Saturday, May 30, 2009

Taking Some Time Off

Well, as an experiment, I'm taking the summer off from blogging, twittering, and facebooking. My hope is that I'll spend more time locally and relationally. Tending my garden, hanging with neighbors, chatting with guests, reading books, etc.

I'll still be emailing and chatting it up on the phone, so feel free to contact me that way if you'd like.

Also, if you happen to be in the Portland area this summer, feel free to drop by or check out our HOMESPUN CONCERT SERIES. The Cobalt Season will be playing the second one on July 18th.

Holly will keep blogging here and for Pax here.

Comments left here will reach me via email FYI.

Cheers and have a lovely summer!

Friday, May 29, 2009

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Reflections on Memorialization

I walked past this graffiti on Sunday...just before they did a 10-cannon salute on the other side of the river. At first, it frustrated me, but living in Portland, as I do, with so many white educated kids, I wondered if this is the prophetic voice here.



While I don't agree that "peace is for cowards" I feel like I can sympathize with some of the gist. That is, peace is not a clearly defined term. It's alot like saying love or God. Everyone has their own understanding of what it means.

And for so many folks in this town, they simply hate war and Bush and most all things Republican. Now I, too, have a general distaste (and perhaps even burning anger from time to time) toward those things as well. And most of these good folks would offer peace as the alternative.

But sometimes peacemaking can come at the cost of true confrontation or true reconciliation or true conversation. That is, some times, peace is simply the easier option. And that definition of peace could really be the same as evasion. And that sort of peace is not sustainable because it's based on the assumption that each party will keep secrets and not really lay anything of value on the table, lest it cause war (whether verbal, emotional, ideological, or governmental). The cost is always some form of pain, some sort of death (whether relational, emotional, spiritual or physical).

So, while I'm dubious of blindly supporting war as a real option in our current time, I'm also skeptical of blindly supporting an idea of peace that doesn't really get at the stuff that would cause war.

Real peace is for people willing to walk humbly, but with conviction. A listening ear as well as a confident word.

Peace
and war (depending on how you define the words) could both be cowardly.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

HOMESPUN CONCERT SERIES

We're pretty excited to host some musicians, artists, and artisans this summer. If you're in or near the area (or are looking for a good time to come check out Portland...Jared...hint, hint), consider coming out around one of these dates.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Bottling 7

Bottling 5

Bottling 6

Bottling 4

Bottling 3

Where the wine comes from...

Bottling 2

This is my office this morning.

Bottling 1

I'll be working a bottling truck this morning for a local Portland
winemaker. Fun stuff. Here are some pics...

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Coil

I just got my 3rd iPhone. The first two crapped out on me in different ways. Thanks be to Apple for replacing both. So, I reloaded my music library onto my iPhone and stumbled upon some tunes that were sorta buried.

I found my entire Toad the Wet Sprocket collection. Wow. I was so grateful.

My friend Rick had blogged about one of the songs off their last full-length album, Coil. And it recalled to me how much I LOVE that album. It is, by far, my favorite album of theirs. Strongest songwriting, most aggressive (in a good way), most thought-out. Glen really found his stride, grabbed the microphone by the hand, and sang his heart out.

Seriously. I think some of those songs were teachers to me about things I would not understand until later. When the album came out, some themes probably went right over my head, but a great many of them planted themselves into my psyche, my soul, to be borne later.

And so I am grateful. I'm not one of those "their most obscure record is their best one" type fan, but this album (probably the least recognized) is simply their best...I mean, in my oh so humble opinion.

Friday, May 01, 2009

View From My Bedroom

Waiting

So one of the downsides of using seeds (instead of starters) is the
wait. And it's not just the wait; it's the second-guessing. I hate it.
Nothing breaking through the soil. Until POP!

These arugula seeds give me hope. They're the only thing that has
sprouted visably so far. But we're only a week in, so time to kick
back, smoke my pipe and wait. And wait.