120/365

119/365

Hope you see the hummingbird.

118/365

According to Brother Dave, this is thistle. It is, unfortunately, non-native, invasive variety of thistle. It is rather aggressive - it was practically every where I drove in Texas - even Waco.

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This flowering cactus is just a yard or so northeast of the entrance to Brother Dave's property. They've had some rain, and many of the wild things in the yard have responded.

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You may want to click on this picture to see a larger version. Near the top left is Jupiter; near the center is the smiling crescent moon. I also like the way the clouds swirl around that sliver.

This picture was taken last Wednesday, 18 April, on the back deck of Brother Dave's house. As noted below, we also spotted Orion and his canine companion.

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First of many wildflower pictures taken while on the road. This was taken at a picnic turn out a little south of Marble Falls.

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This is the other bit of plastic art I did last Saturday, during the "Art & Soul" conference. This is a print.

We laid a clear plastic sheet over a design, painted and the sheet, then pressed it on watercolor paper. I never felt like I quite got the knack of how thick or thin the paint (actually, a water-soluble ink) needed to be. Some of the effects here came out of my experimenting with the proper thickness.

Miraculously, I was able to let go of the need to get it "right". I was able to play, and enjoy the process. Who knows? Maybe this picture reflects a bit of that joy and delight.

113/365

This curious image is the first I created during the Art & Soul conference I attended this past Friday and Saturday.

It is an "artistic response" to Lectio Devina. This is a method best explicated by Benedict in his Rule. You slowly read a passage of scripture (preferably out loud), listening "with the ears of the heart" for a word or phrase that speaks to you. Then you meditate on that phrase, letting associations pass through your mind without judgment. Then you pray in response to those associations. In this case, our art was our prayer.

The passage of scripture we were responding to was the first 9 verses of Psalm 33. The phrase that spoke to me was "all your skill", in the second half of verse 3.

Not so much an image intended here (though there may be hints); more the process of a swirling writing instrument (in this case, chalk), and whole-hearted liberation.

112/365

I'm tired. Yesterday was a long day, after a long trip back from Richardson, TX on Saturday. By the way, I got home about 7 pm Sat.

I filled one and a half memory cards with pictures, for a total of a hundred-plus pictures. Plus, I have two pictures I created during the conference - one chalk on black construction paper; the other a print (of an abstract sort).

I expect I will be sharing these with you as soon as I down-load (or scan) them to my computer. For now, content yourself with deciphering the laconic verses I posted while at Brother Dave's in the Texas Hill Country. They're all true, if a bit shy on narrative detail.

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Baked in traffic
Highway 75 north
between exits 1 and 4.

110/365

Venus aims Diana's bow.
Sirius trails his master,
the sky hunter.

Frog croaks his love song,
Tom Waits of Blanco County.

I dream under blue bonnets
and wake
with Poor Will in the north
and a canyon in the west.

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Just north of the Red River
Clouds melt.
Sun breaks through.

Saw geese in south Oklahoma.
Saw an eagle north
of Lampasas, TX.

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I'm soon to be out the door. Pack my linen jacket. Pack the car. Then, I can hit the highway. I'll have internet access through Friday, so I should be able to keep all posted.

I expect to be at Brother Dave's, in the Texas Hill Country, by early this afternoon. The conference I'm attending begins Friday evening, but is about four hours away from his place. It's at a church in Richardson, TX, a 'burb of Dallas. Even the Texas map makes the roads around DFW look like an spider web spun on espresso. I'm not looking forward to that part of the journey.

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Today's entry is actually at my original blog, Love During Wartime. It's my response to the killing spree which occurred at Virginia Tech yesterday.

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105/365

It's 39° this Sunday morning. Frost warning walks through early morning city. I'm playing my iPod through my tape player; there are actually some tunes on the Pod I don't have on CD. Right now, listening to Steely Dan's "Deacon Blues".

I'm preparing to travel. I bought the Cassette Adapter for MP3 Players so I could share new tunes with Brother Dave, who I will see by Wednesday.

It's all so much up in the air. I might leave Tuesday afternoon. I might leave Tuesday after work. I might leave Wednesday morning. At worst, I would leave Wednesday after work.

Why is it so much up in the air? I support researchers in submitting grant applications, and there is a grant due on Wednesday. Although the researcher seems amenable to submitting the grant as early as Monday or Tuesday, he keeps asking for reassurance that the due date is Wednesday. So, I get a mixed signal.

