Graphic Design

Today I created what will hopefully be the first of many t-shirts comemorating important days and seasons of my life.  Sunday evening the Life Group is having it’s annual Christmas Party with the theme specially caterered toward white people…tacky Christmas sweaters.  Since I am not a fan of clothing that I don’t wear on a regular basis I do not own any tacky Christmas sweaters.  Since I’m a procrastinator I waited until yesterday to find one.

After searching two thrift stores I decided to make my own Christmas shirt.

I know it’s not tacky but I like it.  Since it is not tacky I think I’m going to wear it all the time.

Serena

A few months ago I was in Nashville to attend a wedding and I stopped by the Southern Book Fair which was happening the same weekend.  While there I picked up Ron Rash’s latest book Serena and met him.  I was happy about both events.

Tonight I finished the novel and, like his three novels already on the shelf, this one did not disappoint.

This novel had several themes.  First the overall plot showed the battle between unrestrained capitalism and environmental conservation.  I use the word battle delibrately because it goes both ways.  Often I think of industry being the problem and those fighting for the environment being above reproach.  Rash shows throughout the novel that both sides are duplicit in thier dealings with each other and that both can be quite selfish.

Secondly the idea of balance in an environment plays heavily through the novel.  What I mean by environment is the actual environment, the home, and relationships.  When things begin to get off balance the entire “ecosystem” begins to dissolve.  

Rash tells of this well toward the end in describing a mountain creek.  Before the logging company came in and clear cut the mountain the creek had delicious water and trout.  Now the water is foul and the fish are no more.

All in all this book was an excellent read.  

 

Lookout Tower Challenge

Last month I came across the Lookout Tower Challenge on the Carolina Mountain Club’s website.  Since I’m nearing completion of the South Beyond 6,000 Challenge I decided I could start this new challenge and so far I have climbed two towers.

The first tower was on Moore’s Knob in Hanging Rock State Park.  The hike was nice; Steve and I made the 2.5 mile climb fairly quickly.  The lookout tower was beautiful.  One unit of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built this stone lookout tower on top of the Knob in order to detect fires in the viewing area.

 

Lookout!

 

 

The second was last Saturday on Flat Top Mountain off the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Moses Cone Memorial Park.  This time Albert, Andrew and Steve joined me as we started at the old Cone home (which is now the Craft Center) and took an old carriage road for three miles up to the summit of Flat Top Mountain.  On the summit the Cone’s built a lookout tower.

The hike itself was gorgeous.  We spent much time walking through an open meadow but the hike paled in comparison to the beauty we found on the tower.

The tower extended just above the treeline and we were able to see Grandfather Mountain, most of the Black Mountains (Mt. Mitchell), the Roan Mountains, and even Mt. Rogers in Virginia.  This was by far the best view I’ve seen in North Carolina.

I’m looking forward to finishing the LTC.  Two down and twenty-two to go!

Some Favorites From 2008

So I haven’t posted anything on my blog for a solid month. It’s not that I haven’t had anything that I wanted to write about it is just I’ve been going nonstop.  Each day I teach and then I’m off to basketball practice.  My business hasn’t been all work relalted.  Life in the evenings with my friends have been full and fulfilling as well.

One constant in my life, as usual, is music.  Last night driving home from last nights basketball game I was listening to Hem’s Eveningland and realized that this year I had become a fan of Hem.  That prompted me to think of the other musicians/bands I had become enamored with this year.

Hem

A few years ago I first heard Hem at an Over the Rhine concert in Charlotte.  That night I had to skip out before they finished playing to meet a few friends from Tennessee so I did not get to fully enjoy their show.  Last year on a Paste Magazine sampler I heard “Not California” off of their most recent album Funnel Cloud.  The next day I traveled to the record store and picked up the album.

Over this year I have been purchasing thier back catalog at used cd stores here in Charlotee and back home in Nashville.  Each album has taken me awhile to truly enjoy but with reapeated listens all have offered up beautiful string arrangements and wonderfully sung subtle lyrics.

Romantica

Romantica has been to Charlotte three times over the last year and I have been too lame to see them.  Fortunately during a trip to Tennessee last winter I found their album America at a used cd shop in Nashville.  At the same time I bought two other albums (Bucket by Mando Saenz and Blue on Blue by Leigh Nash) which I took too quicker so I did not really begin to listen to Romantica till the summer.

When I did finally begin listening to it I began to hear songs about love, blood, life and God.  In one sense they are everything I look for in stories and songs; I want to read and hear about people engaging in thier life.  If thier life is a life filled with faith I want to hear that in the songs like God Walks on the Water.  If it is a man I want to hear songs like Quiver.  If it is a great song writer I want to hear songs like Xcatan or La Traviada.  

Jon Foreman

I gave up on Christian music a long time ago.  I found that it did not engage me how I would like to be engaged with music.  I know this is a gross exageration; there are Christians making great honest music.  I was just fed up with the industry.

One group that I did always enjoy was Switchfoot.  Their lead singer, Jon Foreman, released four EP’s this year, each named after a season.  I have Fall and Winter.  The only reason I don’t have Spring and Summer is because I have never seen them.

His lyrics engage his life which is one of the primary qualities I look for in music.  Since we are all made of similar stuff when someone sings about themselves I can see myself.  One highlight off of Winter is “Learning How to Die.”  Here Foreman sings about a friend that is dying that has come to the realization of their own mortality.  It is both touching and conversation prompting.

This has been a good year for me and finding new music.  Something is about to happen that is going to make 2008 a great year for music…Pierce Pettis‘ new album Let Me Give You Something for the Pain is available for preorder!

Now for a first on my blog…a question for my seven loyal readers!  What is music that has engaged you this year?