Tagged!

I have been tagged for a Book Meme by Jeremy of "Eating Words."

1. One book that changed your life: Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter
Perhaps the greatest book I have ever read.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: Lauren Winner, Real Sex: the Naked Truth About Chastity

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter

4. One book that made you laugh:Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

5. One book that made you cry: Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter

I actually mourned for days at the death of Kristin's father.

6. One book that you wish had been written: A Definitive Guide of the Beautiful

7. One book that you wish had never been written: Anything by John Shelby Spong, especially Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers In Exile

8. One book you’re currently reading:Dietrich Bonhoffer, Life Together

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy

I am reading Heretics now, though.

10. Now tag five people:

Jer, uh.... ME!

Jake Allen **

Paul Bowman

Mr. Buckwheat Waffle **

Amy the Cute

Not tagged, but has a good list: Grace

** Updated list

Find My Map!

I have had so much creative energy lately and it seems to be pouring into so many different directions. I have plaster sitting on our patio for a new garden sculpture. I have been working on an article or two. I am launching an Eat Local Challenge event for our area. I have ideas for a class at church. I am thinking about participating in the youth group. I have an application for an Artist-in-Residence program in Washington. I want a baby.

How can I learn to chanel all of this? I wish that I were content to be in the studio all day, but I am not. I need to be around people; I get energy from the interactions. I want to serve people with my gifts. I am better at speaking than writing, but it is hard to get speaking gigs without writing first. I am verbal. I am spatial. I am tactile. I want to encourage other people. I want to change the world, or at least my corner of it. I want to help someone find her way. I want to be a part of God's divine plan.

I feel scattered, but not unhappy.

The phone lines are out at home, so I spent the morning hours in contemplation and writing. It is amazing how much time I waste surfing the web.

I saw some old friends from school this past weekend. A glass of fresh water, or as Tyler reminded us like fragrant oil running down our faces. Refreshing. College is such a precious time to really connect with amazing people. Why has it been so difficult for me to find others who are intense about the Gospel, who think deeply about just about everything, who value family, live simply? The friends I have made from Hillsdale are some of the most remarkable people I have ever met. Among us this weekend, we had writers, artists, a children's book author, an early church historian, designers, and many amazing mothers. The children of this group are no less than complete joy. They were all very playful and respectful of their parents and all their "aunts" and "uncles." What an honor to be counted among them.

On Sunday we all scattered back to our respective homes, some of us lonesome and longing for such dear friendships nearer to our front doors.

Virgin Update

She's nearly released from her stone.

The Great Outdoors

This weekend, Erik and I spent the night in a ravene near a stream in the Savage River Forest, Western Maryland. The weather was glorious and the fresh air renewed us. It was awesome going to bed in a place of such intense darkness and no city sounds. Even the wildlife was quiet at night. All that we could hear was the sound of the water rushing over the rocks in the stream behind our tent.

Military-Industrial Complex

I never thought I'd be a part of it. I find myself fully aware all the sudden that I am a cog in the military-industrial complex.

I was over in Baltimore yesterday meeting with a director of a women's military history museum at the "wax" museum company that I make heads for. After the meeting, the owner of the museum figures company and I were left staring down at the floor onto a pile of camouflage, grenades, gun replicas, helmets, and images of a Hum-vee. "We have really been getting a lot of military jobs recently." The owner said to me. We discussed the phenomenon for awhile. This country is at war and museums featuring military heroes make people feel better about the fact that we are at war. In a way, they are a sort of propaganda. Wow, we are in the propaganda business.

So, not only do I make portraits, but I make war propaganda. Frightening.

Auntie Sarah Strikes Again

I became an Aunt again over the weekend! My husband's sister and her husband had a big, nine-and-a-half pound baby boy over the weekend. We got the call that she was going into labor (oddly enough by the sister herself!) and packed up the house and headed up to New Jersey. We weren't even on the road an hour when mom called, "Baby's here!" What!?! This baby was born in the blink of an eye. Both mom and baby are home now and doing very well.

Here is Auntie Sarah with little baby Jeremy.

After he finished eating I took him into my arms for a nap. We rocked and snuggled for a good three hours! He was so warm and smelled so sweet. He'd wiggle a little here and there and let out a big yawn, then fall right back to a peaceful baby sleep. When he awoke, Erik and I changed the diper as a tag team. We amused the sister with our frantic diper changing. OK, you lift here... don't forget to wipe... front to back!... Careful... oh no, he's crying... there there little one... ok close it shut... how do we swaddle?... like a burrito... there you go, little burrito...

