Half the Sky

Sometimes, movies move me deeply and it takes time to process them and to respond.  One such movie, that I saw Sunday evening, is Half the Sky.

I don't even know how to write about it.  So, lamely, all I can do is refer/copy from their website:

"The Half the Sky Movement is cutting across platforms to ignite the change needed to put an end to the oppression of women and girls worldwide, the defining issue of our time. Inspired by journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's book of the same name, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide brings together video, websites, games, blogs and other educational tools to not only raise awareness of women's issues, but to also provide concrete steps to fight these problems and empower women. Change is possible, and you can be part of the solution.

The Series

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide includes a four-hour television series for PBS and international broadcast, shot in 10 countries: Cambodia, Kenya, India, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Liberia and the U.S. Traveling with intrepid reporter Nicholas Kristof and A-list celebrity advocates America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union and Olivia Wilde, the series introduces women and girls who are living under some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable — and fighting bravely to change them. Their intimate, dramatic and immediate stories of struggle reflect viable and sustainable options for empowerment and offer an actionable blueprint for transformation. The series will premiere in the United States Oct. 1 and 2, 2012, with international broadcast to follow." 

For the women and the girls in your life, for the women and girls around the world, get and read the book; watch the film.  Be open and be changed. 



Arran Rocks

in more ways than one!

Please try to ignore the shadows in the middle.  I used some older canvas for this that had been folded in half.  The painting has been wetted down and is stretching in the studio over night and the creases should be gone by tomorrow.

Thanks for looking.

Prayer of Being

My dear friend Jennifer shared this beautiful, Celtic-like prayer/song with me.  Spoiler-alert!  If you don't want your spirit to be lifted, don't read these words (Words and Music by Mark Hayes):

Be in my life,
Be in my breath;
Be in my walk,
Be in my rest.
Be in this humble heart of mine;
Be ever present in my mind.

Be in my hands,
Be in my feet;
Be in my eyes
And in my speech.
Be in the smile I give away;
Be in each healing word I say.

Be in my work,
Be in my play:
Be in the struggles of each day.

Be in my joy,
Be in my pain;
Be in my loss,
Be in my gain.
Be in my thoughts,
Be in my song;
Be in my spirit all day long.

Be in my prayers,
At dawn's first light;
Be in my dreams,
all through the night.

Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen
The prayer of my heart
Forever shall be;
In in You and You in me.

God bless you today,
Penny

Saying Du Jour

The problem with doing everything is that you have no time for doing nothing
    -- Anonymous

In the Company of Strangers

Once upon a time, a couple from the Midwest in the United States took a long, long journey to a far away place, a place of water, sky, mountains, sheep and wildflowers.  In this land, people of good hearts and a lilting language lived.  They spoke in poetry and told wonderful stories.  Let's visit some of these characters:

• a Glaswegian cab driver who described the look of his sulky, teenaged daughter as "the look of one thousand stares"
• a distributor of British made vacuum cleaners on a religious pilgrimage to Iona with a twinkle in his eyes, ruddy cheeks and stories to tell
• the English actor David Suchet, in his every day personna on a lashing wet day in the Iona Heritage Centre, sharing a video program with the handful of other visitors
• young Charles, wearer-of-Viking-hat, lover of Viking culture and church architecture (and vicars) and his loving, devoted mother Charlotte, soon to be made redundant from her teaching post.  Charles, with a terminal disease, partial blindness, mild CP, a stroke survivor, walking with a limp and a strong need for paternal love.  Charles:  talkative, other-worldly, living intensely, needing hugs and touches.  Charlotte, abandoned by her husband at Charles' birth, ignored by both sides of the family and soon to face unemployment.  Cheerful, determined, careful Charlotte.  Mother and son on holiday, watching every penny, camping wild, alone together. 
• a young woman of tumbling, curly, soft red hair dressed in a mossy, green sweater trimmed in grosgrain ribbon, a green tweed skirt and knee high wellies. 
• an English woman on the ferry to Harris who comes back every year, for the landscape and seascapes and the mystery that is Harris
• our neighbor down the lane in Harris, who walks in the heavy rain without umbrella or hat, his snow white hair shining in the gray rain, a man of "wee" jobs in the community, helping his neighbors with sheep shearing and sheep rustling (is there such a thing?)
• an English couple who spoke in whispers about a secret hotel/castle on the south of the island in a secret location
• a Danish/Scottish potter who, with his photographer wife, renovated an old Mission House, escaping the demands of life in London
• a world class weaver, provider of Harris Tweeds to the tailors on Savile Row, an MBE
• members of the Harris Gaelic Choir, singing songs of beauty and longing with clear, strong voices of passion and purity.  Singers who bring tears to the eyes of the listeners.

This place of peace, this mystical place is peace:  inner and outer peace.  It is a place of rest, of clean air.  This place feels like home, home in the truest sense.

Happy Birthday Matt!

I bet you've never seen cupcakes like this before.

These are technicolor cupcakes created by these two little chefs:

Yes, we all wear name badges in our test kitchen.

We were all so busy having fun that we (um, grammy) forgot to put the shortening in the batter.  Hence, no after shot.  I'll leave that to your imagination.  Needless to say, they were made with love.

Scottish Coastlines

What the Isle of Harris Means to Me...Yes, Another Photo Essay

What Iona Means To Me...Another Photo Essay

So sad to go

Harris Tweed...A Photo Essay

Start with this:

Take away some of this:

To look like this:

Add a dab of color for the fall season

Add it to the pile:



Fast forward to this:

Add one expert and kind weaver (Mr. Donald John McKay, MBE):

To get this:

A bouquet of color which looks like this:









Father Ken on Sabbatical

Rainy Day Work

Standing Stones at Calanais

Those who know me well know of my fascination with ancient stone sites, those scattered across the United Kingdom and Brittany.  Ken and I have been most fortunate to have visited many of these sites.  The Isle of Lewis is home to an ancient site, called the Calanais Stones, which pre-date Stonehenge. 

Visiting this site meant braving lashing winds and heavy rains.  For most of our visit, we were the only fools people there.  The fierce wind and the loneliness of the place added an eerie, other worldly quality, which made it all the more fun.

Caledonian Communion

Our Sunday morning communion at the bothy on the Isle of Harris, set on our dining table, quite fit for the communion meal. 

My Gordon clan scarf graced the table, the wine was left by our host, and the bread was a simple slice of oatcake.  A celtic cross taken from Ken's backpack.  Wildflowers picked from outside the bothy front door completed the communion table. 

In our souls and in our physical world, this communion touched and completed us...as Christians and as a couple.  It was an outward and visible sign of an inward and tangible grace.

Thanks be to God.