yo

We travel, but sometimes there is no place like home.

raaaaaa

Purchase 'The Burley Griffin"'s new album 'You're Quite A Forest' and I (Zoe) will send you a personal card! Its all donations based but we do ask that you factor in postage & handling. 

Donate Here

i want to be empty. but i don't want to be hollow.

thats a lot of sky

 

bar beach parking lot, saturday morning

purity and danger. is a book about food practices.

Blue Bottles

Camembert, Cranberry, Orange & Wine.

Work

Class.

whoah friendship

Eros will have naked bodies; Friendship naked personalities.

                                                                                    -C.S. Lewis

I took this picture from an etsy site because I wanted to paint it.  So somewhere on Etsy it might still be for sale.

the endless fields of Idaho

christina's birthday

We went to King Edward Park, ate really good food, and played bocce ball in the sun. It was a good day.  

rm 42

 

 

room 42 of the house I live in

There are no mere mortals

photo taken by a lovely swedish girl named Josefine. 

'There are no ordinary people.  You have never talked to a mere mortal.  Nations, cultures, arts, civilations-these are mortal, and their life is to as ours the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we work with, joke with, marry, snub, and exploit-immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.'

-C.S. Lewis

community

neighborhood outside of Sao Paulo and one of my favorite photos.

dont rush.

 

When I think about having another 40 to 60 years more of life. It blows my mind.

Freaking out about the fact that I am 23 and only in my first semester of university(college) was something I guess kinda concerned me. In a conversation with my dad today,  I was just so taken, that although life is short.. its not short enough to even imagine the accomplishments I may have when my life ends.

I love the photo above it was taken a stormy evening in Alaska. (this photo has caused me to accumulate a lot of photos of intersections, weird I know). But love using that whole journey and direction ideal invoked by intersection, what way to go, where does it lead… if you don’t hit intersection, you aren’t traveling anywhere. I am so excited to continue to hit these moments. It’s a success even at the end when we don’t hit anywhere in particular.. lifes to be explored.. we’ll pass through and experience mant towns, build monuments and create new paths for other travelers to follow. Keep going…

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”

Henry David Thoreau

We have the time.

summer wind down

I'm over in Australia but I'm thinking about the states a lot right now and the wind down of summer.  This photo was taken at Lake Placid (though it's not the Lake Placid) after we were done climbing some mountains in the Adirondacks.  The northern hemisphere is heading into fall, one of the prettiest times of the year, and we down here are getting ready for summer.

maybe it's not so bad

This is the third Florida post I've done, but I took this photo with the intention of putting it on here. It will be the last one.  This was on a Friday night before a storm at a beach known for it's seashelling.  I don't know about you, but I can sometimes have a pesimistic view of the world, thinking (though I don't think actually believing) that humanity as a whole isn't that great.  I was surprised to see all these people out on a Friday night..........seashelling.  And it warmed my heart.

art on the street

I love street art, but at the same time, I love work that draws attention to us as women maintaining our innocence. I love to paint things that are beautiful and still a little controversial in the way they are made. Street art is still not seen as a fine art form. However, something I love about it is, it's available to the masses. It is not created to be seen by the selected few who walk into a gallery. It is made to be understood and I, therefore see it as an important medium of conversation and of social justice.

and the sun set.

Banago Beach Resort in Sulangan, Guiuan, Eastern Samar, Philippines.

something constant

we all want something that will last. that's why "a diamond is forever" and Ford is "like a rock" and a Nalgene has a lifetime guarantee

most of us spend a lot of time trying to find or create something permanent. something that just won't change, won't leave. maybe a relationship, or a job, or a look, or a feeling, or a lifestyle, or even an ever-possible "way out". if all the world crumbles, at the end of the day we want to say, "at least i've still got _______". 

because something inside of us instinctively yearns for a constant, a plumb line.

but a diamond is only forever if you always wear the ring. and ford is like a rock until you crash into a tree. and it's a good thing there was a guarantee because that nalgene is in a dozen pieces on the asphalt.

sometimes all the things we hoped would never change...change. like on the way from point A to point B, point B disappears altogether, and the path you followed blends in with everything around it. and you're left with just you. standing there. uncertain of where to go now, and how to get there.

i need something i can count on more than a diamond and more than a ford and more than a nalgene. i need something under my feet that i know will always hold me, and a covenant that does more than slip on to my finger. 

i need something more solid than the earth itself. 

i need something etched in my skin and burned on my heart. 

i need something that won't leave me even if i run from it.

and i found it.

