Sword in hand, by you I stand

Recently the lens I view through is based on "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge. I'm not finished reading it so I won't try and explain it just yet, but I would recommend it to every man and woman, especially in America. I've been reading through old files of mine and today caught myself digging through old sketchbooks and artwork. I would call my younger self contentedly independent, when I wasn't just plain shy that is. But my mind was brimming over with imagination! Days lost in reading fantasy and science fiction, rpg games, world building with Lego's all spilled out into story and art over time.
My mind was ever wrapped up in far off adventures, epic battles, and enchanting beauty. And I found one small reoccurring sketchy art that maybe hasn't captured the great story in my head the most vividly, it was one of the first to capture is at its fullest. I give you the tale of J. Pomegranate, King of the Pomegranates (like the fruit, yes).
Yes, Pomegranates love bagpipes. No this has nothing to do with the story, I just remember thinking "is it even possible to draw a fruit holding bagpipes??" Nothing more.

Happier times:
And the world was good, and peaceful. Here, not unlike finding an old photograph in an attic, are four central characters. From left to right are the Princess Sea cucumber, King Pomegranate, Emperor Watermelon, and... a guava if I'm not mistaken. The land prospers under their benign reign and they are loved and followed. Before the dark times... before the Empire...
War comes to the Pomegranates. The king and his allies rally and drive the enemy first to the fringe of the land and then into deep space. Twice more the foe would return in greater strength; each time they would be beaten back by deep sacrifices on the Pomegranates and his loyal friends who, becoming broken and weak in repelling their enemy could never pursue and vanquish them. Until at last we arrive at Act IV: final empire.


As the years bear on the characters, and their strength begins to fade, as they continue to provide for a war weary people, we find them here: resolute and unyielding. While steeling themselves against return of their enemy, they are caught off guard from an unexpected intruder. Relentless and malicious, the new enemy was not here to settle an ancient offense or to reclaim land and power, it was here too destroy...


I had never considered at what point in the story this last image was meant to be. It could be after a battle, or before one. It could be on returning to a burnt kingdom. Or while preparing for an inevitable defeat at the hand of powerful forces. The king, seeming alone and desperately tired, is a man at the breaking. When forces crush in from all sides and he wonders whether he can take one step more as he holds a banner like an old mans staff, facing the lengthening shadow of... himself? His people? His family and friends? And he is alone within himself as well, wrestling the demons of his life and facing the question and charge laid upon all men... and what answer will he find? What actions will follow by his hand?

CMS

The problem is...?

I ran a meeting today for the Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan committee today (3 people showed, one of them after the meeting was finished!). It was just a briefing to get them up to speed on what has occured so far in revising the county plan. But there is a BIG meeting coming up. The next time we meet (and hopefully everyone is there!) we will come up with projects for the next several years to reduce exposure to natural disasters in the county.

Sometimes you just have a good idea, but what we're going to do first is look for problems. What are we trying to solve or improve? So I ended the meeting with several ways in which to look at a disaster situation. Its called tipping the problem on its side... and then flipping it over... holding it up an shaking it... and turning it to every angle you can! Its a fun game and works for any situation. Heres what I came up with for a start.

* Hazard characteristic: What is the challange of that event? Tornados are the only one we face that is likely to destroy your home and possibly kill you.

* Impact feature: A blizzard may make travel impossible, both for you (no getting to work, getting paid) and for trucks (empty store shelves).

* Types of mitigation action: Straight out of FEMA, prevent the hazard , protect people, protect property, public or targetted education, natural resource protection.

* 4 vulnerabilities:
1. Communication (can you get warnings? can you pass them on?)
2. Population (mobility impaired, children, anyone else with specific needs or challenges)
3. Location (near a creek or river, aging building, old utility lines, swampy roads),
4. and needs availibility (do you require water, food, electricity, medicine, oxygen? where do you get them and how long can you go without?)

* 4 resources:
1. Equip (stored supplies so you are not dependent on external supply)
2. Plan (when the smoke detector goes off you already know what to do)
3. Information (You know the storms typicaly travel west to east so if there are storm watches to the west then...)
4. Knowledge and Skills (If you are not equiped you know alternatives or can use items at hand for the same need, making a splint from newspapers for example)

Concerning Beauty / Cracks in the Shield

"The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity."
"And the ways our differences combine to create meaning and beauty."



Recently people who I love have put it into my wifes head that I may, if left with an unknown woman, become unfaithful to her (my wife). While the advice/opinions given were, I am certain, well meant and protective they have left me irritable as aperently my integrity is not as highly valued as I had thought. What follows is a portion of how I see the world; if truth is distant, or blurred to common vision, these are a few of the lenses with which I bring it into focus.

Concerning Beauty

I am a sucker for beauty. It surrounds us and even in the most remote and barren or industrialized lands it can be found. Every night the sunsets and color deepens, as the deep blue and black settle over the world white pin pricks faintly appear, the moon may rise, and in the morning the slow rise of dawn brings light and life in a blinding splash of grey and gold; there is beauty seen. In the wild forest, the local park, or my own garden you see me running my hands through the grass or along a tree trunk, I rub the down soft petals of flowers between my fingers, and let streams run across my hand; there is beauty felt. With the taste of honey, soft cheese, warm bread, ice cream, and ,of course, the kiss; there is beauty tasted. With the golden notes of the harp, the sonorous cello, the melody of birds, and the laughter of babies; there is beauty heard.
Described so far beauty is to bee seen and sensed. And whether divine or mundane it is there to be enjoyed and appreciated.

