BirchLane.net

December 2007

(editing and updating)

Friday 28

In 2008:

• May Wistairahurst exhibition
• September Easthampton City Arts (ECA) exhibition
• Recipe file (online and 3-ring binders)
• ETSY store
• Pay off debt
   

.

Thursday 27

Christmas Spirit. The spirit caught up with me today.

Wednesday 26

A Conversation. Today I had a long talk with the VP of Sales at a software company.

Tuesday 25

When Christmas Morning Comes. Today's New York Times editorial

This is a simple holiday. Ask any child, or, better yet, ask yourself what you recall from your own childhood Christmases. Presents, yes, and shopping and decorations and the return of familiar songs and the smells of baking and perhaps the cadence of a few verses from the early chapters of Matthew and Luke. What persists above all is the feeling of finally going to bed on a dark winter’s night full of hope for what the morning will bring. Even jaded adults can remember how that felt, and they remember it as viscerally as they remember anything. The emotional truth in that transition lies at the heart of Christmas. It captures the most basic rhythm of our lives — going to bed at night and getting up in the morning — and makes us keenly, happily aware of it. That rhythm is all the more stirring because the season is so penetrating, the winter darkness so long. Both of the basic stories we tell about Christmas, the shepherds in their fields by night and the peregrinations of Santa Claus, fill the darkness with life and possibility. A stranger, an extragalactic visitor wise enough to look past all the shopping, might be forgiven for thinking that this is the festival in which we celebrate the magic of sleep. After all, what other holiday do we attend in robes and pajamas? The optimism, the generosity, the charitable warmth of Christmas do stem, of course, from the pattern and the meaning of the biblical story. They have their source, too, in the sense of regeneration now that we’ve turned this darkest corner of the solar year. Christmas is imbued with a more everyday hope as well, a recognition that the transition from sleep to waking always carries with it the immeasurable gift of a new day. The very premise is hopeful. No one expects to wake every day as joyfully as a child at Christmas, or to sleep as badly the night before. The gift of possibility is there every morning.

(Danielle and Daryl came over.)

(Presents)

(Dinner at Eleanor's)

Monday 24

Christmas Eve.

(Party at Susan's)

Sunday 23

Christmas Cocktail Meatballs.

(recipe--mom--and photo here)

Saturday 22

Lunch with Mary.

(busy day)

Friday 21

A Tray of Christmas Cookies.

(Bridget Riley) (and) (Kenro Izu)

Thursday 20

A New Outlook. The hardest part was dragging the mattress up a flight of stairs. It was, I thought, as I moved slowly up, step-by-step, an accident waiting to happen.

Wednesday 19

Pumpkin Chipotle Corn Chowder. From Dave's Dinners.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter or vegetable oil Flesh from a 3-to-4 pound pumpkin, cut into 1-inch cubes 1 large onion, diced 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 quart reduced-sodium chicken stock 1/2 pound frozen corn kernels 2 chipotle peppers, roughly chopped 1/2 cup heavy cream 5 thyme sprigs - woody stems removed Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 1 small bunch cilantro, stems removed and leaves roughly chopped Heat the butter or oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the pumpkin and onion and cook for 5 minutes. Slowly add the flour and stir into the onion and pumpkin. Gradually add the chicken stock, stirring all the while. (I added it in by cupfuls, stirring completely between each addition to ensure the flour didn't clump.) Add the corn, chipotle peppers, cream, and thyme and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and simmer about 20 minutes, or until the pumpkin is fork-tender but not falling apart. Remove from the heat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in most of the cilantro leaves, reserving some for garnish. Ladle the soup into serving bowls and garnish with the remaining cilantro leaves. Serve with hunks of crusty bread for dipping ... and soppin'!

Tuesday 18

Light.

St Brigid's Cemetery and Mt Tom, Easthampton, Massachusetts in the early morning

Monday 17

You Better Not Pout.

