Run’n Like a Vagabond is doing a small group study in James that just started last week and I am going to try and keep up. I am not exactly sure about how all the linking works yet, but I know I can read scriptures, so I should be able to figure the rest out.
To read more about the small groups just go to his post about the group, Blogger Small Group, and that should explain things a little better. Basically, they are reading James right now and each Tuesday will blog about what they have learned from the weeks reading.
At this point I am really not sure if I can keep up with the others but I am going to give it a shot anyway. My first post on James will be next Tuesday and will have the small groups logo at the top and be located in the small groups category.
Posts Related to This Topic:
Wow, today was a busy day of work. I usually wear many “work” hats throughout the day, today was no different, but there was a lot of heavy lifting on my part, mostly from boxes of books.
It started off by my normal reading of all my email and feeds from other blogs and as it would happen sometimes, I came across this really cool idea that ragamuffinsoul had about doing a time lapse of your day, A Day In The Life. Of course, I had to give it a try. I have to say, nothing like his, but it was pretty cool. I may just use it as my “welcome” video I have been putting off doing over and over.
A Fire in the Stove, In April?
The morning was quite cold for down here in the south, almost 40° when we woke up, cold enough that Deborah requested I get my act together and get a fire going in our wood burning stove. Yep, last day of April (in the far south no less) and we had a rip roaring fire. The exhaust temp got up to about 1,000° and the stove top temp about 350°, just about the same as dead of winter. We had the house built with a Lopi Wood Burning stove and we never have to run the heater.
Everything Else
I managed to get in a bit of practice on my E blues scale. I am getting a little faster at it but my bent up little finger on the end is having a hard go at the A blues scale. I am supposed to stretch it out, we’ll see. I was able to learn a nice little accompaniment to Hootie and Blowfish’s Michelle Post. All done pretty much with the g-chord, not to hard. After all that I still managed to get in about a 4 mile walk around the property before I was ready to collapse.
At the last minute I decided to join a small blogger group on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s that should be good, if I can find the time, and that post is over on d.amasc.us at Vagabond Blogger Small Group, I’m In.
Posts Related to This Topic:
Coldplay just announced the release of their new album, Vivav La Vida or Death And All His Friends. Coldplay is doing two free concerts, one in New York and one in London for their new release in June, and are offering a free download of one of their songs on the album, Violet Hill. I love the fact that they released a high res version of their front cover, and a free copy of a single on the album. They seem to get working with the digital age where the music industry (like Sony) just want to fight it.
The artwork for the cover is pretty interesting, and this is said to be (by Coldplay) the album which the world will remember them by. Certainly took long enough to release it but I am sure it will be great. From the first single release for Viva LaVida is Violet Hill and probably has a lot to do with the album art above.
The album’s artwork features the classic painting Liberty Leading the People (La Libert guidant le peuple) by French painter Eugène Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830. It is currently on display in The Louvre in Paris.
Go get the download while you can, it is the only release until June.
Posts Related to This Topic:
Something about spiders and spider webs makes for some neat subjects. Add a little morning mist or dew and they really light up. Macro photography is something I really like as well, and the combination of dew on the web and its size made for a great macro photography opportunity. This image of the day wasn’t one that I had to travel real far to take, just went to the back yard. Not to say it didn’t take a little setup, but it was nice to be able to take a shot like this so close to the house.
I took several different versions of this image, this one is one of my more favorite, using a flash. A flash on a subject like this is what makes the background black. Without the flash, you end up with some color in the background, in this case, it was green from the trees, but I like the way the black isolates the subject.
Taking a photograph of a spider web can be lots of fun when you see the results, but shoot many different angles and options, they are not as easy to see on film as one might think. Another good way to photograph spiders or spider webs is using the sun’s angle at first light or last light when you can get some nice color reflecting on the web. Click here If you would like to see more Macro Photography across all photography subjects or Photographing Spiderwebs in the Rain.
Image Specifics
- Body – Nikon n90s
- Lens – Nikon 105mm Macro
- Film – Kodak E-100S
Posts Related to This Topic:
Tuesday’s are busy days around our place. We usually take all our orders from over the weekend in to USPS, which we did today. Deborah packaged up all the book orders, I did all the eBay orders and we made it into town in time for my guitar lesson.
