Birds Do It - 12 November 2021 - Plague Journal Day 610

Micah 6:8
Psalm 96
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

No, not that. I was thinking this morning about music - about composing music with and without words.

I've gone back and forth in my mind as to which is harder, and which is a higher art.

Sometimes I think that since only humans have words to set, then the song is higher than the melody. As the title says above, birds do it. (I once read that if birds could be taught to count they would be the best musicians in the world. Maybe.)
At other times I think that words help in composition - they guide the flow of melodies and the overall structure of the piece, so in a way it's harder to compose pure music than a song.

I've done some of each, but my limited sample doesn't really tell me what I want to know. I'd be interested in your opinion and thinking. Which is a higher art form - music with words or music without words?

As Captain Underpants would say, tra la laaaa!

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Colour My World - 31 March 2021 - Plague Journal Day 384

Micah 6:8 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah+6%3A8&version=ESV

Yes, your life matters. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+30:19&version=ESV

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is National Crayon Day - I always liked the Umbers and Siennas best. Ultramarine was good too.
I was searching the web for pictures of Crayola crayon packages and found the one above. It took me back to my childhood, as that was the box I remember using for all kinds of important projects. We didn't have a lot of luxury items, that's for sure, but we did have good arts and crafts stuff. I guess that really was a pretty big part of my upbringing.

I wonder what liking tertiary colours best says about a person. I'm not big on primaries (Red, Yellow, Blue), secondaries are OK (Orange, Green, Purple), but I'm more of a tertiary guy (Browns, really). Of course I do like my purple and orange sweaters (that's two different ones), and my Detroit Express Staff shirt with the Orange and Blue stripes still hangs proudly in my closet (graced with the autograph of the trainer - Karl Glass!).

In unrelated news, here's one that Christian needs to celebrate carefully. Today is National Tater Day. I suppose if he thinks of it as home runs that's not so bad (although it's before Opening Day, so that's not likely to be the real reference), but if he wants to be able to eat anything else he'll need more than a modicum of moderation.

In even more unrelated news, there are a couple interesting birthdays today.
Johann Sebastian Bach, Saxon organist and composer was born in 1685, following René Descartes, French philosopher and mathematician (or was he Spanish, Mark?) who was born in 1596.
It's pretty cool - Descartes spoke about Creation with Mathematics, and Bach spoke to God with Mathematics. (Thanks to Poul Anderson for that quote about Bach!)

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Art and Faith - 30 January 2021 - Plague Journal Day 324

Micah 6:8
Philippians 4:6-8
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

I attended a very interesting web conversation yesterday around the topic of Art, Faith, and the Church. It was based on the book "Art and Faith" by the speaker, Makoto Fujimura - the subtitle is A Theology of Making. What an exciting conversation it was!
As I noted to the organizers, I can't remember the last time I pulled out pen and paper and took notes from an online discussion (and I took quite a lot, really).

Fujimura was saying that when we Love, we Make - that's his distillation of his book, really. My musings on that phrase took me back to a definition of Love that seems very helpful in a lot of ways. Love can be seen as a will to reality. What I love, I want to be real to me - to be as real to me as I am to myself. That's why when we love people we want to learn about them, we find ourselves thinking of them.
That's why I want to know everything there is to know about Heidi - so she's as real to me as I am to myself. That's why I think of her all the time.

Them, moving on to the subject of making or of creating or of art, it means that what we create - what we're making real - is what we love. We want it to be real to us, so we think about it ... a lot. Another point I made in the conversation is that one way of judging our creations is to ask "where does it point?" If it points to God, then it's definitely worthy. Even if it's a work of less than mediocre craftsmanship, it's still doing what it's supposed to do. If it points to me, or another person, or to the world, it's almost certainly flawed - much as I am. Even if it's a stunning work of the finest craftsmanship, it's not doing what it's supposed to do. (Remember - this was a conversation about the role of creativity and art in the church.)

That brought to mind the line Paul wrote to the Philippians - "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." When our minds are focused on those things, what we create will be as well.
In a similar vein, just before that he tells them that they should "not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." There it is again - living in that peace that passes all understanding keeps our hearts and minds in Christ. When that's where our hearts and minds live, only good works can be made - only the fruit of the Spirit will be found. (Even though I can't write like C.S. Lewis or Charles Williams, nor paint like Van Gogh, nor compose like J.S. Bach, I can still do what I can with what I've been given to the glory of God. Amen.)

S.D.G. indeed

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Carnage du Jour - 09 October 2015

Surf and Turf - a classic.
Yes, but even classics can use a twist now and again, right? Of course right.

So ...
How about some beautiful wild-caught salmon from Alaska and a couple gorgeous lamb chops? We've got surf and turf there for sure.

"Ah, but with what else?" I hear you ask.
How about bow-tie pasta, lightly dressed with some alfredo sauce, and green peas (my favourite colour for peas)? Oh, and a bit of chipotle bearnaise sauce to go on anything and everything?

If you said "yes" to that, then you answered wisely. This was a delicious meal.

The salmon was dusted with Old Bay and a bit of corn meal, then sautéed on the flesh side first, finishing on the skin side. That happened as the pasta and peas were finishing, as were the lamb chops which got a simple seasoning of salt and pepper, then under the broiler with some red wine in the pan beneath to stop any flare-ups and to impart a bit if extra flavour.

Oh my, everything went together like lines in a Bach chorale - as each flavour expressed itself, it created a suspension  - a space for the next flavour to fill and make itself known.

I had intended to grate a bit of orange zest over the lamb and salmon, but I forgot, and I think it was just as well that I did. That would have been fine, but there really was no need for any more notes (too many notes!) in this savoury composition.

Delicious and highly recommended.