Dear Bill,

Knitting News:

I’m well into the second Port Orford sweater. You’ll remember that the first was for our younger son. This one is for my sweetie husband. Both have been in dark green since their main use will be for hunting. I used Cascade 220 Superwash for our son’s. For my sweetie’s I decided on Plymouth Encore Worsted. The latter has a little acrylic in it, which probably isn’t as classy, but I love the color and the very slight sheen.

Here’s the completed back:

And here’s where I’ve got to on the front:

I’m showing off my knitting mojo. You can see how much endless stocking stitch there is in this project, let alone in two of them.

Dishwasher News:

Our dishwasher has broken down irretrievably. We used to boast about its stamina, its food-grinding ability, its reliability, and its sheer good looks. No more. It began belching smoke and threatened to burn the house down if we left it to its own devices. I’m not pleased with its heartless sense of timing here. Not pleased at all.

Little Baroque Cherubs News:

We’ve had a little set of Baroque Christmas Cherubs for a long, long time.

An aside: My sweetie husband would correct me just now if he were looking over my shoulder. He’d tell me that the plural of the Hebrew word cherub is cherubim not cherubs. But my sweetie husband isn’t looking over my shoulder. He’s out in the wilds of Grand Rapids searching for my birthday present. Poor guy. My birthday’s on Tuesday, three days before Christmas. Every single year. This is doubtlessly very taxing for my family, but–well, realistically, what can you do?

Anyhow, here are two photographs taken in our Peterhead manse in the 1970s, one of our elder son and one of our elder daughter (the other two children as yet not having made their appearances in our lives) in front of our rather home-made Christmas tree decorations. Beside them on the sherry barrel, which we used as a coffee table in our poverty–and no, we didn’t drink all the sherry–is the little set of carefree Christmas cherubs, playing away on their musical instruments.

Son:

Daughter:

My husband was a Church of Scotland minister, son of a Church of Scotland minister, grandson of a Church of Scotland minister, and so on, to six generations back. I mean this was a serious family. One day, not long before our first Christmas in Peterhead, my father-in-law was sitting alone in our living room. As I came in I saw him notice our little gathering of cherubs beside him. He positively recoiled in horror.

“Feech!!!!” he whispered hoarsely and moved to another chair.

Feech is a Scottish exclamation of extreme revulsion, not to be used lightly. As they say, “It’s never hard to tell the difference between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine.”

Since then these little cherubs have held a special place in our family’s heart. How Grandpa hated them! Somehow it always makes us laugh.

And here they are in the year 2009, still ugly, sitting in splendor on our hall table.

Little cutie patooties!!

Love!

Momma

By Richard Dennis via illustration is good

‘O Love, Love, that from the eyes diffusest soft desire, bringing on the souls of those, whom thou dost camp against, sweet grace, O never in evil mood appear to me, nor out of time and tune approach! Nor fire nor meteor hurls a mightier bolt than Aphrodite’s shaft shot by the hands of Love, the child of Zeus.

Idly, idly by the streams of Alpheus and in the Pythian shrines of Phoebus, Hellas heaps the slaughtered steers; while Love we worship not, Love, the king of men, who holds the key to Aphrodite’s sweetest bower,-worship not him who, when he comes, lays waste and marks his path to mortal hearts by wide-spread woe.’

Today my husband and I agreed, pageant parents we’re not.  It was an organized race around the house to get clean jeans and hooded sweatshirts on both the girls.  Lord help us if their Sears photo-shoot also required make-up, spray tans and flappers.

We squeaked into the studio at 11:30.  Baby: awake.  Toddler: happy.  ”Um, we’re running behind.  Why don’t you walk around the store and come back in 15 minutes?” the clerk not so helpfully said.

But my babies are awake and happy. (Insert expletive here.)

What can you do?  Throw a tantrum?  Bribe the family ahead of you?  Charge the photographer?

Chalking the 15-minute wait (that in reality was over an hour) to life, my husband and I wandered the aisles, inspecting the toys – much to the glee of Miss Q; and the tools – much to the delight of my husband.  Christmas Dremel anyone?

I’m not sure what time the flashbulbs started going off as the girls posed.  All I know is Miss S had fallen asleep and woke with fire in her belly – thankfully Daddy, the baby whisperer was there.  And for some unknown, why question, two-year-old reason, Miss Q was psyched.  She posed and let the photographer manipulate her body; she even smized (um, smiled with your eyes?)… a little America’s Top Model thrown in there.  ”The best part was the flash,” she told us later.

