderful transformation called ‘metamorphosis.’ The tissue, limbs and organs of a caterpillar are all changing, turning into the beautiful parts that make up the butterfly. By the time the pupa is finished, it emerges as something entirely different, entirely more beautiful, entirely more able to fly.

What joy that ground bound raggedy caterpillar must experience the first time it spreads it's wings!

The Long Road Home


This road's not easy. It's not the one I would have chosen but it's the one I'm on. It's not very pretty, this road, with the dirt and the ruts that run so deep.

Yet I'm finding beauty here on this long road home. Beauty even here.

I'm coming home.

They wrote it on their hearts.

Planning a Valentine's Day party for seniors is much like planning a party for six year olds. As long as you have something sweet to eat, a couple games and goodie bags they are going to have a good time.

The trivia game may have been a little hard. Let's just say that the winner got 7 out of 15 right; she worked for her prize. (Take the quiz yourself here to see if you can get more than 7/15. Let me know if you do!) The conversation heart bingo game was a hit - and there were no awkward typos. The right / left game was fun once they got the hang of it. While I was reading the story I had to surpress laughter as they tried to figure out where the bags of candy should be. (to the right, right, left? or just right, left? here, just give it to me!)

At the very last minute before the party, I decided to add something extra, something special. I quickly found heart clip art and printed out 22 pink hearts.

Towards the end of the party, I passed out the paper hearts and I told them to write their name at the top, then pass their hearts around. "Everyone needs to write something nice on each person's heart," I told them.

"But what if we don't know the person very well?" someone asked.

"Well, I think that all of you can come up with something nice about every single person here. If you don't know them - or if you maybe don't like them - show them some Valentine's Day love and creativity and come up with something nice. Even if it's simply their smile."

After the party, as I was in the office, I could hear the residents talking as they waited for the elevator to take them back to their apartments. It made my heart soar to hear their exchange.

"I'm going to finish reading this upstairs, I'm about to bust up [crying]," he said.

"Yeah, I never knew I was so good," she replied.

Now she does.

thoughts on soul-flying, mostly

http://www.saragroves.com/

I've been thinking a lot about flying lately. Not flying on an airplane (though I do like that kind) but heart and soul flying. I've been thinking about learning to fly again. And I've been considering the idea that I never knew how to fly to begin with, so maybe I need to learn to fly for the first time.

Yesterday on my Facebook news feed I saw a post by Sara Groves (whose page I 'like'). It said simply "Glad to provide music for 'Date Night' tonite in DC. Love 'Family Life'. A great organization that saved our marriage 8 years ago."

I had several thoughts that flew through my head so fast that I didn't latch on to anyone of them.

DC... I miss that I can't visit my parents on Capitol Hill anymore and shop at the Eastern Market. I wonder if that painter is still there, I loved his paintings... Family Life... I wish it had saved our marriage way back when we were in the ministry affiliated with it... Sara and Troy... I'm glad they're doing well.

Then I remembered her song Fly because, um, I've been thinking about flying lately, and my mind latched on to that.

When I first heard her Fly song (they're all fly, by the way, this one just happens to be named it), we lived in Ohio and things were not so good. They hadn't been good for a while and all I knew was that I could not listen to that song. I loved Sara's music, and I knew that she was authentic like a twenty-dollar bill held up to the light and swiped with a magic marker. But as much as I liked Sara, when that song came on I hit the forward button. I couldn't listen to Every Minute either, the song right before it. As far as I can remember, they were not on my copy of All Right Here.

fly again

Around the same time of The Crisis, our church had a concert. The band Salvador came and rocked the house (of God). For those of you not familiar with Salvador (as I was not before that concert) they are a "latin jam band" according to their website. And they are very good at what they do.

Oh geeze, the scandinavians in the crowd didn't know what to do with Salvador's brand of funkyness. By the end of the extremely musically amazing jam session, the audience began to warm up and clap along (while seated, don'tcha know). No wonder no one chooses to make live album recordings in Minnesota. You betcha they don't.