Summer Reading

Each summer I consider a list of books for summer reading, polling friends, publications' recommendations, and the periodic book review on NPR. Each summer I gather my stack of books and place them on the coffee table so that I see them every time I am in my living room. Since switching to the Kindle for most of my pleasure reading, the devices sits there, plugged in, fully charged, waiting for me to pick it up and start pressing the next page button.

The stack still contains most of the books from five summers ago.

Summer is just too full of life for sitting and reading.

Most of the time.

This summer I am participating in two book studies at church and, well, since I co-leading one of them, I really have to read the book and stay a little ahead of the rest of the readers.

Both of the books are stretching my thinking about the topics at hand. For the Summer Bible Study we are going through Hard Living People & Mainstream Christians. I have always struggled in ministry with "hard living people" as I have never been comfortable in those environments, but the book is causing me to readdress my thoughts about participation in the ministries and has broadened my understanding of hard living. The scripture also gives use firm commands from the Old Testament to the New Testament that we are responsible for all people - even and especially those who fit the category Christ called "the least of these."

For a socially progressive congregation, even using the term, "least of these" or "hard living" proves challenging. Who are we, after all, to label others?

The world labels people and we are naive to ignore that. Recognizing the reality in the world does not make us of the world, but to function in it, we have to adopt an appropriate language, appropriate behaviors, and appropriate attitudes. We have to get real.

We opened the discussion with stereotypes - stereotypes we have about hard living people, and thankfully, with participation of some people who fit the definition of hard living, we were able to get an honest take on the stereotypes they have about people in the church.

The world cuts both ways.

Sometimes it is hard to see that hard living people come in all types.

The same is true of Christians.

Maybe we have more in common than we think. The study so far has led me to believe this more deeply than I have in the past. I'm looking forward to learning much more as we get farther in the book.

The book focuses on hard living people in regards to difficult home situations, substance abuse, poverty, homelessness or under-housed situations. The more deeply I delve into that, I realize that I could be considered hard living. I do not have a difficult home situation, I don't abuse substances, I am not poor or homeless.

I am hard living in that I do not stop running from waking at 5:00 a.m. to bedtime between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m. most nights. I find it very difficult to give another person the attention they deserve when I am in their presence because my mind constantly runs ahead to the next thing I need to do. Something occupies my time from the moment of waking until sleep - from mundane chores to intense work, reading, study.

I like texting and online chat because it does not require my full attention. I can do six other things on the computer while chatting with twelve people at once.

I like planning events with friends. I like the many meetings outside of work in which I participate. I like the things I do.

They bring me much joy.

I am always exhausted and more of my personal relationship are superficial than I would like.

How much more joy could I have?

The people the book defines as "hard living" have much joy in their lives too. They just take joy in different things than I enjoy.

So far in the reading and discussions, the commonalities we have far outstrip the differences.

Maybe we have more in common than we think.

Water Death

While observing the life around the pond, I noticed too, how precious life was by the creatures that lost their life there.

Some moths landed too close to the water.

Some frogs come out of the water to land on fire ants and were soon devoured.

You cannot see the frog because so many ants are covering it. I had to poke it with a stick to see what they were eating.

Some frogs were just dead - perhaps after trying to catch a bee instead of a fly.

And some flies were just dead because they landed on my leg and I swatted them. I do not have any pictures because there was not anything left to show of them.

The glories of life in its diversity was only made more valuable by the juxtaposition of death side-by-side.

I just have to be still and around me, I will see the entirety of the circle of life.

Being Still

This morning I went down to my parents’ pond - or what’s left of it - and took the time to really look. The Nature Channel on television has infinite documentaries on watering holes and the animals that use them, but I had never seen one on insects. 

I had never taken the time to look for them either.

This morning, the entire remnant of the pond was abuzz with various bugs that came for sustenance or supplies. Bees, wasps, and flies worked in abundance around the limited water that was left. Some bees and wasps gathered water while others gathered together bits of mud for their nest.

All it took was me being still for a little while.

