in conclusion, let's all move into trees and barter with each other

These floods are ridiculous. Although it's not as concerning as the fact that people's lives are in danger, a building that is very near and dear to my heart is spouting leaks that could be disastrous. I spent the day mopping up puddles with those crap industrial-sized rolls of paper towels that don't soak up anything, putting out a recycling bucket to catch the water, and covering the beautifully finished wood with a thousand sweet trash bags (and singing that song from Rent while I did it, inserting "trash bags" for "kisses.") But seriously, things do not look good. The plaster is crumbling like the drywall from New Orleans and what do you even do about water damage? I don't know how it is going to get fixed.

Meanwhile, Andy got my parents an urn type pot for Christmas that is shaped like a gourd with a hole at the top. They put it outside on the deck on a shelf under their new tenty breakfast nook thing, and a Carolina Wren came and built her nest in it. The nest has somewhat of a side entrance and is kind of domed over the top. Mama Bird laid four eggs and sat down just in time for the monsoon. And now, all five wrens are snuggled up cozy and dry while the rain melodically beats down on the tent overhead.

hands down

I have the best secret spot ever.

I wish I could interpret them

Today I had a dream that I was trapped in a glass cage with a frog and a bat who were clinging to each other. I'll keep you posted if I have any more dreams involving local fauna.

wonder what this one means

Last night I dreamt that I had a dog who was dying of some horrible disease that made his fur fall off in chunks, so we had to shave it off. Everyone kept trying to save the dog, but I was the only one who knew that he just wanted to die. (I think this was because I read some note he wrote. I don't quite remember.) In a dramatic moment in front of a big crowd, I told the dog, "If you just want to die because you're in so much pain...then sit!" Feebly, the dog sat and then everyone knew that his true wish was to die in peace. Then I gave him a hug and we let him die.

and I especially like the ones that have jokes on the sticks

That's what we yell back at history, always, always. It wasn't just me; there were crimes strewn six ways to Sunday, and I had my own mouths to feed. I didn't know. I had no life of my own.
And you'll say I did. You'll say I walked across Africa with my wrists unshackled, and now I am one more soul walking free in white skin, wearing some thread of the stolen goods: cotton or diamonds, freedom at the very least, prosperity. Some of us know how we came by our fortune, and some of us don't, but we wear it all the same. There's only one question worth asking now: How do we aim to live with it?

-Barbara Kingsolver

Sometimes I ask myself what I am doing with my life and what I plan on doing with it in the future...and then it's all too much to know what to do with so I go, eat a popsicle or something.

I know how people are, with their habits of mind. Most will sail through from cradle to grave with a conscience clean as snow...I know people. Most have no earthly notion of the price of a snow-white conscience.

tohu bohu

Welcome to my humble abode.
This is where I live right now.



This is the side of the family room, the kitchen, and the dining room, all together. Since the time of this photograph, however, the door has become a boarded up wall.



Please notice the red danger tape. We wouldn't want you accidentally walking into those studs. Everything else in the house, however, is completely nonhazardous.

Funny how much my surroundings influence my life. I live at a lake for a week, and I feel open and focused on real life and people and God. I move back into a construction site, and I feel stifled and unmotivated and uncomfortable. Am I really this controlled by my environment? I'm pretty sure I am. That's probably not a good thing. Or maybe it's some sort of feng shui type deal? Either way, I end up watching TV on couches covered with sheets and putting off all the projects I want to do this summer. Or better yet, I stay out of the house.

I can't wait til this thing is finished...although, I won't recognize it when it is.

church of the dancing moms

My church is far more ridiculous than any other.
Proof: While singing a certain song called "You Lead and I'll Follow" during worship this morning, several ladies formed a conga line and began prancing about the room, up and down the aisles. I kid you not.

I love the pastor, I think he has great messages, I love the outlook of the church...but it is seriously a weird place. I mean, I guess it's better to go to a church that makes you laugh out loud at its antics than one that makes you angry at what it teaches.

They mean well, but Christians are crazy. Especially the moms.