“We have the wrong type of undead culture.” No ghosts; only zombies. Good post from Paul Watson.

John Michael Greer, A World Full of Gods: An Inquiry into Polytheism:

Much of polytheist theology can be seen as the application of ecological thinking to religion.

This snaps together several pieces in my mind. There has been a revival (relatively speaking) of polytheism in the years since the rise of ecological thinking. The dominant model of monotheism is of a king and the ruled, which has sometimes had what we might call poor historical consequences. A polytheism rooted in ecological thinking could be a shift from a hierarchical “great chain of being” to a relationship of reciprocity.

My friend and neighbor has a new book out today from Ancient Faith: Holy Fools: The Lives of Twenty Fools for Christ.

Sierra Ferrell’s harmony on this song takes me straight back to childhood in Trinity Pentecost Mission in Springville.

We just watched “Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre” (1996) and it was very good. I read the novel many years ago so I don’t recall details well enough to know how faithful it was to the book. But now I want to watch other adaptations. Recommendations?

Two things about this:

1. One of the smoothest key changes I’ve ever heard.
2. Canst thou shred on a mandolin? Yea, verily.

I’ve thought about this video shared by Denny several times over the past couple of days. Our cultural expectations of what constitutes a good life can blind us to the possibilities found by others. I’m trying–haltingly and inconsistently, to be sure–to extricate myself from that worldview.

Josh Radnor:

The most trustworthy people in the world are those who have been to the underworld. Those who’ve been torn open, rearranged, and made new by suffering. Myths are riddled with descents into the underworld wherein the hero confronts the darkness of the shadowy depths and reemerges with gifts and lessons. This is a kind of wisdom that is not on offer in the clouds or on earth. It can only be found below.

As of yesterday, I finished my two big summer projects: refinish my in-laws’ dining set and build a cabinet for a friend. Today I cleaned and organized the garage, which was getting quite out of hand while I was working on those projects.

My remaining to-do list:

• Repair and refinish a cedar chest
• Repair and refinish two antique chairs
• Refinish one remaining chair for it in-laws
• Get a few tools acquired over the past year into working order

Plans for next projects:

• A six board chest using Rex Krueger’s design
• I’d like to make several dovetail boxes, and maybe give one away as a Christmas present if I get the hang of it in time.
• Experiment with carving designs into whatever I’m building.

A few months ago, a very generous friend decided to give me some of his grandfather’s tools: a bench grinder, a small drill press, and a benchtop disc sander.

All he asked in return was an open-front, mobile cabinet that he could use in his garage and for cookouts. He already had a countertop. So I built it of birch plywood and added four lockable wheels and adjustable shelves.

I also surprised him with a memorial to his grandfather burned inside the cabinet.

I experimented with burning through the paint on some scrap and it looked okay but it also had a decent chance of going wrong. I decided to leave it unpainted and then finished the spot with some spray polyurethane for protection.

Here it is in its new home