Sunday 16

ETSY.  From an article ("Handmade 2.0" by Robert Walker) appearing in today's Magazine section of The New York Times:

The declaration from something called the Handmade Consortium materialized on a Web site called buyhandmade.org in late October. “I pledge to buy handmade this holiday season, and request that others do the same for me,” it said, and you could type in your name to “sign” on; within a few weeks, more than 6,500 people had done so. “Buying handmade is better for people,” a statement on the site read in part, and “better for the environment,” because mass production is a “major cause” of global warming, among other things. There were links to an anti-sweatshop site and a Wal-Mart watchdog site.   The pledge echoed the idealistic language of a tree-hugger activist group, but actually the consortium’s most prominent member was the online shopping bazaar Etsy, a very much for-profit entity that bills itself as “your place to buy & sell all things handmade.” Etsy does not fulfill orders from an inventory; it’s a place where sellers set up virtual storefronts, giving the site a cut of sales. While eBay rose to prominence nearly a decade ago as an endless garage sale for the auctioning of collectibles and bric-a-brac, Etsy is more of an online craft fair, or art show, where the idea is that individuals can sell things that they have made. How many such people can there be? At last count, more than 70,000 — about 90 percent of whom were women — were using Etsy to peddle their jewelry, art, toys, clothes, dishware, stationery, zines and a variety of objects from the mundane to the highly idiosyncratic. Each seller has a profile page telling shoppers a bit about themselves, and maybe offering a link to a blog or a MySpace page or a mailing list; most have devised some clever store or brand name for whatever they’re selling....... Browsing Etsy is both exhilarating and exhausting. There is enough here to mount an astonishing museum exhibition. There is also plenty of junk. Most of all there is a dizzying amount of stuff, and it is similarly difficult to figure out how to characterize what it all represents: an art movement, a craft phenomenon or shopping trend. Whatever this is, it’s not something that Etsy created but rather something that it is trying to make bigger, more visible and more accessible — partly by mixing high-minded ideas about consumer responsibility with the unsentimental notion of the profit motive. On July 29, Etsy registered its one-millionth sale and is expecting to hit two million items sold by mid-December. Shoppers spent $4.3 million buying 300,000 items from the site’s sellers in November alone — a 43 percent increase over the previous month. Thus far in December, the site has had record-breaking sales every day. Only about two years old, the company is not currently profitable but is somewhat unusual among Internet-based start-ups of the so-called Web 2.0 era in having a model that does not depend on advertising revenue. It depends on people buying things, in a manner that the founders position as a throwback to the way consumption ought to be: individuals buying from other individuals. “Our ties to the local and human sources of our goods have been lost,” the Handmade Pledge site asserts. “Buying handmade helps us reconnect.” The idea is a digital-age version of artisanal culture — that the future of shopping is all about the past.......   Kalin (Robert Kalin, ETSY founder) is nothing if not grandiose about what he thinks Etsy can accomplish. For example, he knows that individual crafters face a problem of scale: there is only so much one person can produce. (Hence the Industrial Revolution.) So he mentions creating “co-production” sites across the country, where groups of crafters would band together in a co-op-style model, ideally occupying space in distressed areas and offering training to people who want to learn handcrafting skills. Handmade isn’t a fad, he told me, it’s a resurgence, one that is of a piece with the booming interest in organic food. In 25 years, he said, Etsy would be both worldwide and personal, a global-local marketplace, a Web version of the Athenian agora. The business proposition behind this extravagant vision is rather more straightforward. Etsy charges 20 cents per listing and 3.5 percent of the final sale price; this is generally lower and certainly less complicated than eBay’s fee structure; it also charges up to $15 if creators want to highlight a particular item on the site’s high-traffic showcase pages. More competition may be mixed news for individual artisans as newcomers keep flooding in to peddle their wares, but it’s all good news for Etsy. The company makes money from successful crafters, but it also makes money from wishful thinkers who never get beyond the hobby stage. The entrepreneur who makes something by hand might face a scale problem. Etsy doesn’t. That said, what’s surprising about Kalin is that his interest really does seem to transcend the profit motive. It’s pretty clear that he not only respects the values of the D.I.Y. world and the earnest idealism of the Handmade Pledge; he also really believes in them. The quasi-libertarian