Belonging

Here is a little about me.

I am a adopted

I got a family.

I lost a family

I got another family

That family broke down

I was making another family

And it washed out to sea.

I was adopted again

That family remains

Miles away.

I’m apart of a community

Im leaving that community

Im still apart of that community

But I am in turn am going to belong to another place.

There are people everywhere.

To what degree do I belong…

It shakes the soul its shakes the heart.

But of all this I know is that we are meant to belong.

Feelings sometimes make us feel unworthy to be apart of something

Sometimes feelings make us shun the arms that reach out

Sometimes we cant bring ourselves to give our hearts away.

But the truth is… we are meant to belong.

We are worthy.

The people who reach out truly want us to be apart of them

And our hearts are too heavy to hold and giving apart away would make the load a lot lighter.

I sat in a setting tonight with people some to whom I believe I belong and to some I do not. It was a a warm place. And  I watched the legs walk by the window outside and hoped they too knew to whom they belonged.

It made me thankful. It put my heart in my throat, drew a tear from my eye. I sat by myself on the couch and felt that I would never be alone again.

I know to whom I belong, I know the places where I can go to call home. 

Brother and Pop. (Grandpa) 2 to whom I belong

fish tacos

Also while in Florida, my dad cooked one of the best meals ever.  We went out to eat a few times, and this one was better than anything we got in a restraunt. I don't have an exact recipe, but I do have a picture and a list of ingredients.  The rice and beans and corn were made by yours truely.

Ingredients (in no particular order):

• pan seared fish (we used grouper-it's cheap)
• tortillas
• feta cheese
• coleslaw that is cut in long stringy sorts of things
• lime, garlic, salt, pepper, chile powder, etc.
• mashed black beans
• hot sauce (of course)
• cilantro (fresh corriander for you Australians)
• And I think that's it!  Whatever else your heart desires.  

Spread the beans on the tortilla, layer on the other ingredients, and then toast in a pan until the tortilla is brown and a bit crunchy.  The rice and beans were just black beans, cilantro, onions, corn, salt, pepper, chile powder, and garlic all simmered together and poured over rice.

natural art exhibit

I was recently in Florida with my family. We went to watch the sunset at a beach called 'Lovers Key'. Way down on the end was a group of uprooted trees that had been drying out in the sun for a long time. One of them had fallen over and the roots were sideways. When you got closer you could see little shells hanging on the tiny root bits. Maybe it happened by itself, but I don't think so. It looks like people have been contributing to this peice of natural artwork for awhile, so I took a few pictures and then added a few shells. Enjoy.

home sweet ohio

Right now I am in exotic Ohio.  To many people, Ohio is one of the last places you would consider exotic.  I get to travel so many places that people do consider that, that Ohio feels like the exotic exception.  It's not beautiful, it's not touristy, the local sounds are rap music and traffic.  But it is most definitely where I grew up and full of some of the most comforting people and places anywhere. Enjoy a small look into my little state. 

 

 

 

 

fourth of july

Sticky Date Balls

don't mind the name, these little balls of heaven (as they are originally called) are delicious and great for any occassion that involves fancy dress, teapots, and coffee!

What you'll need:

500g dates

2 cups sugar

500g butter

2 eggs

2 packets of marie biscuits

Pinch of salt

Coconut

What you'll need to do with these precious ingredients:

Cut dates and melt with butter and sugar.

Add 2 beaten eggs.

Break biscuits in pieces and stir into mixture.

Spread in pan and let it cool down

Cut into little blocks and roll in coconut

and viola! a little ball of heaven!

 

thank you greatly to the lovely Louise Cronje for sharing this delightful recipe with us!

what c.s. lewis and I think about beauty.

I've been thinking a lot about beauty.  It's one of my favorite topics because I'm in awe of how God's way of how we should live causes our lives to look incredibly beautiful.  His "rules" and do's and do not's give our lives a shine and glow that making choices based on the world's values does not.  We are kept free from a lot of filth and a lot of heartache.

