create

"problems are nothing but wake-up calls for creativity."
-unknown

the above is from a lovely website with free printable paper creations you "make" yourself... they've done all the beautiful work.. all you need are glue & scissors.
http://www.thetoymaker.com/2Toys.html

here are some other websites & blogs that have been inspiring me lately:
http://www.papress.com/designityourself/index.html great tips if you want to "design" anything... business cards, t-shirts, etc.
http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/ fun times on the farm... yummy recipes
http://www.maizehutton.com/ check out the "diy" & "blog" sections
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=learn-cat&id=cat242&navLevel=2&rsc=mslnav you don't have to like her to appreciate her genious :)

enjoy!

Just an FYI about the garden...

If you looked at the pictures below this post... you would see 3 cucumber plants growing in our garden...and that is it! I have planted seeds in the rest of the garden twice now, but nothing comes up...and you may notice that the cucumber is a strange color of yellow and it is growing a diamond ring!

My theory...last year the entire yard was covered in a foot of "water" from who knows where with free oil slicks and everything...that's it. That is my theory.

also blooming

in 8 pots scattered around the house & on balconies... tomatoes!!
on the bench out front... mint, tarragon, & nasturtuim....
in front of the garden: a pot that came apart in my hands & nearly claimed a few toes; now it's doing time as garden whimsy...

my ring

here's my first silver creation... made while my mom & grandmother were visiting...


here's the proof i did it (i don't quite have the stamp-engraving method down, eh?)...

my 30th

for those of you who couldn't be with us...

we went to dinner with our friends, david & christy... then came back to our place for christy's french chocolate cake! the perfect cake, i'm convinced... 1 tablespoon of flour and unmentionable amounts of chocolate & butter...




i'm experimenting with the video feature on blogger... you have to press the little play button (the carrot thingy above ">")... let me know how it works for you!

Tired and Busy?

Caryn came across this book called, "When I Relax I Feel Guilty" by Tim Hansel. This guy started Summit Expeditions, now called Summit Adventures. Anyway, I think it is a very appropriate book for out culture...and for me. Here is an excerpt I read this morning:

Tim Hansel writes, "Some of us need to read the following letter written by an anonymous friar in a monastery in Nebraska late in his life. We probably not only need to read it, but we need to allow it to seep down into the marrow of our tired and serious bones.

'If I had my life to live over again, I'd try to make more mistakes next time.

I would relax, I would limber up, I would be sillier than I have been this trip.

I know of very few things I would take seriously.

I would take more trips. I would be crazier.

I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets.

I would do more walking and looking.

I would eat more ice cream and less beans.

I would have more actual troubles, and fewer imaginary ones.

You see, I'm one of those people who lives life prophylactically and sensibly hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it over again I'd have more of them.

In fact, I'd try to have nothing else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many ahead each day. I've been one of those people who never go anywhere without a thermometer, a hot-water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat, aspirin, and a parachute.

If I had to do it over again I would go places, do things, and travel lighter than I have.

If I had my life to live over I would start barefooted earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall.

I would play hookey more.

I wouldn't make such good grades, except by accident.

I would ride on more merry-go-rounds.

I'd pick more daises.'"

more from toroweap

couldn't resist posting a few more pics from our summer adventure...memories...
for more info on this amazing place, go to: http://www.zionnational-park.com/toroweap.htm

picasa

my darling husband downloaded picasa & started the arduous task of organizing all the pics we've taken since we got married... almost 4 years ago... very few of which i've organized & almost none of which i've printed out...bad.
anyway, he came across some amazing pictures like this one... from our drive across utah, on our way to colorado from the northwestern rim of the grand canyon. gorgeous.

summer

here's mike & me in our bungalow on Ko Jum... when we arrived in krabi (the closest city to the island), the locals tried to convince us not to go to the island because, "nothing is on Ko Jum... no one is there... it is closed!" what's the problem? we were even more convinced it was, in fact, where we wanted to go. we were often the only ones on the beach, save a few stray dogs. it rained most days, too... we didn't mind.

we had a wonderful visit with my mom & grandmother here... Grandmother said she really felt like she'd been "immersed in Thai culture" :). Here we are on Doi Inthanon, the highest mountain in Thailand....
and wearing the silver jewelry we made at a local studio... with some training from the master jeweller, we did the designing, heating, flattening, cutting, soldering, shaping, and polishing ourselves!

we've been painting our new office.... the previous color was an appetizing cross between cooked salmon & pepto bismol. here i am jamming out to johnny cash & trying hard to paint a straight line between "brittany beige" & "olive grove" (i'm a freehander). i am also working on curtains... found a great deal on some thai cotton... under $1/yard.

gardening... we've been planting all kinds of stuff.... cucumbers, basil, oregano, LOTS of tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, a flower i can't spell (thanks for the seeds Sandy!)... can't wait to make salsa & spaghetti sauce! mike made a lovely garden in one corner of our yard.... but you'll have to wait for pics.

all for now!

Healing the Wound

I get little snippets like this everyday from the folks at Ransomed Heart ministries... most are quotes from their books (most of which i've read) & are always short, but powerful, encouragements & reminders for me.

Healing the Wound 08/17/2006

If you wanted to learn how to heal the blind and you thought that following Christ around and watching how he did it would make things clear, you’d wind up pretty frustrated. He never does it the same way twice. He spits on one guy; for another, he spits on the ground and makes mud and puts that on his eyes. To a third he simply speaks, a fourth he touches, and for a fifth he kicks out a demon. There are no formulas with God. The way in which God heals our wound is a deeply personal process. He is a person and he insists on working personally. For some, it comes in a moment of divine touch. For others, it takes place over time and through the help of another, maybe several others. As Agnes Sanford says, “There are in many of us wounds so deep that only the mediation of someone else to whom we may ‘bare our grief ’ can heal us.”