certainty of the Web entrepreneur and the equally confident ex-philosophy-student discourse about the alienating nature of mass society seem contradictory. But to Kalin, they are intertwined. “In a way,” he said when I met him in Brooklyn, “I see Etsy as an art project.” And after a brief recap of art history through Duchamp, he suggested that Etsy could “disturb” the way people see the world, rethinking what makes their possessions important or trivial, leading us to re-evaluate the way we consume. Surely plenty of crafters see what they are up to as a mix of art and business as well — although they may be coming at that from a somewhat different angle....... It is worth noting another element of the Handmade Pledge: “The ascendancy of chain-store culture and global manufacturing has left us dressing, furnishing and decorating alike.” It’s a shrewd pitch, because the consumer craving for novelty, for the unique, the special, seems unquenchable. It has spawned, for instance, a number of blogs dedicated specifically to ferreting out the exciting new thing, usually with a helpful link to a potential transaction. (One of the most popular such sites, Design*Sponge, is another backer of the Handmade Consortium.) Buying something from an indie craft artist can result in a buyer-seller connection, but it can also make consumption itself feel like a creative act. This is the crucial element fueling the craft boom: People show up at the fairs, the shops and the Web sites. And they spend money. One afternoon last summer, a young artist based in Athens, Ga., unveiled her latest work. Emily Martin is 24 years old. She graduated from art school about two years ago and has never had a gallery show. She announced the date and time of the unveiling on her blog, so at 2 p.m. on Aug. 28, I clicked over and watched as she posted the new work to her Etsy shop: Six original paintings priced between $160 and $250, and nine hand-sewn dolls, for $37 to $65. They disappeared faster than I could click “refresh.” By 2:02 p.m. most had been sold, and Martin had made about $1,400 (minus fees). Martin fully expected to be working as a waitress and confining her art-making to her off hours at this stage of her life. Instead, the Black Apple, as she is known on Etsy, is a full-time artist and perhaps the site’s most famous success story. Martin’s paintings often depict cartoonish girls with unnaturally wide eyes, and her shy voice sounds as if it were emanating from one of these innocent figures. “You’re told in art school, ‘O.K., well, one out of a hundred of you is going to make a living with the training that you’re getting here,’ ” she said. While sweet and appealing, Martin’s aesthetic is more thrift store than Chelsea gallery; she was “really intimidated” by “the whole capital-A art thing.” But at a local craft fair, someone told her about this new site called Etsy. “The idea of a shop online, being a more democratic thing, really appealed to me,” she says. As of early December, she had sold more than 10,000 items through her Etsy store — mostly 8-by-10, open-edition prints priced at $13 apiece, but also postcards, buttons, hand-sewn dolls and original paintings....... Consider another Etsy seller story, one less splashy, but perhaps more representative, than Emily Martin’s. Circa Ceramics is two Chicago-based potters, Andy Witt and Nancy Pizarro. A few years ago, their work had a fairly traditional aesthetic Southwestern color schemes in stripes, flower shapes and other patterns. They sold these pieces at traditional fairs, or to business customers like coffee shops. More recently they stumbled across some design blogs and learned about Etsy and the apparent demand for pottery work with an edgier look — which the potters themselves happened to prefer. At the Renegade fair in Chicago, their booth was full of porcelain pieces of all kinds — cups, magnets, wall-hanging tiles and so on — decorated with images of manual typewriters, skulls, vintage cameras and bugs. It was their first time at Renegade, and they seemed enthusiastic about how it was going. Their gradual move toward the “indie community,” and to a customer base they describe as 25 to 35 years old, rather than 35 to 75, has been good for business. A year ago they opened an Etsy storefront, and while they weren’t sure how many people would go for $30 coffee mugs ordered via mail, it turned out that hundreds would. Recently Circa Ceramics helped form the Etsy Chicago Street team. Etsy sales now represent 25 percent of their business, with orders going to customers as far away as Spain, Belgium, even Australia. For Circa Ceramics, and for crafters in general, Etsy is another manifestation of how D.I.Y.-ism has evolved. Its motivation may still be the independence from capitalism that Railla wrote about. But it can also be about a form of independence economic independence within capitalism. Many of the artist-entrepreneurs opening up their virtual shops on Etsy want what Circa Ceramics or Emily Martin or the Austin Craft Mafia have achieved: Making a living from what they love to do. It’s a goal that reconciles ideology and self-branding, not so much to change the world as to stake out a place in it.

