B-Ham Diving

Plastic Soul

red chain

It's time for a caption!

Any ideas?

Mine:
"Proof:  I am a giant among men"

Timekeeper's:

"If you make everything miniature, OTHER things look much larger."

From Justcurious:

"Having reluctantly agreed to take the kids to TolkienLand for the day, Bob was further irritated to find that the restrooms were located in Middle-earth."

iron fence

Zoloft's God

So here's something.  I have a very good friend whose dear wife is a lively and witty woman.  She's bright, full of life, and she's a devoted and terrific mother.  She's a woman of deep protestant Christian faith.  Now in the protestant faith, faith itself--not one's actions--is the key linkage to God.  Right beliefs and, more importantly, a right heart are emphatically central, just essential, to salvation.  But here's the thing.  For (most) Protestants, faith is understood as a gift from God.  We cannot will ourselves into believing.  More, our rotten hearts turn us away from loving God.  By our natures we have as much chance of loving God and believing him in the right manner as a dead man has of resurrecting himself by his own efforts.   And the reward for one's belief--again, a gift from God--is an assurance of salvation.  The assurance isn't simply a feeling (which can come and go), but it's also not just an intellectual proposition.  Faith, after all, isn't the same thing as logic and evidence.  Assurance is a deeply absorbed sense of trust that God loves you and cares for you and has taken you into His bosom.  So it's judgment and belief and feeling all wrapped into a nice cozy Holy Ghost blankie.

By which I mean no disrespect.  Surely that's a wonderful state to experience.

So my friend's wife did all the things that good protestants are supposed to do.  She relied on her faith for her salvation.  She prayed.  She read the Bible regularly.  She went to church faithfully.  She spoke with the pastor and others about her faith.

But the problem was that she simply did not feel assured.  She just couldn't help resist the feeling that she was not one of the elect.  She believed.  Deeply.  She knew that "works" were not the key to her salvation, but she thought that perhaps some sin was impeding a closer relationship with God. So she searched her character, her heart, her actions.  She spoke with her pastor about her doubts.  She read books on faith.  She prayed fervently.   She simply could not shake the doubts that perhaps God's table had no room for her.

Prayer followed by more prayer followed by more prayer.  And yet the gift of assurance simply was not forthcoming.

Now this woman finally went to a psychiatrist because she was so down, and her psychiatrist diagnosed her as having OCD and a tendency toward depression.  His solution was not spiritual but neuropharmacological.

After she started taking meds, this woman realized that Jesus is....well, He's alright with her.

God loves her, and she loves Him.   After all, the Bible tells her so.

Oh the Holy Spirit, it do work wonders.  Sometimes it just needs a little boost from the good doctor. 

The old tree in winter

Self-portrait

It's a metaphor, yo.

cracked boy

Paperback Writer

Blessed Virgin

What the world does all too often to lovely persons, blessedly virginal or otherwise.

Keys in the water

droplets

Old camera.

Wow.  How did I settle so?

Oh my stars...

Composite of three photos.

Light fixture

I took this photo in the reflection of one my framed photos hanging on the wall.  I flipped it and colorized it.  Here is the untouched original below.

That thar be a pirate ghost.

Arrrr......Alrighty then maties.  As ye all well know, Savannah be haunted.  Local regulations require that every building be home to at least one ghosty.  As all of you know about me, there was never a bigger skeptic than me when it comes to the ghosties.  And by skeptic I mean I've never here heard a ghost story that I didn't believe.  Sifting for truth through all the tall tales---well, who has time? 'Tis easier simply to believe. 

And yet ghost inclined as I be, I've never seen for meowneself a veritable ghosty.  Until now.  Now me wife Juli, well, she don't believe in haunts.  But here I have proof.  The first picture above is untouched apart from the writing.  But look thee carefully.  Do you not see a man's face in profile looking to the right?  

You do.  Aye, you do. 

As do I.  

And for your viewing pleasure, I was kind enough for thine viewing pleasure to crop, enlarge and enhance the section where our ghosty be haunting.  

Sweet dreams. 

Arr.....

Oh...I be moving out a bit prematurely.  Allow me to explain the photo.  I took the photo looking through two windows at right angles--where the walls in the (thoroughly haunted) house meet.  Me goal was to capture that little flicker of candlelight at the bottom of that big window pane.  

Juli don't see the face. At all. Which but proves that she is is in major denial of reality, it does.  Major major denial of reality. 

Fun with an Anish Kapoor mirror.

Ohhhhhh yeah, baby.

Popping colors

Self-portrait on left with wall o' art as backdrop

I suppose it's fair to say I'm lovin' the new camera.  I'm just learning, so I trust the images will improve in time.

little angel

I know the image is nearly identical to the one I posted a week or so ago. I returned to this little plastic figurine for several consecutive days.  Without my new camera I had never really noticed her (though I had put here where she now hangs on a metal bird in our garden along with a bunch of necklaces and other chachkes).  But with camera in hand she seemed to be calling my name.  Given my attraction to spooky/creepy/eerie, I suppose she might posses this quality without me intending it but my intention here (believe it or not) is to capture her sweetness.  

(No, not her sweet creepiness, you cynical weirdos.)

Anish Kapoor is my hero

summer drinks

These were taken with Julianne's stinky camera.  Not her current stinky camera (my old stinky camera), but her own (even stinkier) old camera.   I like the composition and content.  Bofes.

Metallic eclipse of the sun

metal bee

Weird World

man on boat in Chattanooga

bike statue and blurry truck

chairs and shadows (improved)

J-bot

A four-handed j-bot staring me down.  I've seen this posture--arms all akimbo--more than a few times. 

J-bot auditioning for The Sound of Music.  

J-bot posing for The Dude.

Hat

Stemware Rack

Stemware.  Just one of the many things I've learned of (and about) from Justcurious.  I could blog about it but it would be entirely too long for a blog entry.  Better for a blog series.  Or its own blog.   "Justcurious Teaches MB."  

pics from the new camera

Mojo hit me out of the blue yesterday.  I was reading a book, when suddenly I was forced to run outside with my new camera and start taking photos in the yard.  The sun had set, so there are no dramatic shadows.   I'm happy my camera does seem to work.

Crazy aunt "going off the rails on a crazy train"!

A loving tongue-in-cheek homage to Beth, my sweet big sister and wonderful and cool (if also kinda crazy) aunt to my three daughters!

New and improved "swing."

A modestly improved version of that other stinker of a video. 

Tarp

Chicken's gone....

....got to carry on.

This fine song brought to you by the Austin Lounge Lizards.  They are referencing another song of theirs, the genuinely brilliant "Rocky Byways."  

Van Halen

Berry Half-Marathon

(New and slightly improved) Sabotage

Soul Kitchen

I did not create this video because Andy D hates The Doors.  That would be childish of me.  That he does hate them (and I know this because he told me this, oh, a thousand times our freshman year together at U.T.) is simply a delightful unintended consequence.

Cow Gone Bonkers