Funny, because when it first went off, I thought the whole session would be: Miss Q with her eyes closed… and Miss S wailing.  (Fine for us, but maybe not for the people who want to see their cherub mugs.)

The total time spent waiting for the 15-minute session to start, to picking the shots we wanted to keep, to paying for the lot was 2.5 hours.  I still have no idea how my daughters were so mellow (except for the waking up part) for that long.  Maybe it’s because they’re girls and the mall runs strong within them.

All will mostly be forgotten, in a couple of weeks when their photos come back.   When I look at the pictures of my two girlies, I’ll remember how hard their daddy worked to get Miss S to smile; and how Miss Q wanted Mini Mouse to watch her.  For a moment time will stand still, until someone tugs at my arm.

Did I mention my portrait of Mayor Cindy Siegel of Bellaire was accepted into the Richeson School of Art & Gallery Figure/Portrait 2009 Exhibition book? I’m very anxious to receive my copy. I haven’t heard from them but I hope it arrives soon.

Lilibeth André, "El Querubin", 12x16, oil

I curated an exhibition and competition for a water theme art component to a sustainability conference held in October at Rice University. The people’s choice award winners represented representational, expressive and abstract styles. All sixteen selected artists who participated entered artwork to represent how water can have human impact. The show lasted through the month of October.

The Elder Street Gallery had a Connections exhibition featuring postcard art from all over the world. I entered to pieces inspired by my Tuscan series of acrylic works.

The Angel Store is a show that runs through the holidays to raise awareness and funds for Justice for Children. For this show I painted “El Querubin” based on a photo I had of one of my nieces.

The first anniversary at my studio was jointly celebrated with our second art crawl with 12 artists in my building opening up their studios to feature their most current work. This started out slowly, until shortly after the football game was over and the usual crowds unleashed. I’ll be posting some photos of my studio soon.

Our bookclub members offer you a new book display Spy: Undercover, for all of you who enjoy Alex Rider and The Cherub series. Extend your SPY book experience by borrowing a book from the display, you never know what is undercover!

The library is the lucky host of Y9 Art models. Come to MACLIC and have a look. Which is your favourite?

Jag är så bra på att skriva in mina böcker när jag har läst dem så det får bli en till lista.

• Mitt liv som pingvin – Katarina Mazetti, den är hemtrevlig på något sätt.
• PS: jag älskar dig – Cecelia Ahern, tjejbok skulle man nog kunna kalla det. Upptäckte den här boken på engelska och bestämde mig för att att läsa den och eftersom den inte fanns på engelska på mitt bibliotek blev den på svenska.
• Djävulens märke – Magnus Nordin, lite småläskig men bra.
• Självklart! Inte? : en filosofibok – Liza Haglund, Anders J. Persson, en bok som får en att böra tänka lite filosofiskt.
• Väktarens offer – Joseph Delaney, sjätte boken om Tom Ward.
• Tänk om det där är jag – Johanna Lindbäck, en riktigt bra tjejbok.
• Hungerspelen – Suzanne Collins, första boken i en triologi om Katniss
• Rekryten – Robert Muchamore, första boken om Cherub.
• Om jag kunde drömma – Stephenie Meyer, omläsning. Man måste ju läsa om bra böcker ibland.

depiction of a seraph from a mediaeval manuscript

“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” Hebrews 1: 14

 The other day I was walking past a little “New Age”-type shop in the town which often has dubious items in its window. (Some weeks ago there was a display of items connected with witchcraft – occult books, magic wands, crystal balls, etc.) What caught my eye the other day a was a display all about angels – or rather “Angel Therapy”. Apparently a lady by the unlikely name of Doreen Virtue has made this her speciality. She has cornered the market on “angels” and has written books about how you can contact your guardian angel and get help from them. You can buy special Angel Cards which are used rather like Tarot cards to tell fortunes.

I know that none of you would ever have anything to do with such occult rubbish as this. Don’t be misled by the word “Angels” – it really has nothing to do with the angels in the Bible, or not with the good ones anyway. (There are, of course, fallen angels or demonic spirits and it is far more likely to be connected with them.)