The next day we were charged with taking Jeremy's big sister to art class. Uncle Erik (Ah-ICK!) let his inner artist play and left the art center pretty well covered in paint.

Top Ten List

Gideon Strauss has a great Top Ten paintings that he loves list. I thought that I would explore my Top Ten favorite sculptures of all time. In no particular order:

1.) Andrea del Verrocchio, Incredulity of St. Thomas. I had the pleasure of seeing this piece at the National Gallery of Art just days before our wedding. Besides being an exceptional work of sculpture, this work is spiritually charged. Here we have God who has come into the world incarnate, having died and ressurected exposed his wounds, not only to St. Thomas, but to all of us who are incredulous enough to ask of him "Prove it, God!" Christ's arm is raised, drawing the eye to the wound in his side. He is vunerable, and yet blesses St. Thomas.

2.) Donatello, Annunciation. It is clear that this piece has inspired my work.

3.) Andrea del Verrocchio, Woman with a Bouquet. Just look at those hands!

4.) Ivan Mestrovic, History of the Croats. This is really a portrait of his mother. Extrodinary.


5.) Giuseppe Croff,Veiled Nun. I saw this at the Corcoran, but cannot find an image on the web.


6.) Ernst Barlach.

7.) Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Adams Memorial. There is a copy of this at the National Museum of American Art. It is truly breathtaking.

8.) The Nike of Samothrace is one of the greatest treasures of Western Civilization.

9.) Auguste Rodin, Eve. I first saw this piece at the Toledo Museum of Art when I was a young sculptor at Hillsdale College. I love the gravitas of the figure. She is larger than life, and heavy with Original Sin. We empathize with her anguished face. I have also seen her at the Frederick Meijer Sculpture Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I prefer an outdoor or architectural setting for sculpture.

10.) The River God from the Parthenon will always have a special place in my artistic imagination. Thank you, Tony Frudakis!

Fun in the Nation's Back Yard

Erik and I spent a fun-filled weekend in the Nation's capital. We visited the National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery of Art,* Outdoor Scultpure Garden, and the World War II Memorial. I nearly forgot how hot DC summers are, but I was heartily reminded.

Saturday evening we ate at a snooty French place on King Street in Alexandria. The duck was excellent, but the service was stereotypically snooty. "No dessert!?! Cheap bastards... " So, afterwards we went to eat dessert and sing drinking songs at an Irish pub, where the atmosphere was stereotypically Irish- smokey, friendly, and a jolly good time. Sadly, neither place checked my id. I guess I no longer look 21. *sigh*

We ate lunch both days at the greatest eating establishment of all time: Teaism at Penn Quarter. The chicken bento box is the greatest lunch ever devised by man, though I shook it up a little on Sunday with the salmon bento. Let's just say that I hate yams in general, but the chicken bento sports a cold yam with weird sauce dish that is pure culinary genius. I had different varieties of iced tea- Japanese sweet green and Moroccan mint iced tea. Delicious. I could eat there everyday of my life and never weary of the tea-inspired goodness. Oh, and if you do get the chance to dine there do not forget the Asian cole slaw and salty oat cookies. The Teaism salty oat cookie is the only gluten-filled item on earth worth cheating for.

We visited the World War II Memorial for the first time. It was nicer than I imagined it would be and all the rushing water really drowns out all the ambient noise, which was great. It was so hot, though, that the pool in the center felt more like a refreshment than a place of contemplation. I felt like all the words and carved letters were redundant. Hmmm.. let's see... fifty of any of the same image... what could it mean? Oh, good thing the states are labled, otherwise I'd have no idea what all this means. I think that labling every aspect of a memorial makes it seems dumbed down. Welcome to America.




* Read more about the art and museums at Arrivals!

Grand Opening

The National Portrait Gallery is having its grand Re-Opening today! I moved here six years ago and have been awaiting its opening eagerly all this time. My beloved has been scouring the news paper every day for interesting things to do about town. Needless to say, there are way too many things to choose from on a weekly basis in the Washington area. He knows me well and knows which opportunities to seize!

So, here we go. The only thing to do now is to decide to wear the sensible, but unattractive shoes or look fabulous and take the chance of a sore foot.

I think I'll go with fabulous!