Sunday 6 July 2008-  A lady who for years had said to me every time we meet, "I love your work.  I want to buy something just as soon as I can find a good place for it," was astounded to learn my prices have increased while she was finding a good place.  "But you make all this out of TRASH!" she accused.  I must plead guilty.
  Trash is a crime perpetuated upon the earth by humans.  In nature there is no trash.  Whatever is cast off or lost in nature immediately begins to be gathered up again into new becomings.  Of all God's creatures, only people, the great cycle-breakers, produce trash.

BELOW: 
Raven Cliff Falls
Mountain Bridge Wilderness, Greenville County SC

ABOVE: 
Wild Pinks above Matthews Creek
Mountain Bridge Wilderness, Greenville County SC

  Sunday 13 July 2008-  This morning, a friend was talking about his concern that our choice of music in worship could alter our "sense of the sacred."  Although his conversation was leading off to another matter, he left me pondering the relationship between our songs to God and our sense of God. In a discussion about this over lunch with my daughter, she suggested that it is more likely that our sense of the sacred will shape the nature of our music.  This isn't a matter of musical style, which is determined by prevailing culture more than anything else.  Blues can touch us as deeply as Bach.  It isn't the music that gives rise to spiritual awareness; it is our awareness that empowers the music.
  In the end, I had to agree with my daughter that if you're on fire to hear the sound of the sacred, you'd be better off to skip church and go stand alone on the side of a mountain, and listen to sounds that are produced with no self-consciousness, without any hope or expectation of acclaim or reward- the sounds of woods and water and weather.  These are the purest praises to God.
 
BELOW: 
Rhododendron near Caesar's Head
Mountain Bridge Wilderness, Greenville County SC

  Wednesday 16 July 2008-  I'm spending a lot of time this summer walking up and down mountains with my daughter, Kate. Coming back down Little Pinnacle Mountain a couple of days ago, while we were traversing the base of a large rock face, I took a hard fall, which apparently nudged my rebellious hip back into it's proper place.  It's been doing much better since then.

BELOW: Cleveland Cliffs from Little Pinnacle Mountain

  Wednesday, 6 August 2008-  Sunday at church, I heard a young woman, probably about the same age as my daughter, preach about Jacob and Jesus.  She spoke from a Wisdom beyond her years, and with a Passion more than her own.  As a child, I heard a lot of talk from grown-ups about "Spirit-filled preachers."  I'm glad I lived long enough to actually see one.

ABOVE:
Falls Creek Falls
Mountain Bridge Wilderness
Greenville County SC

LEFT:
"Shore"
wood, stone, shells, seed pods(tulip), found objects, acrylic
9x9x3 in.

RIGHT:
"Shore 2"
wood, stone, shells, found objects, acrylic
11x9x3 in.