Books I'm Reading

One of the books I brought home from the library the other day was The Violin Maker by John Marchese. I finished reading it a couple days ago, and it was an awesome book. It followed the creation of a fiddle by one of the foremost luthiers in the world from commission to completion. (And a bit beyond, as it described how the musician it was built for took to the instrument. He already owned a Stradivari, so there was stiff competition.) There were a number of fascinating tangents into interesting aspect of the violin creating world; there is more in that world than I could have imagined. For a guy like me, who is fascinated by psychology, music, and craftsmanship, I couldn't have picked a better book. On a completely unrelated note, I got my MacBook back from Apple warranty service, and the keyboard is much better. Hooray!

Things I should be doing more often

There are some things that, given the joy I experience when I do them, I simply don't do often enough. Take hiking, for instance. Whenever I'm outside walking in the woods, I feel a sense of peace and belonging. It also usually makes me want to respond to God with worship. But for all the good it does my soul, I'm more likely to spend the weekend sitting around the house. Another one of these things, and the reason I'm making this post, is going to the library. I always forget the sheer joy I feel at being surrounded by thousands of books, any of which I am free to take home. It's exhilarating. I'm at the library right now, and I must say I'm pretty happy with my take.

• 1 fantasy novel (by the author who is slated to finish Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series)
• 1 non-fiction book about a master violin maker (It interests me every time I go to visit Liz at The Open Book, but I've not been willing to spend the money on it.)
• 2 books of mandolin music / technique (The only two the library has, sadly. They won't provide a bountiful source for this particular interest.)
• 1 book of Rembrandt's art (Besides being ridiculously awesome artists, the great master painters can provide inspiration on the use of light that translates to photography.)
• 2 books of photography (Looking at the selection they have is ridiculously exciting, because these books are expensive to buy.)

What things should you be doing more often?

Continuing the Journey

This is the second picture I took for the Advent series at DCF. As with the first picture, post processing was done by Erin Scott. She's awesome!

New Title

I've changed the title (though not the address) of my blog to more accurately reflect my heart right now. Plus I think the name is cooler. The new title, Whistling in the Dark, comes from title of a book Liz gifted me with a couple days ago. Here is what Frederick Beuchner had to say about it in the introduction:

I think of faith as a kind of whistling in the dark because, in much the same way, it helps to give us courage and to hold the shadows at bay. To whistle in the dark isn't to pretend that the dark doesn't sometimes scare the living daylights out of us. Instead, I think, it's to demonstrate, if only to ourselves, that not even the dark can quite overcome our trust in the ultimate triumph of the Living Light. Hence the title. -Frederick Buechner

A Picture of My Week

Last week, while we were taking the pictures in Anderson for a DCA Advent series, we accidentally happened to be downtown during a big biker rally. We were down off of the main street when we started hearing motorcycles go by. And they kept going by. When we walked out to the main street, there were bikes filling the street as far as we could see in either direction. A lot of them had toys on their bikes or were throwing out candy, so I'm guessing it was some sort of charity event. I pulled my camera out and got a few pictures.

This one captures the feel of the event best: And this one is my favorite from a purely aesthetic standpoint:

(There were a few old cars participating in the rally/parade after the bikes. Also a bunch of four wheelers in a group and one moped mixed in with the motorcycles. I wish I'd caught that guy with my camera.)

This morning we displayed the result of that photo excursion at church:

It's the first of a series, so it's meant to evoke a sense of anticipation rather than standing on its own. I really hope the series as a whole works out. Liz and I got to watch the Collier boys Friday night so Winn and Miska could have the night away. One of the boys favorite things to do was play with the instruments Liz and I brought, along with a few they already had at the house.

Liz had to go to work Saturday, so it was just me and the boys for a while. We played in their room, went to a birthday party (where someone asked if I could be hired for parties), and just generally had a lot of fun.

The only downside of this week is that I'm kind of sick (I hope I didn't give it to the boys!). But the virus will go away soon. The memories will last.