What’s in an E Blues Scale Again?
We found a great deal on a beginner Fender Guitar a month or so ago, and I started taking lessons each Tuesday. This was only my second lesson, but I learned today that I was not holding the pick properly (or using the proper pick), looking in the correct spot, plucking the stings in the correct way, and I lost track after that. It wasn’t really that bad but I have never picked up a guitar prior to my last two lessons so the learning curve seems high to me, especially when you have a day job and can’t practice all that much. I did continue on with the open E Blues Scale, and will try to use some proper technique for next week. At least I can play and still feel my fingers.
New Music Added
I received a few new CD’s from my trading pals over at LaLa again today, and few from Amazon. I have been trying to get a better collection of blues guitarist and these will fit the bill quite nicely.
- Santana – The Essential
- Santana – Supernatural
- Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble – The Sky is Crying
- The Killers – Hot Fuss
- The Killers – Sam’s Town
Everything Else
We finished our work today rather early and went out to dinner at a favorite local place in town called Locos. Usually a college hang out but we arrive well before any of the wilder bunch arrives and we had a nice relaxed meal. By the time we got home it was still light enough outside to take a short walk, only about 2 miles today.
Posts Related to This Topic:
I love this line below in the Robbie Williams song, Make Me Pure, from the Intensive Care album. It really speaks to me sometimes. We all want to live pure lives for our Lord, right? So I ask myself if I do, or do I really just listen to the chorus of this song and know this is how I feel sometimes?
The song goes through various “un-pure” ways and always ends with the line, Lord, please make me pure, but not yet. As Believers, I don’t know if we walk through life trying to keep one foot firmly planted in the world and the other asking for purity. Scripture tells us to separate ourselves from the world and live pure lives, pleasing to the Lord.
I got a ton of selfish genes and lazy bones
beneath this skin
Oh Lord, make me pure, but not yet
After reading some of Williams biography it looks like he struggled with this throughout his life, but I don’t think he has a corner on the market, I think we all ask this question from time to time. I think we try to hang on to those things we want from this world. These can be personality traits or objects, anything that blocks our relationship with our Lord and keeps us firmly planted in the world. This is not a call to become a Puritan, but as a group in history, they are an interesting study.
Our walk is not one in which we can mark the finish line here on earth. It is a constant ebb and flow of our commitment, relationship with our Lord, and our continued repentance and effort to live as scripture teaches us to live. Interesting that this lyric is by an artist that doesn’t make any claim to be a Believer at all. Doesn’t mean that he isn’t still searching for the Truth, as many are.
This could go just about anywhere, so how about it? Chime in below and let me know what you think.
Posts Related to This Topic:
In nature photography, one of the best things to find is some subject with contrasting colors. Of course, you are taking about nature, so it isn’t really up to you, but if you can find a contrasting color (that would be red/green, or yellow/black, or blue/green etc), it will make the image pop out.
Sometimes you have to look REALLY hard to find a contracting color. Red and green are two of my favorite contrasting colors, they just go so well together and each color stands out. In this image, I remember looking around forever for the red/green match and finally found this tiny little spider. Not the largest subject I would have liked, but, a green spider, sitting on a red flower, go figure. Without the green background, the flower itself would not jump out of the image quite as well as it does with the contrasting color in the background.
The spider is about the size of my finger nail at most, so getting in really close was pretty important. Framing the background to have some shade of green was just a matter of framing, and trying to get a somewhat diagonal going from the center of the flower up to the spider is an element of photography I like as well.
Some reviews have not cared for the spider there at all (I do have both shots, but like this one better), and the flower itself could have been a sharper with the focus on the center of the flower (if that was the subject). Since the subject is the spider, he is what is in sharp focus (you may have to click on the larger version to see the detail of the spider better). What do you think? Do you like the spider there or not? He is obviously the subject of the photo, not the flower. The flower is far to soft, but they do tend to compete with each other.
Image Specifics
- Body – Nikon n90s
- Lens – Nikon 105mm Macro with 6T closeup filter
- Film – Fuji Velvia 50
