psalms and over the rhine

i was searching for an mp3 link yesterday (by the way, if you find one for mirah's nobody has to stay, let me know. i found a link on funtimeok.com but they left threatening messages about "hotlinking" their mp3's. apparently "that's not cool" in computer land??), and came across over the rhine's flown free. they were requested last year to write a song about psalms 124 and 129 based on the new translation of the book of psalms by eugene petersen (found in the message) and this was the result. very simple, yet very new city fellowship.

psalm 124:8
our help is in the name of the LORD who made heaven and earth...

the russians

my russians are gone. back to moscow! nastia on the left, ilya on the right. now that they're gone it's way too easy to communicate with my staff. i asked ilya what he's going to do when he gets home...
"buy a mercedes benz," was the reply.

we had a quite hilarious conversation the other night, the three of us. it mostly consisted of teaching each other randomn words in our respective languages. don't ask.

so i will miss my russians.

here's devotchka's how it ends for your listening pleasure.

i saw the sign

today, i found this street sign:


in any other part of the world, one might wonder why this street was given this name, you know ponder what church might have existed on the very same spot long ago...



there is no guessing game on long island. you've got a church lane? you've got a church.



i also happen to live on school street which is the very same street on which the only school on shelter island can be found. it's pretty common around here to find only one item of anything in any given town. so it also follows why each street has been named according to that thing located on it. i think it's rather convenient. to find the ferries, you first find ferry road. to find the hospital? yep, hospital road. it hopefully gives you a pretty good idea of how small the towns are out here. kind of funny considering new york city is so close and like a million of everything can be found there...

...i saw a very aptly named fishing boat today when i was on the ferry heading into greenport. the poor fishes. but doesn't the sky look amazing? it truly is beautiful out here...

sitting ducks

today was a day off. like yesterday. so i went to the beach! it started off nice, and then chilled off pretty quickly. it was only me and one other person out there enjoying the ocean. tourist season is pretty much over on shelter island (s.i.). this is nice in many ways since it provides an opportunity to take pictures. i wish i had a better camera!

these are the beach chairs that typically are a hot item and hard to come by on any given holiday. today i had my pick.

fashion sense

i was just skimming through the internet and happened upon the fashion section of the japan times. these are pictures from a recent fashion show. any thoughts?

"Eri Utsugi debuted her mercibeaucoup brand at Japan Fashion Week this March with a catwalk show involving animal-shaped afro wigs and a shower of confetti swept along the runway by models. YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTOS"

garden of eden

one of the perks of living on long island is the plethura of local fruits, vegetables, eggs, bread, CHEESE, WINE, that can be found when driving down any road. my road of choice right now is highway 25. this takes me down the north fork. on highway 25 you can find farm stand after farm stand to pick and choose from when shopping for local goodies. today i chose this special stand. it's also open the latest, a whopping 7pm, every evening.

did i mention wine? yes, long island is also home to many vineyards. apparently the climate here is conducive to certain types of grapes, especially the gewurztraminer, riesling and pinot noir varietals. i have already found a favorite as well. it happens to be the first wine i savored in my new dwelling place, the lenz vineyard gewurztraminer, ben's choice. that boy has immaculate taste...

addendum

i had a request from one mrs. howard to post a picture of my "porch." it is not a porch, as you can see, but a sort of small courtyard. i love it.

home sweet home...

i'm officially living by myself for the first time ever. i have mixed feelings about this. first, since most of y'all know how annoying it is to move, i've made record time in getting unpacked and things placed where i want them to go. some might call this "setting up house." ben being here really helped with this, of course. he moved all my heavy stuff, helped me clean, helped me put shelves up, helped me stay on task, etc. he's awesome and i love him more than i can possibly desribe on this blog. but still, when you live with others it takes FOREVER to get things situated because everybody has an opinion about where things should go, how they should function, who gets what shelf in the bathroom, in addition to who gets what bedroom and has to take out the trash first.

however, i've had approximately a total of 30 different roommates over the past 8 years. while this may seem like a lot, it's pretty much on par with everyone else i know. and come to think of it, i've pretty much been roommates or housemates with everyone i know. weird... anyway, this has conditioned me to actually enjoy sharing space with others. there are of course all the usual little annoyances i've never gotten over. "they never clean..." "their junk is all over the living room..." "i'm the only one who buys toilet paper..." "if they can just wipe down the counters after they cook..." "who took my sweater?..." or better yet, "hey, isn't that my sweater you're wearing?..." and the list goes on until eternity. but these things are so small in comparison to sharing space and life with others. i love sharing life. and front porches ("kiko, you are stoops..."). and food. and wine. so living alone really isn't something i'm looking for in this world. i know that we are meant to be in communion with others. people weren't meant to be alone. we're told that from the very beginning of the world.

that all being said, here is a picture of the living room in my new house, my fortress of solitude. if i was to live anywhere by myself, this definitely is the place to do it. (unfortunately, although his image is captured in the background of this picture, ben does not come with the house.)