Day Four The Seven Days of Creation: Final Frontier

"And God said, 'Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.' And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day." -Genesis 1:14-19

Day 4 of Creation: "Final Frontier"

“Final Frontier”

24″ X 36″ Acrylic on Canvas

By Brian Ernest Brown, OSH

“The Painting Bishop”

The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars created on the fourth day. Can you imagine, in the words of Carl Sagan, the billions and billions of stars out there? Growing up with science fiction all around me, space captured my attention like nothing else could. The possibilities of life on other planets enthralled me. The depth and beauty of space awed me. As an adult and as a Christian God’s joy and creativity in the creation of the universe captivates and astounds me. I hold dear a dream of exploring the final frontier after I pass from this life someday: to walk barefoot on the moon, with moon dust between my toes. What a treat!

The Scribe in the Woods

The Scribe in the Woods

A hedge of trees surrounds me, a blackbird’s lay sings to me, praise I shall not conceal.

Above my lined book the trilling of the birds sings to me.

A clear-voiced cuckoo sings to me in a grey cloak from the tops of the bushes.

May the Lord save me from judgement; well do I write under the greenwood.

-Ninth Century, Old Irish

Day Three The Seven Days of Creation: Groundbreaking

"And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.' And it was so. God called the dry ground land, and the gathered waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, 'Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.' And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning the third day." -Genesis 1:9-13

Day 3 of Creation: "Groundbreaking"

"Groundbreaking" 

24" X 36" Acrylic on Canvas 

By Brian Ernest Brown, OSH 

"The Painting Bishop" 

Imagine the forces in gathering the seas and creating the earth! The shear heat as the core of the earth forms, spills over and gives birth to dry land. The primal forces of rocks and mountains shoved toward the heavens creating cliffs, caves, plateaus, and valleys!

I tried to capture the movement, shear power, and controlled chaos of the third day while seeding the readied ground with the very beginnings of the wild growing things, vines, flowers, grass, and trees.

No front loaders, bulldozers, earth-movers, or the like. Just the awesome hand of God and His unlimited imagination. God of Power, God of Might!

Kraken Meets Peregrine or VanLife and Biking

As many of you know and most of you will find out, I'm an avid biker.  No, not the of the gas powered variety but of the muscle powered persuasion.  They're much more stealthy and healthy.

I have been toying along time with biking across the United States but have felt inadequate to the task.  Never fear, that's still on my bucket list but first I thought I'd do a little exploring in #VanLife.

However, that being said, I couldn't possibly embark upon that kind of an odyssey with out my beloved Giant Escape City, affectionately named Peregrine.

I purchased Peregrine about eight months ago from Lewis and Clark Outfitters in Fayetteville Arkansas.  Side note: they're an amazing group of folks and I highly recommend them!  Peregrine succeeded Dominic, my Globe Vienna, which I dearly loved.  He had been a gift from a dear friend and I put many, many, many miles on Dom over several years.  Though I've already put several hundred miles on Peregrine, he and I are just getting to know one another.  He's a swell bike, quick, agile, sturdy, utilitarian, comfortable, and pleasant to look at.  All I could ask for in a bike really.

My brother and his fiance gifted me with a wonderful bike rack just before Christmas this last year.  I was going out of town on a craft show and wanted to take Peregrine with me.  The bike rack they gave me is absolutely wonderful: a Swagman XC.

Due to various challenges, I wasn't able to take Peregrine with me at Christmas and that is just as well.  I spent December in Manhattan Kansas at a mall there and it was bitter cold for the most part and I worked around the clock blowing glass so I wouldn't have gotten in much bike riding.

So, for the first time, the Kraken got to meet Peregrine today.  It would appear to me a good match and the bike rack seems to be perfect for my needs.  I'm looking forward to the possible exploration to come!

Blackout Panels & Curtain for Stealth Camping

So as it turns out the blackout panels and the curtain were the most expensive  endeavor for the van.  I'll detail my final cost in an upcoming post.

For the blackout panels I used "plastic cardboard" or corrugated plastic sheets and Reflectix reflective insulation.

I cut the plastic panels to size and then used 3M Spray Adhesive Hi-Strength 90 to laminate the Reflectix insulation on both sides.  I used the 90 because it was heat resistant and I thought that perhaps that might be better given that the panels would go in the seven windows in the van.

I used craft paper to trace the pattern of the windows and then transferred that pattern to the plastic sheet and cut it out with an xacto knife.  The panels fit really tightly so I added gorilla tape pull tabs to each of them to help in removing them from the windows.  All in all, it worked well and took about two days to complete at a cost of about $120.

The black out curtain I lucked into in the clearance isle of a Wal-Mart.  They were standard curtain panels of about seven feet tall.  I cut them down to about four feet and hemmed them with permanent fabric glue.  I hung them from a tension rod between the cab and the cargo area.  The three foot remnants I also hemmed and kept for possible future use. The curtains were on sale for about $20 each and I used two panels.  With the fabric glue and tension rod my cost was $56.  This brings my total to around $176.

Honestly, this was the most challenging part of the buildout but one that I'm very pleased with in the end. The panels fit surprisingly well and the curtains are perfect.  I'm also glad that I doubled the amount of Reflectix I used.  I like the way it looks on the inside and it does double duty as insulation.

The Kraken is one step closer to #VanLife!

I Want To Know What It's Like

I was so moved by this that I wanted to draw particular attention to it on To Love So Well The World.

This video is a reminder that we live in the Land of the Brave and the Home of the Mostly Free.

When will we determine that the rights observed for some should be observed for all?

Writing Rock Talk

Writing Rock Talk

By Brian Ernest Brown
6 June 1991

The wind rocks
the trees to talk
as I sit on the rock
colored with chalk
of loves crock
now we talk...

She offers,
“let us write
of our plight
of what’s wrong and right
in a poets sight tonight.”

I think,
I can’t write
on command
putting together words that band
like pearls in a strand
that rhyme and make sense!

The Not Quite Dead Yet Poet’s Society
will eventually come to notoriety
some may call this piety
I call it Writing Rock Talk!