C.S. Lewis talks about how we can look into the past to try to find beauty and good feelings and good times.  We disguise our longings by calling it reminiscing or being nostalgic.  He says if we constantly look into the past at "the good old days" our hearts are going to be continuously broken by what we don't find.  He states that God uses situations and people in our lives to shine his beauty through, but that it is not contained in those moments.  If we are constantly staring into the past to feel how we once felt, we will find empty shells of what God used at the time to enrich our lives.

This encouraged me so much to look at what God is using every single day, in our very present present, to shine his beauty and incredibleness into our lives.  Beauty and everything good and perfect is contained in God. Everything else is just a vessel created to show it off.  There's nothing wrong with looking at what God has done in the past and thanking him for the good that happened, but when it prevents you from seeing the goodness in the day in front of you, it's reflecting in a way that sucks a bit of joy out of our lives. We don't have to think the good days have come and gone, or on the flip side, that the good is yet to come.  God is not boxed into time frames and certain moments of our lives.  He flows continuously through our lives, moment by moment as it's happening to us.  We can be encouraged knowing that God is working today to make our lives more incredible.

Disclaimer:  there may be some theological flaws in those statement, but I felt I could safely put this out there as a musing :)

evan b.

evan murray buckpitt makes good music. and you should listen to it here.

candle wax

Wax drips down from candles lit in Cathedrals around the Philippines.

time traveller.

i am in the philippines right now. i am staying in the house my mother grew up in. my shower is a bucket of water (drawn from a well just outside). my bed is usually a straw mat on the wooden floors, but luckily my mom posted an air mattress. my day to day activities include riding a boat out to the fish cages, swimming, riding motorbikes through the jungle, and spending time with my cousins. i am blessed to have family here. and to be part of this simple way of life.

What Seems Trivial?

The weather has turned quite chilly and I have washed my jeans then placed then into the dryer to shrink them back to perfect fitting size. I’m spending some time with my mum this afternoon before going to work a little later tonight.
Aside form all this, university is on my mind and decisions for my own life are looming before me. I can’t quite see the top, only the small stairs that begin here at the bottom to get me up there. I’m a little distressed at this whole situation and I would like to have better vision of what exactly is ahead of me. One thing is for sure, I have a great life and opportunities are coming my way and it’s all too easy for me to get caught up in it all and forget the things that are happening all over the world that are not necessarily affecting me but I should probably let them.
Over the past week I have been thinking about the fact that I do not really watch the news. In the house that I live in right now I haven’t bothered to set up an aerial in my room and so I never catch anything of what is going on. So I challenged myself to make an effort. All of the best news publications are all online and there is actually no excuse for my ignorance.
A few days ago I realized how much exactly I am missing out on by keeping myself in the dark. It can sometimes be so difficult for us as individuals to deal with the things that are happening in the world because we think that there is nothing that we can do about it. I admit that I struggle with this. Being so young and having virtually no money, in the middle of studying. It does not seem like there is much that I can do for the people in Uganda who are getting turned away from AIDS clinics because they do not have the capacity to treat anymore patients, and I do not have the opportunity to provide comfort for those Chinese families who have lost their children in violent attacks in schools there.
These tragedies are confronting for us in our comfortable lives and sometimes is it true that there is not a great deal physically that we can do. Sometimes we just think that having a great deal of money would solve all these things, but that may not be the case.
In 2003, a small group of guys from Southern California ventured to Africa in attempt to document stories and to close the gap on their ignorance. Now, almost seven years later their film has been seen by millions and they are a part of our generation, and have created invisiblechildren.com. They tell stories and seek justice for those who have been forgotten by the Western world. They help us to see that each and every one of those Ugandan children who have been stolen from their homes, have just as much value and worth as our own children. They have been able to do this just through their passion of story telling, even though these are hard stories to share. 
So there is more solutions than just throwing money at situations. There are stories to find and share, and each individual on this planet has their own story, that is unique and of just as much value as your own. I, personally have to actively pursue this, to care for individuals around me and choose to look beyond my own life, my own decision making and to remember those who are in so much need. 