Exponential Beauty as Applied to Woman

One of the most off handed, shallow, and meaningless things to say to a woman is that she is beautiful, even if it is true. This partly due to the words overuse but also (to me) as most people never conciously consider a definition of beauty. Too often and too easily it is used for the narrow fields of what you see. That's all fine if we're describing a lily or a snow peaked mountain but it obviously leaves out every unseen aspect of a human being. I concluded some years ago that beauty it an exponential composite; every aspect of a woman is a part of what makes beauty, and the whole is much greater than its parts. I will give only a single example.
Long ago, when the world was young, I met a little girl. She had long brown hair, the darkest eyes, and in the summer had the tan of someone who loved to play outside. From that early age until I last saw her some ten years ago she had a laugh that sounded like joy itself, as though joy was a fountain inside her. She was fun to play with and always as she grew had an excitement about her. Very creative with an amazing sense of humor. She cared a great deal for her friends and kept them close in her heart. She had, and from what I know still has, a near unshakable faith. She has long been an excellent athlete: strong, fast, and enduring. She is a kind and patient teacher, wife, and mother. Now remember "^" means exponent: appearance ^ voice ^ fun ^ creative ^ humor ^ compassion ^ friendly ^ faith ^ athletic ^ kind ^ patient ^ good teacher ^ good wife ^ good mother = total beauty. If you have met this woman chances are you already ''know'' she is beautiful; but perhaps you hadn't really thought about what, beyond the superficial visual aspect, makes her beautiful.
There is such a range of qualities that make a close friend, a cookie baking grandma, and an opera singer equally yet differently beautiful.

Founding the Shield

When I was a young man I gave thought to how one should treat a woman and drafted a set of rules to guide me. Reading over them now they seem appropriately childlike, yet if the fifteen-year-olds of today could be made better men by embracing them I would gladly give them out. I drew on all my upbringing to that point in creating these rules: my father and mothers wisdom, the example of my scout leaders, and the scoutng virtues all played a large role (one of the chief aims of scouting being the forging of good men). In time as I dated I revised these rules (whether on paper or merely in my head) and I came to symbolize my role as being a guardian, represented by a simple shield of white, silver, and blue.

Now one thing that in hindsight I find very lacking in the scouts (which was an incredible time that still directs my life and actions) is that no boy is told just how very dificult adult life may be. So it should be no surprise that the shield, after many years, looks more like this...







Metalurgy is a curious thing. Soft iron can be shaped, but too much shaping will cause it to harden and crack. Should a desired form be completed it must made soft or hard to its need. Hard enough to withstand impact, use, and enviroment but not so hard as to crack and shatter; this is the tempering we go through, to find that point where whatever means we have of directing our lives can withstand the battering recieved. A cracked shield is not a broken one; rather it is one that has shown its worth.

The Present Matter

Some months ago I met a woman who I will call Evey. She is, by any measure of mine, a beautiful woman. After reading the above I hope I will not be mistaken as using only the easily decieved eyes to read that fleeting and often illusory beauty of appearances. Now I am not without fault; if my integrity is intact it is also not untarnished. But I would ask what have I done that even the possiblity of my being unfaithful should come up? Do I value my wife and family so little as to sacrfice them? Shall I betray myself and become the very sort of man which has hurt Evey in the past? To become something which she, my wife, and I despise? If all my guides do fail me and all foundations lost, this at least remain: scarred, burnt, and scratched, the cracked shield and the iron in my soul.

My friends, I love you all, very dearly. If I have to your knowledge compromised my relationship with my wife, please say so know. I would have all such crimes aired in open and demonstrate my apparent weakness.

Joon updayts

So its June. It seems my ability to slow time has failed again.
So I'm taking just one summer class, an internship/co-op/field experience in emergency management. Its been pretty cool, more on that later.

Jessie and Hanah are having birthdays! Jessies power of not appearing to age is working and my big girl is riding a new bike. I'm going to try raising the training wheels when shes not looking to see because she's pretty good at balancing. Since Caleb wants to tag along on what Hanah does he hops on her old bike and would just pedal all over town if I let him! And Aaron too! He's a walker and explorer. And if you lose something when he's around, just check your drawers and cupboards, he probably "cleaned".

Still homeschooling. Jess has done a lot of work learning what the rules are in Ohio and though we don't expect trouble we've joined the Home-Schooled Legal Defense Association, thanks to a generous gift from our President (We're not exactly food-stampin it here but thanks, Big O)
Hanah is reading better every day, and Jessie is having her learn to recite poems. Hanah is very good! Caleb won't be starting preschool full time until the fall when he turns four, but Jess still teaches him occasionaly meantime and of course he's there for every craft and field trip.

And Jessie has a tricycle and has been pedaling about the town with the kids in the old yellow bike trailer!

All for now, hope the kids garden grows too!
Calvin Stevens.