A few of my favorite things (to do)

June 19, 2008 at 2:43 pm · Filed under creation, freedom, fun stuff

There are a lot of things I like to do that I don’t do often enough. I’m learning how to make jewelry and hair ornaments from silver and copper wire and stones and crystals. I really enjoy this. I’m a complete novice at it and I struggle to make something that doesn’t look too amateurish. But it’s so fun! Other things I like to do:

Play acoustic guitar (I’m a decent rhythm guitar)

Sing (not too scary)

Sew - I actually attended the International Academy of Merchandising and Design back in the mid-80s and learned how to draft and drape patterns

Paint - Watercolor is my favorite medium and I was also introduced to this at the International Academy during fashion illustration class.

Watch birds

Train animals - this is actually very high on my career potential assessment

Listen - I am a good listener. People tell me their struggles and dreams because of this

Write, of course - but not the kind of writing that I do for a living, unfortunately. I love to write creatively and spontaneous, but also love to write to instruct (but only on topics I love, which again, doesn’t really include open source software - not that i don’t love open source software, but it’s kind of dry)

Fishing - this is very relaxing for me. Darin doesn’t have fun unless he catches something, but me, I just love the activity of fishing. It is more fun if you catch something, though, and I don’t mean frog fish.

Photography - this is like instant painting to me. I love the artistic aspects of photography - the layout, the light and shadow, the color or the light and dark of the grayscale.

All of these things make me wish I wasn’t stuck here in front of this doggone computer screen.

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Being in awe all over again

May 17, 2008 at 12:29 pm · Filed under creation, faith, fun stuff

Sometimes it’s the simplest things that bring me back to a place of wonder. We finally received our harvester ants in the mail yesterday. I’m sure the women at the post office were thrilled to place in our mailbox an envelope proclaiming “live harvester ants.”

We brought them home and tipped them out of the test tube into the blue gel of the ant farm. After a brief period of adjustment, the ants got to work doing what Dad created them to do: work. Apparently things like sleeping, eating, and relaxing don’t matter to ants too much.

They worked all night long tunneling in this hard, blue gel-like substance that was created by NASA scientists to house ants they took with them on space missions. They’d attempted to bring ants before, but the tunnels were always destroyed in the process of takeoff and zero gravity. This “space gel” solves the problem of collapsing tunnels and also provides moisture and nutrients for the ants.

It is fascinating to watch these creatures communicating and performing their roles, and so beautiful to see in the clear blue habitat. It makes me realize once again how creative and just amazing God is, and my heart is led to worship Him both for the creation of the ants, and the creation of people who design these wonderful little habitats where we can so easily observe the ants at work. Thank you Daddy.

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