Earth Scabs.

 

this is a picture of the trail i was just just about to walk, its all volcanic rock which felt like and sounded like glass to walk over, you may not be able to see but there are sulphur clouds coming up out of the ground far far into the picture, the mount on the left is the lava spout which erupted in 1969. anyways i was pretty impressed with nature that day, and i highly considered becoming a geologist.

Get to know beauty, it wants to tell you something.

Fairbanks, Alaska.

Trying to creatively write this last two weeks has been like trying to force a bird to swim…. Nothing natural about it.
I thought I would be overflowing with ideas and observations, when in actuality my mind has been….. empty.
Whether it is the jet lag or the transition into a new season, I have not caught a thought thats expanded this heart and caused my fingers to run furiously over this key board.
Not without trying though.

I’m in a place made famous for its beauty, surrounded by at least 11 different cultures everyday and my brother just got a smiley face tattoo on his big toe. I have observed plenty and processed much, but never been compelled to express. Its unlike me. I usually type my thoughts out, but I lay here now pen in hand with paper catching thoughts hoping that the return to the good old way of writing will help.

But as I consider my frustration, I am led to believe that the reason my creative writing well had been dry is that lately I have been refreshing myself from the well of knowledge. I’m currently in school and this is the first week of the quarter. I believe I have read more and learnt more this week than I have in the last 2 months. I’m hungry to learn and my favourite topics are at hand: humanity and science.

One of my favourite writers C.S Lewis comments that “the tasks of the modern educator is not to cut down trees but to irrigate deserts”. Yehp. I feel like everything I have ever produced before now has been grown in the desert, but with this current “irrigation” of knowledge replenishing my world, I feel my next fruits will be far sweeter, rich and filling.

It's as though I’ve been able admire a butterfly for its beauty and grace but attained knowledge has led me to understand that this certain butterfly travels over thousands of miles to hibernate for 4 months in the frost only to awake, start to fly back from where it came, reproduce somewhere on the way back, and actually never make it home cause it dies. But yet the next generation repeats the .This knowledge has given beauty layers, depth and dimension.

Same again seeing the poverty striken parts of Africa on the tv. Although not sightly beautiful...the beauty of empathy and emotion reveal the injustice in to my heart and I am bummed right!?  However the knowledge gives insight that 20% of western societies consume 86% of the worlds good. (Now im just ticked off !). Knowledge has revealed to me just how unnecessary their suffering is, how $1 a day $30 a month really is nothing compared to what I have around me. its given my empathy and emotion validity and more understanding of what it is I am actually recognizing as unjust.

How much more deliberate is love when you have knowledge and understanding?

How much more easier it is to appreciate the world around us with knowledge and understanding?

I believe the deliberate pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding is like adding lenses to your sight. You'll be able to experience a more expressive, rich, and full life; not missing depth, detail, or purpose.

There is always more to know and it's more often than not worth finding out.

See life as a incomprehensible mastepiece and its desperate to show you more.

His favour.

Taken on an iphone in Kaiua bay Kona, Hawaii.

Op-Shop Shopping: To Wash or Not?

Today while thrift store shopping, I was faced again with a question that comes up every time I get something 'new' from an op-shop.  To wash or not?  And by washing I don't mean ever, I mean before you give it its first wear.  This question is clear cut to most people.  OF COURSE  you wash it!  There are some disgusting people out there!  You could get AIDS.  To others, it's just as obvious.  The op-shop probably does something to make it sanitary.  It can't be that dirty.  I'll wash it eventually but right now, I have somewhere to go and this looks great on me.  

I'm a little ashamed to say that for me, I walk the middle line.  I wish I was clear cut about this.  I wish I could tell you that every time I buy second hand, I don't put it near my body unless it has had a good, hot round in the washing machine.  But I don't.  It's really all circumstancial.  If I happen to do a load of laundry before I wear the new addition to my wardrobe, it gets washed.  If I have somewhere I want to wear it to and don't have laundry planned in-between, I go for it.  Gross? Maybe, but I can think of worse things. 

I guess in this area of my life I have high standards when I have the time. 

What about you?

(As much as I try to not take others photography, this is from Frankie magazine)