I will build a store.

Saturday 15

The Three Shepherds.

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."  13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,  14"Glory to God in the highest,       and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."  15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."  16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. ~Luke 2:8-20

Friday 14

Meteor Shower.

On The Back Porch I want to smell this rich soup, the air around me going dark, as stars press their simple shapes into the sky. I want to stay on the back porch while the world tilts toward sleep, until what I love misses me and calls me in. ~Dorianne Laux, from Awake, 1990

Thursday 13

Snow and Parables. When we woke we continued to read and we read:

[22] Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. [23] Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. [24] Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! [25] Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? [26] Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? [27] "Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. [28] If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! [29] And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. [30] For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. [31] But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. ~Luke 12:22

Snow started to fall a few minutes past eleven.

At night I could have continued reading Smilla's Sense of Snow, which I am enjoying, but maybe I had enough of snow for the day and was drawn to a book I found in the laundry room. It, too, involved snow and ice but it was the sense of adventure I sought tonight and I started reading Endurance, Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing.

Wednesday 12

The Book I Read. What I see is the book. This is the book.

[33] "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. [34] Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. [35] See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. [36] Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you." ~Luke 11:33

Tuesday 11

Comfort.

Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are -- chaff and grain together -- certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away. -George Eliot (pen name of Mary Ann Evans), novelist (1819-1880)

And we read:

[1] One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." [2] He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. [3] Give us each day our daily bread. [4] Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.' " ~Luke 11:1

Monday 10

Hope. 177 years ago, Emily Dickinson was born today, December 10th, 1830 at her Homestead in Amherst, Mass. I am thinking of a time a few years ago. It is National Poetry Month. The year is 2001. And we're going to read a poem every Sunday this month in church. This Sunday, years ago, was my turn and I read (in a deep, manly voice per Daryl's request; last week he said if I joined the choir--I wasn't planning to--they would put me in the women's section because my voice can be, what, well, I guess, high) a poem by Emily Dickinson, but first I say, "In the Emily Dickinson poem I am going to read this morning, Hope is The Thing With Feathers, she examines the abstract idea of hope in the free spirit of a bird. She shows how nature, hope, religion correlate. It is not just a bird but a spirit or inspiration that sits in the souls of us all. It is small in that we often cannot see it, but it is huge because it guides and inspires us. Hope rests in our soul the way a bird rests on a perch. Deeply analyzed, Hope could represent Christ. He is always in your soul, the singing never stops, the beauty is always there, within:

"Hope" is the thing with feathers -- That perches in the soul -- And sings the tune without the words -- And never stops -- at all -- And sweetest -- in the Gale -- is heard -- And sore must be the storm -- That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm -- I've heard it in the chillest land -- And on the strangest Sea -- Yet, never, in Extremity, It asked a crumb -- of Me.

Later in the day I pick up Harold Rosenberg's The Anxious Object and read:

The anxiety of art is a peculiar kind of insight. It arises, not as a reflex to the condition of artists, but from their reflection upon the role of art among other human activities...What is decisive is who does what for what reason...the art object persists without a secure identity, as what I have called an "anxious object." ("Am I a masterpiece," it must ask itself, "or an assemblage of junk?")...It is finding the obstacle to going ahead that counts--that is the discovery and the starting point of metamorphois. Uniqueness is an effect of duration in action, of prolonged hacking and gnawing. In the course of engagement a mind is created.

A photo of early morning, The Lower Mill Pond, Easthampton, Massachusetts, entitled "Marcel Duchamp lighting a cigarette with a bird on his shoulder."

