snowflake bentley: a spectacular gift

This simple picturebook book tells the true story of a man who was so enamored by Nature's intricate details that he couldn't stop sketching, photographing, sharing, and journaling his observations of snowflakes, dew, grasshoppers, and other fine details.

Wilson A. Bentley is the man who photographed the first image of a magnified snowflake.

This book-- seemingly written for children-- tells his story of success. It is a unique story of success, since it doesn't involve the acquisition of a perfect romance or grand fortune. The success is one of heart and mind-- of tenaciously pursuing the most natural thing in life: the thing that rivets and fulfills you most, no matter the cost. For Bentley, it just happened to be snowflakes.

Snowflake Bentley's story would be an ideal gift for anyone.

In fact, it was recently given to me by a dear friend and mentor in honor of finishing my Fall semester of graduate school, and it has left an impression on me which I cannot convey in mere words on a blog...

Plus, the illustrations are by the very talented Mary Azarian.

scattering profiles: pumphouse studios

I found these bird plates in a shop called,

Pumphouse Studios.

I immediately clicked on the profile thinking, this shop name has to have a story!

And it does.

This artist's story is so beautifully written, I have to share it verbatim....

My mother was a potter and art teacher. Under her influence I grew up making art, but concentrated on the written word in school, eventually earning a PhD in literature in 1994. That same year my mom died from breast cancer, leaving me her well-used wheel, kiln, and a series of mysterious glaze recipes. It took nearly ten years and several moves later to see what I had inherited. I found myself in Southern Oregon, teaching literature but connecting with a group of ceramic artists who showed me how to shape the fog of grief into the delight of working with clay. During those years, my studio was a 6X6 foot pumphouse where I worked every spare moment, making pots and competing with the pump and waterlines for space. My kiln was outside. As a result, I like to say that my apprenticeship in ceramics was literally affected by the rolling of the seasons and the events of the natural world around me.

I think these three would look superb hanging together.

save your scraps for the bears

One stop on our tour-de-where-we-now-live was the mountain cabin our neighbor's father built (himself!). He owned a lumber business, so building houses with his favorite pieces of lumber was just a little "hobby" of his.

Husband (a construction manager by vocation) was very impressed :)

The view is beautiful, quiet, and secluded. It overlooks a lake and a few distant mountains.

We were told not to leave any crumbs on the ground because they don't want bears visiting. They have friends who receive nightly visits from a local grizzly. He takes down the hummingbird feeders each night, drinks the sugar water, and leaves the feeder on the ground. They discovered it was a bear when they found his pawprints on their bedroom window, peering in to see what kind of cubs were sleeping in this strange den. He sounds like an enchanted bear to me.

But alas. They do not think an enchanted bear friend sounds like the best companion, so we cleared away our crumbs and sugary beverages.

The inside of the cabin is filled with heirloom furniture, which makes it cozy and mysterious. This orange leather sofa has been in the family for three generations... and I think I would keep it in my family that long too. (I love it!)

We hope to go back soon. The surrounding woods are wonderfully noisy-- rustling leaves, bird chatter, fish splashing around.... that kind of noise.

:: husband took flight in a homemade plane... among other topics

First things first,

Football season has begun, and our team won their first game... War Eagle to all you Auburn grads and fans!

About those flowers, they are my favorite shade of rose. Especially this time of year.

They were the last bouquet at the market. I split them up to adorn both the living room

in a slightly tarnished (just enough for a touch of character) mint julep cup,

And in the dining room.

We had dinner guests on Friday night. They are our neighbors who we've been meaning to get to know beyond brief sidewalk chats. It turns out, they have led very interesting Air Force lives, and he spent the first several years of his retirement building a plane in his garage.

Husband got a phone call Saturday morning inviting him to go on a brief scenic flight.

Husband thoughtfully asked me if I was okay with him traveling recreationally in a homemade airplane. I quickly calculated our neighbor's career starting as an airplane mechanic and ending as 316th Wing Commander, which essentially means he was in charge of operations and maintenance for the main base of Air Force One.

I decided if the country trusted him with at least 3 consecutive presidents' safety as well as the incoming flights of people like Princess Diana, maybe my Husband would be in good hands.

They flew over Clemson University and saw the season's first tailgaters, Husband's job site,

And one of the prettiest lakes in South Carolina. It was a perfect day for flying, and his wife and I (aka "the women") got invited to go "once the leaves change."

Does the Thanksgiving pageant song "This Land is Your Land" run through anyone else's head while looking at these photos?

a friend's new blog

Remember Rachel? She designed the banner for my blog, and I was in her wedding a few months ago.

She recently started a fun blog about her art, newlywed life, and a few touches of design (she is, after all, a designer). Check it out here.

meet 'hindsfeet'

"But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say 'You are my God.'
My times are in Your hand"
-Psalm 31:14,15

~+~

The cliche "pregnant pause"
"bated breath"
and "deafening silence"
that presently pervade my path

are Cliche because these things are common to man
Cliche because they are the go-to tools of the Potter
the primary privations used to teach His timing
used to teach us Trust

And so I wait
And so I watch
And so I brace myself against voices
which flatter me into false starts
and premature emergence
which promise a counterfeit exodus
and countermand Christ's call to "Wait"

I endure the strain of stillness
And quiet myself to hear...

I know, in the end, "I shall see God"

~+~

* Job 19:23-26 *

Liz at Hindsfeet wrote this beautiful poem. She writes equally moving pieces almost daily over at her blog, Bird's Eye View. You could easily read her blog each morning or each evening to begin or end your day with a focus on Scripture and sound theology.