Being still and watching what is happening. Listening for the quiet sounds. Stillness and listening. Two qualities we often overlook in this mad world as we try to keep up with all that is happening around us.

Being still I saw wild bugs hovering above the mud.

I do not believe I have ever taken a better picture. Even the newborn fawn does not compare to the hovering bug with its wing caught mid-stoke.

Being still, I saw a variety of moths landing on the mud.

Being still, I saw a red wasp land on the water and be blown across on the wind as the wasp gathered water for building it's paper nest.

Being still, I saw an amazing white-faced beetle crawling around the mud.

Being still, I saw bugs crawling out of the water and across the mud.

Being still, I saw life happening around me that I had never noticed before. No matter what I have going on in my life, I must take the time to stop, pause, and notice what is really happening around me that under other circumstances I would charge right past.

Being still, I must have patience and see the beauty that surrounds me.

Wilderness Skills

For the first time in many years, I spent multiple nights at my parents’ house in my home town. When getting back to their house after spending the bulk of the day at the hospital where my father was recovering from a recent surgery, I would do the chores that needed doing then head out into the pasture with my camera to catch what wildlife or other nature sights I could before the sun went down too much. 

Due to the ongoing drought, even though the time was middle-spring, areas that should be lush and green instead appeared dull, dusty, and stressed from lack of moisture. Armadillos were out well before dusk to begin their digging in search of grubs near the surface. I even managed to catch a rabbit in the middle of one of the right-of-ways cut through the wooded area. 

The most amazing sight, though, came when I walked upon a doe that was preoccupied with something besides my approach. Long after I snapped the first picture of her, she remained with her head turned aside. Finally she turned aside and I could see something that from the distance appeared to be a cat crawling around below her.

Moving around to gain a better vantage, and with the benefit of my zoom lens, I was able to see the new-born fawn that lay flat against the ground as soon as the doe moved away upon noticing me.

I remembered all the times as a youth I had used my wilderness skills to sneak up on the white-tailed deer in our pasture. I would get within yards of them and yell, “BOO” as loudly as possible just to see them about jump out of their skins. Looking back as an adult, I’m really glad none of them ever attacked me with their razor sharp hooves, but after again being able to sneak up on a deer and see the brand new life, I am glad to know I still have some of the skills.

"Lost" in the Greenbelt

Following the Palm Sunday reading of the Passion Narrative from Matthew, the college group and I went for a hike in the Barton Creek Greenbelt.  Even though we were at unseasonably high temperatures for this time of the year, the hike was, as usual, a nice respite from the city in the middle of the city. Going with the college group, who had never, been made the trip even more fun than usual.

Throughout the hike, lively discussions took place covering on such topics as whether, having been used to kill a bear (or fight off a mountain lion) would make a walking stick any more valuable on the walking-stick-market. I argued that a good story and the appearance of being a trustworthy instrument would make the walking stick much more marketable than just a plain piece of wood pulled from a tree. Marketing can be as important as substance.

The "Lost" hiking in the Barton Creek Greenbelt

Other deep theological questions along the hike mulled “To which Hogwarts house do you belong,” and “What ‘Lost’ character best represents each person on the hike?” While the superficiality of pop-culture themes may seem to dominate the questions, the discussions about placement and characterization lacked any level of superficiality. Instead they behavioral observations and character understanding dominated the points made as individual qualities and quirks were compared with the qualities and quirks of the fictional groups and characters.

Because I have not followed either of the the series (Harry Potter and Lost), I spent the time making observations and asking clarifying questions. More than I could have imagined,  the depth of answers astounded me as did the complexity of characterizations. I had the best time listening to the answers and perspectives. I learned so much about their views of character and the pragmatic approach to character traits. Both good and bad could be argued in different character traits as they apply to the individuals in their respective worlds and the situations in which they found themselves.

I look forward to the next time I get to hear the group talking about topics of interest they have and plumbing the deep wealth of their thinking.

Sprimmer Is Here

We went from late cold snaps directly to summer this year with temperatures in the 90s well before Easter. I am happy in that my garden is growing well, but not so happy in that I do not like to sweat.


