This morning I went skiing with the Stampers. The water really was perfect, like glass.

Sometimes I feel like I stay busy all the time, while my friends are off doing crazy, adventurous things. Traveling the world, exploring things near and far. Sometimes I’m content just staying put and doing what is before me, but sometimes I want to taste what the pizza is like in Rome, or see glaciers and mountains face to face. I wonder if it’s something like Galadriel faced when she had the chance to take the one ring and become an all powerful, all terrible force. But instead she chose to remain herself, and fade. Where have such epic stories gone?

The clouds were just right when I stopped to snap this photo…. but my memory card was sitting on my desk, three blocks away! Cluster cuss! The moment was not to be missed, though. Here’s what I got.

I start a lot of things that I don’t finish. This is a terribly sad fact of life for many people, I think. And it’s not always for lack of effort. Take my tomatoes, for instance. Grown from seed long before the last frost, carefully managed inside and out, I planted them in my garden, but for lack of sun and time, they had not yet matured by the time I moved. Not to be thwarted (and with rare foresight), I planted two others in portable, upside-down gardens which are only now flowering. Will they bear fruit before the fall slows their growth? Will anything come of them before the summer heat’s slow dissipation brings their demise? Probably not. And yet, I’m still watering them, and probably much to the amusement of my neighbors, daily examining their growth with an awe that they are alive at all. Yet, all in all, a failed attempt at gardening.

There are half a dozen websites and dozens more domain names I’ve started or bought for one reason or another. A budding business idea here, a creative outlet there. And the only one I’ve successfully launched is the new image-based landing page for this blog. Fail? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps I’ve gained valuable experience from these ventures. Maybe it’ll help get me a job someday, but maybe not. Maybe all I get out of it is the joy of an idea, the frustration of other demands on my time, the new life from creating, the possibilities of something new.

I’ve been doing some freelancing in this space. It’s been really fun to work with really creative people who do a really good job at a lot of things. I’m sure I’ll post more details about it eventually, but for now just enjoy the beauty of this office.

I’ve been trying to find a way to bring this into the conversation somehow, but really can’t, other than by saying that U2 plays the music of my soul. This song– and clever editing– is a special treat.

There will come a time with no more tears.

I Have Always Known
Ariwara no Narihira

I have always known
That at last I would
Take this road, but yesterday
I did not now that it would be today.

Courtesy of Davey’s

Yesterday I took a walk down monument avenue in Richmond, VA. I was with my friend Jason and we discussed, among other things, the amount of money one could legitimately spend to make something beautiful. We walked by gargantuan homes with immaculate lawns, some built over a century ago. Some were simple, others ornate, but all left the mouth somewhat agape as I considered the amount of time and resources required to maintain just the grounds around each.

When God created everything, he was somewhat lavish, don’t you think? From spices to sunsets to gardens, it seems to be an outpouring of who he is to make things lovely. And this is the question for his people, which we’ve vacillated between for millennia: Cathedrals and Gymnasiums– is it appropriate to spend money on aesthetics? Yes, but how much? I mean, in II Chronicles 7, Solomon sacrificed 22,000 rams and 120,000 sheep to dedicate the temple. And then the people feasted for a week. But…