Late afternoon looking out my window toward The Lower Mill Pond, St. Brigid's Cemetery, and Mt Tom, Easthampton, Massachusetts:

Sunday 09

Reading Luke. First we read this Sunday's Advent message. My sister Michelle kindly mailed an Advent Devotional Pamphlet to me to me a few weeks ago. Today's message (about friendship), when I was finished reading it aloud, brought tears to our eyes. Then Susan read:

1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. 3He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:    "A voice of one calling in the desert,    'Prepare the way for the Lord,       make straight paths for him.  5Every valley shall be filled in,       every mountain and hill made low.    The crooked roads shall become straight,       the rough ways smooth.  6And all mankind will see God's salvation.' "[a]  7John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."  10"What should we do then?" the crowd asked.  11John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."  12Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"  13"Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told    them. 14Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"       He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay."  15The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ.[b] 16John answered them all, "I baptize you with[c] water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 18And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.  19But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and all the other evil things he had done, 20Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison. The Baptism and Genealogy of Jesus  21When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."  23Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph,       the son of Heli, 24the son of Matthat,       the son of Levi, the son of Melki,       the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,     25the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos,       the son of Nahum, the son of Esli,       the son of Naggai, 26the son of Maath,       the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein,       the son of Josech, the son of Joda,     27the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa,       the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel,       the son of Neri, 28the son of Melki,       the son of Addi, the son of Cosam,       the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,     29the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer,       the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat,       the son of Levi, 30the son of Simeon,       the son of Judah, the son of Joseph,       the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,     31the son of Melea, the son of Menna,       the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan,       the son of David, 32the son of Jesse,       the son of Obed, the son of Boaz,       the son of Salmon,[d] the son of Nahshon,     33the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram,[e]       the son of Hezron, the son of Perez,       the son of Judah, 34the son of Jacob,       the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham,       the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,     35the son of Serug, the son of Reu,       the son of Peleg, the son of Eber,       the son of Shelah, 36the son of Cainan,       the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem,       the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,     37the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch,       the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel,       the son of Kenan, 38the son of Enosh,       the son of Seth, the son of Adam,       the son of God.

Amazing.

Saturday 08

Art Walk. Got a very late start but did see the installation of two of my angel photographs at the ECA (Easthampton City Arts) office and new work by Maggie Nowinski at her studio.

Friday 07

The Little Tree. Susan and I bought a little pine tree for her house tonight.

Thursday 06

Easthampton City Arts Holiday Party. A good time was had by all, including Major Mike and Casey of The Apollo Grill who prepared the food and served the beer and wine. I photographed a few of the guests and had lively discussions with Marjorie Tauer, Stephanie Gibbs and others.

Wednesday 05

Sunrise on The Lower Mill Pond.

Tuesday 04

Doubting. The photo reminds me of Salvador Dali.

Monday 03

Snow.

Sunday 02

The Christmas Story.

Only in Luke are found the 'Magnificat', the story of the birth of John the Baptist, the Christmas story of the shepherds, the parables of the Good Samaritan, the lost sheep, and the prodigal son. Luke was a physician and a well educated man. He was familiar with the Eastern Mediterranean area and appears to have traveled with Paul from Troas to Philippi before 52 A.D. and then later after 58 A.D. Tradition has it that he came from the city of Antioch.

This gospel must have been written around 90 A.D. since some of it's content appears to be based on Mark. Luke writes in a Greek of high quality as is evident here and in the book of Acts for which he is also author. The books of Luke and Acts together comprise about a quarter of the New Testament. Luke writes a 'religious history' - that is, it is a biography, but also a proclamation - a theology of history.

Luke's work contains notes of social, humanitarian, and historical interest, and is sometimes called the 'social gospel'. In fact much of our specific knowledge of Christianity comes from this gospel and the book of Acts. His book is apparently well planned in that it has a preface, dedication, and accounts of sources.

The Gospel According toLuke   Dedication to Theophilus  1 Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, 2just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, 3I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first,a to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed. The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold    5 In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. 7But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.   8 Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty, 9he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense. 10Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. 11Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. 13But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. 14You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. 16He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." 18Zechariah said to the angel, "How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years." 19The angel replied, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur."   21 Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and wondered at his delay in the sanctuary. 22When he did come out, he could not speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them and remained unable to speak. 23When his time of service was ended, he went to his home.   24 After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, 25"This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people." The Birth of Jesus Foretold   26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."b 29But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." 34Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"c 35The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be bornd will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God." 38Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her. Mary Visits Elizabeth   39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there would bee a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord." continued here

Saturday 01

Rachel and Pam. This afternoon I had a wonderful meeting here in my loft at Eastworks with Rachel and Pam, whose wedding I will be photographing in August 2008; a referral from a LiveJournal friend.