Today while watering the herb garden, I noticed the first ladybug on the sage plant.

My other garden plants are also growing quickly. The squash in particular are really taking shape. Both the zucchini and the yellow squash are growing. I particularly am looking forward to them being ready to cook with some of the herbs from the garden.

I plant almost everything in pots with the bottom cut out (thanks dad), and cover the rest of the bed with mulch to keep the weeds out and moisture in. I can also water the plants directly by watering in the pots. Unfortunately this year I ran out of pots for the peppers, but they seem to be doing ok surrounded by mulch.

Mowing it Old School

While I was in grad school (again) I broke down and hired a person to do my front lawn. It created a little bit of time I could recapture for myself even though yard work is one of my favorite chores. Even though I completed grad school almost a year ago, I continued to let him mow the lawn as he had so many stories of struggle and needing the money.

Since my job is on the cutting block, I need the money too, so I finally decided to let him go and mow myself.

In addition to enjoying the work of mowing and trimming the yard, I really wanted to do what I can to go green. I decided to purchase an old fashioned reel mower since my yard is so small. I cannot imagine a time that I won't be able to get the lawn done with the reel mower and I will save a bit on emissions - and do the lawn at midnight and not disturb the neighbors.

The first two rounds of mowing actually went a little bit faster than it did with the old power mower. So I feel good about being good and saving a little time.

The Wilderness at Home

This past week while hiking with my friends I asked them to be on the lookout for snakes, as snakes are one of my favorite photographic subjects, though I find too few around Austin or on the well traveled trails. We did manage to come across a few lizards on the hike, but no snakes were seen.


Until Tuesday when I was working in my garden.

You can see the rat snake top center if you look closely.

And there in my home mulch (along with turkey bones) was a lovely rat snake. Although I had a hoe in my hand, my first thought was not to chop its head off, my first thought was to run and grab my camera (which I obviously did).

A little closer to the snake.

Just the day before I had seen a mouse run into the mulch bin, so I should not have been surprised to find a rat snake in there. I am sure my various mulching and the mice it attracted kept him well fed.

After snapping a few pictures, I put on my gardening gloves and picked him up and checked him out to make sure there were no obvious injuries from being dumped out of a mulch bin and it seemed to be just fine, so I let him go at the far end of the bed, away from where I was working and he slithered off to find more mousey goodness. 

Nowhere Corral

I am taking full advantage of spring break by doing strenuous physical activities. A couple of my friends also had Monday off, so we decided to go for a hike in Pedernales Falls State Park, a park not too far from Austin. We followed the river for a while and then connected with the main hiking trail in the park.

At one point we started to wander down a side trail with hopes that it would lead us to a cliff where we could look down on the river flowing below. We wandered a ways, but there was no sign of anything remotely resembling a cliff. On that detour though, we came across and old homestead with only the majority of the fireplace remaining. Even so, the time had washed away so much of the packing around the stones that it was a pile of stones, that continued to maintain the shape of the fire pit and the chimney.

Nearby we saw an old corral, with the beams sagging, often piled on top of one another instead of spaced up the posts.

We  traveled a bit farther down the trail and came upon some stone fences.

The construction of the fences really amazed me, as they followed the natural contours of the landscape, so the fence did not have to be exceptionally high, but connected to the shape of the land it made an effective barricade.

Though the house was gone and the fences were in grave disrepair, the level of effort and purpose behind the building of those structures amazed me. I cannot imagine how long it took to gather the rock, haul them to the right spaces and then lay them in - both for the fence and the fireplace - so that held their shape despite weather and time and stubborn trees growing up in the middle. The images of the corral especially stayed with me. Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, stood a circular pen with no clear entrance, but the effort to create it demonstrates some genuine purpose behind it, and while it seems in the middle of nowhere today, at one time it was somewhere quite important.

Beyond Necessary

Today I was visiting the classroom of one of the teachers in my department, and I noticed the box of labels on her desk.


I didn't know you needed a label to ship something on the Internet.


It even has permanent adhesive. I guess you cannot delete it once it is received.