So much healing took place in my life simply through my friendship with Brent. We were partners, but far more than that, we were friends. We spent hours together fly-fishing, backpacking, hanging out in pubs. Just spending time with a man I truly respected, a real man who loved and respected me—nothing heals quite like that. At first I feared that I was fooling him, that he’d see through it any day and drop me. But he didn’t, and what happened instead was validation. My heart knew that if a man I know is a man thinks I’m one, too, well then, maybe I am one after all. Remember—masculinity is bestowed by masculinity. But there have been other significant ways in which God has worked—times of healing prayer, times of grieving the wound and forgiving my father. Most of all, times of deep communion with God. The point is this: Healing never happens outside of intimacy with Christ. The healing of our wound flows out of our union with him. (Wild at Heart , 127–28)
From The Ransomed Heart, by John Eldredge, reading 229 Ransomed Heart Ministries

If you'd like to subscribe to this daily mailing, go to the "My Profile" section on www.ransomedheart.com and create a new profile... then you'll need to check the Daily Readings List checkbox in your profile.

quick fixes

thought i'd pass on some domestic wisdom i've learned lately...

when __________ .... just _________________.
1. one of the holes in your vinyl shower curtain rips.... apply generous amounts of hot glue to the torn section. it's clear (unlike duct tape) and seems to be working. i'll give you an update on durability after we actually take showers.
2. you turn all your husband's favorite t-shirts various shades of pink.... wash again with non-colorfast clothes that are a more "acceptable" shade for a guy. i threw them in a hot-water wash with a dark navy thai outfit... voila! sky blue beats pepto pink anyday, & looks great on my hubby!
3. you have a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.... rest a bit, & wait for a dear friend to show up with chocolates. thanks Catherine!

feel free to share any of your own tips.

map to our house

(click for a bigger size)

29/16 Mu Baan Sri Suk

ireland

O Ireland isn't it grand you look--Like a bride in her rich adornin? And with all the pent-up love of my heart I bid you the top o' the mornin!
John Locke
"The Exile's Return"

if you haven't heard, after our last recording trip, i abandoned my husband for 10 days and went to ireland... a good friend had been planning to go there on her sabbatical and was without a travel partner at the last minute, so i obliged her...
the really miraculous thing was that we were both able to get free plane tickets through our frequent flier programs within a couple months of the trip and even arrived in dublin within an hour of each other!
we drove our way around the south to glendalough, avoca (for all you ballykissangel fans), wexford, kilkenny, waterford, cork, killarney, the dingle peninsula, galway, clifden/connemara, & all the beautiful roads in between surrounded by goats, sheep, cattle (sometimes on the roads, as well) and fences made of stone.... we saw tons of buildings, abbeys, castles, rocks, ruins, shorelines, churches, graveyards, & gardens... all considerably older than the country of our birth.
the place was gorgeous and the people were just beautiful... they were always friendly & welcoming... a few times we were approached by strangers on the street who thought we looked lost & did not want to mug us, but actually wanted to help us...
if you'd like to see oodles of great pictures of ireland, debbie, and me, go to debbie's ireland photos on snapfish... you'll need to get a login if you don't have one, but it's easy... let me know if the link doesn't work.

faR&R away from the city

mike & i saw an article in a local magazine about ko jum... an island not a lot of people have heard of (yet) down in the south of thailand... we've been really busy -- & itching to go somewhere "lonely" for a while -- & decided to go for it next week since we'll be in bangkok for work...

just had to share with you the correspondence i had with the sweet thai man who owns the "beach bungalows" we'll be in.... i didn't edit anything so you could get the full experience...

(this is his response to an email from me asking him about the difference between the 2 ends of the island where we will be staying... we had already spoken on the phone, which was an equally delightful & cultural experience)


Dear Caryn
I just get my mail today after already have conversation to your goodself, the diffirence between Nort and South are:
1. local people call nortern part Ban Koh Pu and Southern part Ban Koh Jum end up with the island have two name.
2. northern have high mouthen the highest in the regien while the southern are flat land.
3. more resort on the south than the north because the road access to the north beach is resently constracted,
This may help you to know abit about Koh Jum and Koh pu before arrive their.
Since we have quite limited choise of food on the island and no refigirator to preserve food because no public eletric supply may I ask you very ood question that can you take see food? so we can prepare proper row meterial food for you.
Best wishes
Paul (Somporn Sangsuwan)

note that we are staying on the NORTH end of the island, "ko pu"... the one with high "mouthen" (mountains) and less "resorts" (mostly just little beach huts that run around $7-$12/night)... and that neither end has electricity... we are very excited about the fresh "see food" (fish & whatnot)....

the 4th

we had a great time celebrating our country's birthday last week...

there is a US consulate in chiang mai, so we joined many other americans, as well as thai guests, in an evening of "american style hotdogs", sodas we'd been missing from the states (like sunkist & dr. pepper), make your own patriotic necklaces, and a "rousing sing-along" followed by fireworks to end things right.... all very fun, but we have no evidence of this fun since cameras & cell phones were "discouraged" at the consulate....

afterwards, we invited friends & neighbors back to our place for dessert, games, & patriotic movies...

it's amazing how patriotic you get when you leave the country... caryn decided to decorate the party cups and wrote a line from all 8 stanzas of "my country 'tis of Thee" on each one. yes... there are 8 stanzas! go here if you don't believe it: http://www.montney.com/flag/hymns.htm

a family from texas came... they brought a really cool cake, & we didn't try to explain to them that texas is only a part of the US, and not the entire country...


hope yours was great, too... feel free to leave a comment & tell us what YOU did!