Thoughts for the Day

In "The Reason for God" by Timothy Keller, in chapter eight The Clues of God, he quotes art critic Arthur C. Danto, as he "once described a work of art that gave him a sense of 'obscure yet inescapable meaning'. In other words, while great art does not 'hit you over the head' with a simple message, it always gives you a sense that life is not a 'tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.' It fills you with hope and gives you the strength to carry on, though you cannot define what it is that moves you."
I love this chapter and how it forces me to stop every few paragraphs and praise God for who He is.
I now want to find an instalation by Shirin Neshat. I'm sure I could find her work on youtube, but that seems somehow a little wrong. I think I saw her work at SFMoMA, but I can't see it satasfactorily clearly enough in my mind. I love that feeling of 'obscure yet inescapable meaning' because of the reasuring sense of existence, but also because reminds me that I am created in God's image and He created the whole world in such a way that we can see Him and create art. For in Him we live and move and have our being.

Also Digging

This artist. I want the flash cards.

http://blackeiffel.blogspot.com/2009/06/julie-morstad.html

Can't Resist

Wall paper.

Who can, really. If you think you can, check out this delicious blog post I found while wandering on the web, looking at design related sites:
http://absolutelybeautifulthings.blogspot.com/2009/06/paper-walls.html

Or this fragmented mirror wall gallery, which I am loving.

Thanks, Josh

Chicken noodle soup is a good antidote for a day of lost earrings, studying the Medicare system, realizing how much money nursing homes cost, hearing about all the ways our bodies deteriorate, not finding my missing fork, leaving my umbrella in the car, and driving home in a huge rainstorm only to have my wipers stop working 5 blocks away from home.
Josh said, "Whoaaa it's okay now! Sit down and take a deep breath! I'll make the soup, tea will come later."

Beautiful Friday

This morning I got up and went to Trader Joe's without makeup on. Josh was up and I slept late (we have discovered that my side of the bed is the sleepy side) so he surprised me by stoping at the Seven Virtues for an americano. We bought coffee (we've been out or nearly a week) beans - the French Roast that we buy because the container design is cool, not because it has our favorite flavor. We also bought mums. Green and white ones. We brought them home and I clipped red leaves off Jen's stair hedge and now we have 6 arrangements in our living room. (Three from class on monday, 3 from the mums.)

Floral Design

This week was floral design class #3: ceremony flowers.
Josh took a few photos of my garland section.
I am finding I am particularly fond of blueberries, love in the mist, lunaria annua (money plant), rosemary, pineapple sage, scabiosa, spray roses, purple lace and alchemilla.

City Living

To the many neighbors on Burnside between 74th and 82nd it may concern:
Thank you for having such lovely rose gardens.
I love taking deep breaths of roses between the more regular mouthful of exhaust.

Ah, Monday

I love my job on days like today. Okay, actually, most of the day was extremely boring because we had to read a health and safety manual and do little quizes, but towards the end I took some calls that just make working at a job that is not really what I want to spend the rest of my life with that much better.
On my last call of the night, I was in the middle of leaving a third message for a member (their last chance to have a lovely 10 minute conversation with yours truely) and I hear the phone connect and a frantic (ly excited?) "Kaiser, Kaiser - I'm here!" She was SO excited that she caught me. How often are people so happy that you are doing your job that they bother to answer the phone at all, much less can't believe they are getting to talk to you? Yeah, it's pretty fun.
And all that sandwiched between 6 hours creating giant flower arangements and going out to dinner for Josh's birthday? A pretty good day.

A Morning of Family and Photos

First Floral Arrangement

Ceilings

So I thought this was cool -
someone on apartment therapy had a wood ceiling. On purpose! Throughout his whole house! Very cool. I have been growing attached to our kitchen paneling as of late. I guess it's sort of hip.

"What Do You Have?"

I'm sitting here working, peeling the thin remnant of a sunburn, stretching, waking up a little (chocolate and old coffee), looking at a days worth of notes and numbers, getting ready for tomorrow:
first Floral Design class! and more of the same.

Pictures!

From the 'hood!

News in the Schreck World

Timbers Army broke the interwebs in Puerto Rico tonight, as hundreds of fans in Portland tried to connect to usllive.com - a site which boasted access to tonight's Timbers vs Islanders match. It refused to connect, and fans were forced to keep up with the game via a Puerto Rican fan's blog.
So we watched 12 episodes of Arrested Development instead.

[It was a draw: 1-1]

Ah, Geography

[Update: Sorry for the bad links, they are now improved]
There is some cool stuff on the internet.
If you like photography of sweet places you'll probably never go, check these out:
Sacred Sites
and
TrekEarth

The Weekend

On a sunny weekend in Portland, we might be found doing things like visiting the nursery, sitting out on our driveway, at Costello's, not climbing (taking pictures), out on the pitch, or holding Gray.

Timbers vs Rhinos

2-1 we always win!

Update from the Land of Kaiser

I work in a grey cubicle, under florescent lights. It's warm, thankfully, and not depressing. I have pictures of Josh and I, and now some small speakers for my ipod (compliments of my two Emilys!) to drown out my closest neighbor's voices. This afternoon my most annoying neighbor is out, so I can hear my Amelie, drink my Good Earth, and do my work on my own little pleasant island (not be be confusled with milf island).
I also just found out that white is the new black. Exciting! and hard to pull off.

Stop Signs Around Portland

I took this first picture yesterday, and it reminded me that over the last two years of having a camera phone that didn't work right, I had taken pictures of other "edited" stop signs in town.

I Love Her!