If you visit her, be sure to leave her a little "Hello" in the comments section. She's a fun, friendly young lady!

a calling

Moving away from the superficial, sale-induced, materialism of yesterday's post and more toward things that actually matter, let's talk about the human soul and its potential and role in the world. (How's that for a switch?)

Invictus is a 2009 movie about Nelson Mandela, rugby, and this poem by 19th century English poet William Ernest Henley:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

And whereas I believe that God is the ultimate Master of our fate, I also believe we too are called to a role of action and perseverance and faith in order for Him to work through us. Ultimately, God gave us the gift of choice, and this poem in the context of the movie's plot truly captures that and inspires us to focus, forgive, seek, give, and do.

One of my favorite themes in Scripture is Call and Response. Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Samuel, Esther, Ruth, Jesus, the apostles, Paul, and virtually every character mentioned in the Bible has a story about Call and Response and a lesson that fits perfectly into our little modern lives. Outside of Scripture, we can see profiles of Call and Response in historical figures, news stories, and certainly in the common people we encounter in our everyday lives. I love looking for it, reflecting on it, talking about it, seeing it unfold.

This movie is about Call and Response. This poem is about Call and Response. Life is about Call and Response:

Here are my circumstances. How will I RESPOND?

It's a great weekend movie. Inspiring, historical, thought-provoking, and overall well done.

If you've already seen Invictus, what did you think?

What do you think about the theme "Call and Response?"

rhythm and moves

Thank you all for your sweet comments on Monday!

We're getting settled and adjusting to the fact that we are yet again residents of a NEW state.

We realized while packing that I have lived in 6 states in the last 4 years (Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, and now South Carolina)

And Husband has lived in 5 states (all of the above except Georgia).

And we have loved them all!

This guy has been helping me move in.

Doesn't he just look like he has some serious rhythm in those bones? (Just to clarify: he hasn't been physically helping me-- he's on my iPod that my wonderful in-laws gave me for Christmas!)

Some of my favorites are:

Life is Beautiful

She Just Wants to Dance

Let Your Light Shine

Keep It Simple

More Than One Way Home (video)

It Hurts Me Too (video)

Listen to more here.

And I like this video he did of America the Beautiful.

gifts from abroad

Recently, I almost broke my neck on my way out the front door.

An unexpected package with a strange stamp was on the porch, and I should have known it could only have been from one person:

My friend Merm!

(Actually, it's Miriam. But somehow it became Merm over the 15+ years I have known her.)

Merm is a rare sort of friend. She was my study abroad companion in Italy and has been my "book-and-words friend" since high school. She's been abroad in the UK for the last four years working on a Masters in Creative Writing, a Masters in Publishing, and now a PhD in Creative Writing. She's good stuff. Very generous, frank, reflective, creative, funny, adventurous and ever-striving in an inspiring way.


She's still traveling the word on weekends, living the life of academia continually...
and I must admit I am a bit envious. In the photo above, she's in Dubai with a Camel Crossing sign.

However, there's one thing I have that she doesn't: a better sense of GRAMMAR and PUNCTUATION. (NOTE: I didn't say perfect; just better by comparison!) She knows she's bad, so she sends her work (including a novel I'm in the process of proofreading) to me. It's such an honor that after all those fancy degrees she still sends her work to lil' ole me for critique!

So, what was in the package?


An old book.



But not just any old book.

A book from 1864 that smells of dust, time, ink, human hands, cozy homes and crisp, yellowed pages.



I love the marbleized cover pages. I bet it was considered very elegant in 1864.
It's such a work of art and such a fascinating, enigmatic emblem of an era and will sit on my shelf as just that: Art and History.



The stained pages, dotted and smudged with years far before me,

The cracked binding, separating from a century-and-a-half of being in existence,

The lovely, bent and torn corners,

Thank you, Merm! I consider this gift a rare treasure.

(And I will be stopping by its new nook periodically to smell the pages!)

roxaboxen, if you haven't already

This book is illustrated by Barbara Cooney, author and illustrator of this blog's namesake: Miss Rumphius The Lupine Lady.

It is a book about the power of imagination and shows how something merely imagined can become a memorable, impacting experience.

Without spoiling the book: Roxaboxen is a town.

And Marion was mayor, of course.

There were shops, bakeries, ice cream parlors, and houses of jewels.

(Adults will enjoy this one, too :)

In other news:

I loved reading all of your First Blog Experiences yesterday!

Thank you for sharing.

A few new blogs I found through you:

Inner City Observations

From the Narrows

Sweet Sassafras

Soule Mama

Jane Brocket

ever thought about artistic cake decorating?

Often, I dread icing the cakes I bake. I have no doubt they will taste good but as far as presentation, I have little hope and am usually stunned into a stupor of self-satisfaction if I can just get all the icing on the cake without letting whole chunks of the soft cake layers break off and blend into the icing.

I eventually learned that refrigerating the layers before icing them helps with that process.

Recently, the mother of one of my wonderful little students told me that she likes to decorate cakes as a hobby. She is a full-time professor at a school of pharmacy (and a former pharmacist herself), a wife, and a mother of 2 young children, and she says she want to be "well-rounded." So, she took a cake-decorating course, and look what she can do for her children's birthday parties!

This party was a Mario Brothers theme. I was astounded at how fun and clever this cake is. It's so inspiring to meet people who are striving to be "well-rounded" and creative, even outside of their busy, demanding and professional careers and home life, don't you think? Seeing that she branched out and did this makes me think there is hope yet for my cake decorating skills!

I mean, what a work of ART!

I think I would have trouble letting the kids dig in and eat it.

There are a lot of how-to cake decorating books available. I'm thinking about it...