Almost missed it!

I is for....
Illuminated Lettering.
I almost missed ABC WEDNESDAY this week.  First I couldn't come up with a good IDEA.  Nothing really rang a bell and I had been thinking about it for several days.  I just didn't feel very INSPIRED.  Finally I decided I would go with ILLUMINATED Letters, but when I tried to find some INTERESTING facts about the subject, I couldn't find any INFORMATION that I thought everyone wouldn't already know.  In addition, the graphics I found  were INSIPID and commonplace.  Time was passing and still I didn't have a page to post. The things that really make ILLUSTRATED lettering  worthwhile is the fact that they are an INTERESTING historical art form and frankly, because gold, silver and copper were used to make the letters and the page outstanding.  Since none of those scan too well I thought this might make the topic anti-climatic.  Then I thought I 'd look at modern examples of this form of art work.  That INSPIRED me even less.  I'm such a traditionalist!  Since time was still passing fast, I finally decided I would do one myself and dispense with colors, so that it wouldn't look like a shoddy copy of an authentic art form.  
Then it happened!  My computer went down, giving me a legitimate excuse for being late in posting! So I was able to take my time in producing my  example of an illuminated letter 'I'. I did it in pen and black INK to preserve, I hope, an historically valid sense of authenticity.

Now here it is 24 hours later and I nearly missed the opportunity altogether because I have only just been able to get my computer up and running.  

So, better late than never!

I'm sure there are at least 100 posts for the letter 'I' on abcwednesdayround3.blogspot.com
So pop on over via this link and see what better brains than mine have been able to come up with.

Koran Burning? What would Jesus do?

WEDNESDAY'S WORDS ON THURSDAY
In the light of the obvious unrest and trouble brewing over the Florida pastor who is urging the burning of the Koran, here are some comments from Jesus and the apostles that have significance:

Be not overcome with evil but overcome evil with good.


"Vengeance is mine, I will repay," says the Lord.


Whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake the dust from off your feet.  Matt10:14
.
Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.


Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the Sons of God. Matt. 5:9


Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

There are many more quotes I could give, but I will simply emphasize that nowhere does Christ or the apostles advocate aggressive, disrespectful behavior towards those who do not believe as we do.

I am an evangelical and I believe the Bible.  I am as disturbed as many others are about the methods Islamic extremists use and advocate to spread their faith and seek vengeance on the rest of the world who do not believe a they do. Evangelicals  are often considered extremists because of some who behave obnoxiously. But 99.9% of evangelicals would condemn Rev. Terry Jones for his call to burn Korans. Yes there are some who might agree but then again there are those who believe Christianity is harmful (see the Humanist Manifesto) and I personally have been insulted and scorned and spitefully used for being a Christian. But God knows.  I leave it in His hands.
Ultimately, I believe as the scriptures teach, that God has all world events in His Hand and He will let this world and all evil in it, play itself out in His own good time.  It is eternity that will bring about justice in this world. The question is do I have the patience and grace to let Him do it?

Those who call Christians intolerant should beware that their anger against Christians for what they believe does not become intolerance in itself.  Tolerance is a new buzz word, but if everyone practiced tolerance no one would stand up for any limits in morals and values. As the saying goes, "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything."

******

10 minutes later 

Already there are those who would post comments on my blog comments which I in no way endorse.  I will remove them as soon as I (and blogger) can.  Please ignore them and don't give them the satisfaction of you  visiting their blog.

Flamblogger: H is for...

H is for HIGH SCHOOL....

BRIDLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS,  to be exact.

In spite of the fact that it was an all girls school, it was simply a regular high school.  That's the way it was done in those days, boys at one school, girls at another.  You can tell that I'm a dinosaur!  This was the days before comprehensive schools in England.  So did we grow up with complexes about boys?  Did we feel deprived? Believe me we did not!  There was plenty of association between the boys' school and the girls' school.  After school and weekends we had many opportunities of which to take advantage.  In fact, on SPORTS DAY the boys visited the girls' school in flocks because we girls did sports in our uniform underwear knickers -- green ones.!!  Too bad I don't have any photos of that!

BRIDLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

It was a beautiful old building, especially this wing you see here.  We had a great gymnasium, the beautiful Bickersteth Library, and a large hall with a choir loft, organ and balcony.  It was known as the White Hall for obvious reasons.  There was a large playing field area on which we played field hockey, lacrosse, cricket, rounders, and net ball.  Around the field were four or five grass tennis courts in addition to three or four hard courts. Sadly today it has been made into flats.

I loved my days at school.  We had all the normal, good, clean fun that kids had in that day.  "School days are the happiest days of your life" it has been said and for me it was just about true ("just about" because I've had a lot of happy days since) in spite of the hated lisle stockings and beret style hat that we HAD to wear to and from school.  Trouble for you if you were caught by a prefect without your hat on!

The prefects of the sixth form and sixth senior with the headmistress (r) Miss Muir, and my all time favorite teacher, Miss Eaton. 

I'm not on this photo, I must have been absent that day.  But I am still in active touch with three of the girls  shown above.  And don't we look sharp in our hunter green skirts (everyone else had to wear gymslips), crisp, white vyella blouses and ties striped horizontally in black, white and green. and anchored with our proudly worn prefect badges.  You should have seen our blazers  -- striped vertically in black white and green.  We looked like zebras.  But we were so proud of them.

