Photoscape Building Experiment

Winter in Photoscape

Here are some winter pictures I took at the beginning of December that I played around with in photoscape. Filters include noise, water brush, water color pencil, pencil, impressionistic, antique, and vignette. I included the original pictures for comparison.

More Fun With Photoscape

These were done in Photoscape using the pictorialization filter and then choosing either impressionistic, colored pencil or water pencil. I then played around with bloom, backlight, sharpen and contrast. I included the originals for comparison. As you can see, even a blurry picture has potential! Pretty cool for software that is a free download.

Lettuce & Leek Soup

I've been on a Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette kick lately. We have his "Twelve Months of Monastery Soups" cookbook. He's been busy since then and our library system has quite a few books by him. His latest is called "Sacred Feasts from a Monastery Kitchen". He's been practicing and promoting "eat local and seasonal" for years, long before it became the trendy thing to do. I enjoy reading the explanations that go along with his recipes describing life in a monastery and how it revolves around the liturgical year.

His green soups particularly caught my eye and I've been thinking about them lately. The recipe below is based very loosely on a couple of his recipes. It is also based on a google of lettuce soup this AM before I got busy trying to use up what I had purchased at the public market last Saturday. In addition to this soup, this AM I made beef vegetable soup and a low carb picadillo from Dana Carpender. Both the ground beef and the beef soup bone came from a local farm that sells grass-fed beef. Yummy!

Leek & Lettuce Soup

3 leeks - chopped
3 cloves garlic - smashed

Cook in olive oil until limp.

Add - 1 cup turkey broth and about a quart of water with a tablespoon of chicken soup base.

Then add the lettuces - chopped. Today I had arugula, watercress and mixed greens. I also added some chopped fresh basil leaves. Cook until limp.

Add fresh chopped parsley and cook for about 5 more minutes.

Whiz all of the above in the blender along with about 1/2 cup of plain yogurt. (Today's yogurt also came from the public market - Jersey cow yogurt - YUM!)

Add salt to taste. I used about a tablespoon of kosher salt.

Another Brian Houston song

I TOOK MY BURDEN TO THE CROSSROADS

I looked both ways down the ancient roads
I asked the Lord for the right way
To find redemption for my soul
And the sunlight streamed in through my window
Shone a ray of hope into my blackest hole
Took the book of Jeremiah to my bedside
Felt inspiration murmur soft and low

Hurricane keep a blowing
Send me something on the breeze
Sounds like hope and a future
Sounds like there might be some for me

When I wonder why I bother
When I feel like giving up on my life
When they’re selling all that You gave me freely
In the temple courts for a criminal price
Will You keep revealing to me all the mysteries?
And the ancient secrets so well hid
Like when mercy triumphs over judgement
Revealing more of You than the law ever did

Brian Houston
Copyright © 2001 Kingsway’s Thankyou Music/MC

Where You See Bones

I bought a couple of CD's on ebay a few weeks ago. This song was on one of them. I think the lyrics are amazing.

WHERE YOU SEE BONES

When the ones you love and trust hurt and destroy You
You may be discouraged, certainly don't think of giving up
When you are broken, when you are wounded
Forgive those who persecute you
For it's alright to be broken, and it is no shame to cry

But I do not want you to remain in that place of brokenness
Even though I am in that place with you
Still I do not want you to stay there

Where you see bones, I can see the army
When you see floods, I see the shore
Where you see dry winds blow, I see new life grow
Where you see clouds in your way, it is the Lord

Like I delivered Moses out from the desert place
So I will lead you through
You will see a fire in the night and a pillar of cloud in the day
I will go before you
And if you can forgive then when your soul is really mended
You will see that there is gold, pure gold
Real gold of great worth
You will see there is gold, pure gold
Real gold of great worth in your life

But I do not want you to remain in that place of brokenness
Even though I am in that place with you
Still I do not want you to remain there
No, no, no, no I do not want you to remain in the land of your affliction
No, no, no, no I do not want you to stay there in the land of your broken dreams

To know that I the Lord your God dwell within you
Live beside you and walk behind you
This the pure gold I am talking about
That cannot be consumed by fire or stolen away by human hands
This is the gold of ministry that you have longed for
That you have laid awake at night on your bed dreaming of

And you need to know that I have been wishing for you
Dreaming in you, hoping for you
For my dreams are so much greater for you than yours
And to know my hand in Your life
This is the greatest prize
So much better than recognition

And as you rise up in me, many will know
Many will see, many will hear
Because I am your God

This is the pure gold that I am refining in you
That will shine within your soul
And your cup will run over
And you will see the fruit of your labours
And you will not be disappointed forever
For your toils and your struggles are not in vain

© 2001 : Brian Houston
KingsWay's ThankYou Music/MCPS

Missions & Ministries - Part 5

Back in the dark ages, when I was 12 or 13, I read "The Cross & the Switchblade" by David Wilkerson. I was captivated by how the Lord used him to minister to gang members and drug addicts and ultimately, start Teen Challenge. The Lord also used these books to touch my heart and put within me a desire for a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Over the years I have heard presentations from individuals whose lives have been transformed by God through the Teen Challenge program, and it has always remained a favorite ministry of mine.

I used to wish that I had a dramatic testimony. I've grown enough in my faith to know that any testimony is dramatic, and that any time God touches and redeems a life, it is a miracle of grace. Sometimes I forget that and get weighed down with the cynicism of the world. At such times, a report of a life saved from crime, drugs & despair reminds me that God is still at work and that no life is beyond the hope of salvation.

Sadly, there is as much of a need for a ministry to drug addicts as there was when Teen Challenge was started. Also sadly, the center in Rochester, NY was financially unable to stay open and recently had to combine with Buffalo, NY. Hopefully if the economy improves, the center in Rochester will be re-established. Meanwhile, Teen Challenge remains a ministry that does wonderful work with minimal resources. (www.tcwny.org)