But I'm hopeful. It's possible the grant will be submitted my Tuesday morning, and I could take off as early as noon the same day.

I expect to have pictures to share when I return.

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This picture was taken Saturday, March 24. I write this almost a month later, Sat.14.April. It's a gloomy Saturday. It's currently 37° under cloudy skies. The predicted high is 53°, with possibility of snow or sleet.

Gloomy day.

It's been a slow week, but I haven't had much to say. But that's OK. The words will return. I'm making a journey next week, and I'm sure many pictures will be shared upon my return – perhaps even while on the road.

What does my Zen calendar say this morning?

The path of the enlightened one leaves no track — it is like the path of birds in the sky.
The Buddha

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"This statue commemorates the pioneers of 1889."

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Another sculpture from downtown OKC.

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The northeast corner of the Skirvin Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City. This is the last picture I have from this group of the Skirvin. A return trip will occur in the near future.

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Stone work at the north west corner of the Skirvin Hotel.

99/365

Overslept again this morning - didn't get up until about 6:10. I attended several services (beginning Thursday night), and a lovely luncheon Sunday afternoon, and I suppose I needed the recovery time.

Anyway, I'll continue with the final Skirvin Hotel picture tomorrow. For today, I'll share two cute stories:

1. I attended the Good Friday children's service. I did this partly out of curiosity, and partly because it was the earlier of the two options. It was an attempt to make the story of the Last Supper kid-sized. At one point, a priest asked what Jesus prayed at the meal, and one young boy cried out "Yiddish"
2. Our youngest priest preached the homily for the Easter Vigil, and told this joke:
   It seems a church had a bat infestation. Naturally, they didn't want to harm the bats in any way, so extermination was out of the question. First, they called the local county extension service, who recommended smoke. So the church smoked them out - but the bats returned a few weeks later.
   
   Next, they tried humane traps. They released the bats near an underpass where other bats were known to congregate. But they came back a few weeks later.
   
   The next Sunday, the bishop visited. They asked for her help. She confirmed the bats. They immediately flew away, and were not seen again.

98/365: Easter Sunday

For some reason, this picture seemed appropriate to Easter Sunday. It was taken almost a month ago, the same day I took all the pictures at the Skirvin Hotel. It is the first of several sculptures one sees (traveling north) on Robert S. Kerr.

It is a memorial to the Air Force.

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Light fixtures on the second floor of the Skirvin Hotel in downtown OKC. I have two pictures from the Skirvin left ... before I go back with a tripod or flash unit.

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A chair in the front lobby of the refurbished Skirvin Hotel in downtown OKC.

95/365

I didn't oversleep, but I did fail to post the latest (and, likely, penultimate) picture from the Skirvin. Instead, I'll share this picture I took this Monday, 2.April.

The scene is the chancel of the Cathedral. The occasion is clergy renewal of ordination vows. This is a yearly event, which traditionally takes place shortly after Palm Sunday. This year's service is historic, in that this is the last year our bishop will preside at this service. He's the clean shaven fellow near the center of the group; you might be able to make out his cope.

The official picture was taken by a professional photographer, who asked me to come with my digital as back up. The current picture is the best of the lot that I took; I expect his will be several times better. It was a pleasure working with him, and he seemed to appreciate the company. He said he'd leave his equipment to me in his will and that I could borrow any of his equipment whenever I needed it. I took the latter statement seriously, but not the former statement.

Still, it was clear I had made a valuable friend.

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A marble staircase at the Skirvin Hotel in downtown OKC. The staircase is at the east end of the building, and leads to the north entrance.

93/365

This light fixture is in a hallway outside one of the ballrooms at the east end of the Skirvin. Some minor filter correction was done in the digital darkroom; otherwise, what you see is what I shot.

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More wood from the Skirvin. This is paneling is at the east entrance - just before the historic exhibits I mentioned earlier.

Commenter "john leeke" requests more pictures of the lobby and/or coffee shop. I do hope to return to get more pictures. A tripod will be required, as this is a low-light situation. All the pictures I've shared to date (since 17 March) were shot with available light (no flash). Some digital dark room effects have been used, including a (hopefully subtle) filter effect today.

To John - click the "Skirvin" label at the bottom of this post, and you should be lead to all the Skirvin shots I've shared to date.

91/365

This pipe-like sculpture is in Leadership Square. For yesterday's picture, I leaned under one of the tubes and shot up.

So ... which picture do you like better?