I am thankful daily  for the really good education I received there. I was not an outstanding student.  Somehow it didn't dawn on me that we were actually supposed to learn what we were taught -- that is until my father said that if I wanted to stay at school after age 16 and attend college, I had to pass my GCE exams.  I had never studied so hard as I did for those exams, as opposed to not studying at all for prior exams.  I took seven subjects and passed all seven. I was really motivated. Thankfully I did well and the rest, as they say, is history.

SO 'H' IS FOR HAPPY HIGH SCHOOL DAYS!

More Artwork

I just don't seem to be getting out and about to take photographs lately, so my artwork is done in the evenings and I will have to make a point of going somewhere for photographs.  In the mean time:

Here is my entry for Wanda's Challenge, a ring and gorgeous blue stones (Sapphires?)

Then there is this one based on a photo I took months ago.  I finally got around to doing it.  It is someone who shall be nameless, at the Leo Carillo Ranch.

We have more cold weather on the way and September is usually our hottest month.   This is a record breaking cool summer, thanks as I understand it, to La Nina.  (Pacific waters too cold.)

A Plate of Figs and Kitten News.

This is my effort for Wanda's Art Challenge -- A Plate of Figs,(done in Prisma colors and a little pen and ink). Visit Wanda's art gallery for other renderings via the link above.

I've never really had much to do with figs because as a child my first associations with them and incidentally, California, were not too pleasant!  Brits who are reading this may share my associations.  If we children were cranky and bad tempered, out would come the bottle of California Syrup of Figs, which was supposed to put us to rights again.  It is a strong laxative and all I remember were the miserable stomach cramps that went with it! So I have never eaten a fig since.

The kitten news is good.  A friend of mine from church told me they were looking for a complete grey tabby. So I said I would look out for one at the shelter and give them a call if one came in .  They wanted it to be two to three months old.  Well to make a long story short, I saw one had come in on Thursday.  They came down and looked at it, but it had a hold on it which meant that someone else had first dibs.  But if they didn't show up by Saturday noon, then my friends had the next opportunity.  They came down and looked at it and decided that it was just what they wanted.  So this afternoon I got an excited call to say that they got the kitten!  People put holds on several kittens at a time and then later after making up their mind they forget to take the 'hold' off their other choices.  Any way I am very excited to know that I had a part in placing a kitten.  It's not part of my job description and I only get to interact with people through the windows.  But I do get to do all the cuddling.

   We have some beautiful fully grown cats at the moment.  They are all so healthy looking and affectionate too.  Some of these need a home so badly.  They love every moment that I give them and it's hard to tear myself away from them and move on to another cat.  I just tell myself, well, I've just given that cat 20 minutes of happiness that he wouldn't have had if I weren't there.

  Sterling and Donavan are actually thriving without the other cats.  I do believe they are eating more because they don't have to compete.  Sterling is actually putting on some weight.  He was really too thin before.

My Cooper's Hawk Painting

I wasn't going to post this as I really wasn't satisfied with him but I'd promised Wanda at Wanda's Art Challenge that I would paint him and send him over to her.  But Crusty Crone left a comment on Wanda's blog about my hawk, which Wanda posted. So I silenced my self critical complaints and here he is:

So shall I tell you why I wasn't satisfied with him or let you figure it out for yourself?

Oh well. here goes:

1.  His head isn't wide enough in proportion to the rest of him

2.  The wing is too wide and doesn't look as if it is sitting flat against him.

3.  The tail is too wide in proportion to the rest of him.

I do like his head, his eye and the spots on his breast, but I'm so picky! I am rarely satisfied with what I paint. I have thoughts of trying to correct him this weekend, but this is water color and I may just ruin him.  It's either that or doing him over and I hate doing things over.  Also, I have Wanda's plate of figs waiting to be done and some other still life pieces Sandy has contributed.

Thank you Crusty Crone for the encouragement.  I wouldn't have posted him if you hadn't said something.

Then too, I must visit the shelter tomorrow and Saturday.  Poor Sterling is all alone and was so pleased to see me today.  I promised to go back again tomorrow.  All his room mates have been adopted!  And he looks at me with those big yellow eyes as I get ready to leave the room, that seem to say "Are you going to leave me here all alone? Take me with you, p..l..e..a..s..e..."

Tomorrow I will beg the powers that be to put another friend in there for him.

 P.S.   For cat lovers everywhere... please visit my sister's blog 

A Patchwork Quilt Made by Design (Click on this)

You won't be disappointed  it's hilarious!

Wednesday's Words on Thursday.

WEDNESDAY'S WORDS ON THURSDAY.

 

"LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED, YOU BELIEVE IN GOD, 

BELIEVE ALSO IN ME." John 14:1

Jesus is saying that it's not so hard to believe in God, so why is it so difficult to believe that He is God.?  There is nothing to be afraid of when we believe in Him.  He is God. We know God loves us and wants the best for us.  Jesus, because He is God wants the same for us.

John's Gospel is full of evens and comments showing clearly that Jesus is God.  One of John's last comments about his own writing of the Gospel of John shows clearly where he stands.  He says,

"These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His Name." John 20: 31.