So realizing that such a thing as “Angel Therapy” is now quite popular in some circles I thought it was a good idea to look once again at what the Bible has to say about angels. (Looking into my sermon records I see it was eleven years ago when we last looked at this topic.)

People sometimes say, “Do you belive in angels?” And I feel like answering, “Yes, I believe in angels – but not necessarily the same as the angels you believe in. I depends what you mean by “angels”.

Well, what does the word “angel” conjure up for you? If you say someone is an angel you mean they are a very good person or a very caring person. Nurses are often called angels. If you say a little girl looks like an angel you probably mean she is pretty and has fair hair. If you say a child is an angel you mean they are well behaved.

For many people angels are confused with fairies. They don’t distinguish between the former which is a powerful spiritual being mentioned in the Bible and the latter which is entirely fictional. They think of some kind of delicate creature, usually female, with wings. Our ideas have been conditioned by illustrations in fairy-tale books, and by Christmas cards as well as by the paintings of the great masters of the renaissance period.

I think we may have to jettison all these ideas and go back to the Bible if we really want to know what angels are. Think for a moment: how would we react if an angel were to appear before us at this moment. Would we say, “Oh how lovely, how cute!” or would we be struck dumb with terror?

I would suggest the latter. Indeed, most times we read about angels in the Bible, the very first thing they have to say is, “Do not be afraid”. In the Bible people are always struck with awe at the appearance of a heavenly spiritual being.

Let’s try to answer some questions about angels:

What is an angel?

Our text says that they are ministering spirits sent to help God’s people. They are also described as fellow-servants with us humans ( Revelation 22:8).

The word Angel comes from “Angelos” in Greek, which means simply a messenger. The Hebrew word is Malak, and that also means messenger.

Here is a dictionary definition: “Angel: a messenger of God, familiar with him face to face, and therefore of an order of being higher than that of man.”

Angels are created beings, just as we are, but holy and uncorrupted. They are moral beings – pure spirits who worship God freely. No wonder that people are always terrified when they meet an angel! Angels shine with some of the glory of God himself. They bring to us a touch of his holiness. Sometimes they are called Seraphs or “burning ones” – a reminder to us of the fact that our God is a consuming fire ( Hebrews 12:29).

As purely spiritual beings, angels exist on another plane than ours. They inhabit another spiritual dimension. But Jesus tells us at the Resurrection we shall be like the angels. We shall be raised with a new spiritual body ( 1 Corinthians 15) and we shall share in the incorruptible life of eternity.

What do they look like?

Who knows? As purely spiritual beings angels are not visible to us. How they appear to one another we do not know, but when they manifest themselves to us they usually take human form.

Now, if we base our ideas of angels on works of art, or Christmas cards, or children’s nativity plays we might they are delicate, fairy-like, female creatures. (It’s always the little girls who get to play the angels in the nativity play – never the little boys!) But in the Bible, on every occasion the angel appears in the form of a man, with or without wings. In Mark 16:5, for example, we read of a “young man in a white robe” appearing at he tomb of the risen Jesus. On other occasions the angel is always referred to as “he”.

As far as I know ther is only one reference in the Bible to angels taking a female form, and that was in a vision or dream. The prophet Zechariah had a vision of two angelic creatures in the form of women with wings like those of a stork (Zechariah 5:9).

However, although may use a masculine personal pronoun when speaking of an angel but that does not mean they are men. Because angels are without a biological body they do not have a gender – you do not think of them as male or female.

As for the idea of angels having wings, this seems to have come from Isaiah’s vision of the seraphim crying “Holy, holy, holy!”

“I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:1-3)

It is interesting to note that they had six wings, not two. Why then are angels usually depicted as creatures with two wings?

What do angels do?

One of their tasks is to bring messages from God. Sometimes messages of good news and sometimes messages of judgement, or of warning. Sometime it is a summons to action: “Get up, get going!” For example:

· to Gideon: “Arise and go in thy might”.

· to Elijah: “Arise and eat”.

· to Joseph of Nazareth: “Go quickly”.

· to Philip: “Arise and go”.

It’s all a bit monotonous really – but then, a fire alarm is monotonous!

Sometimes the angels help God’s people in times of trouble. For example, when Elijah was worn out and depressed after the contest on Mount Carmel, the Angel of the Lord came and strengthened him.

Some angels watch over Gods people and preserve them from harm. These are known as guardian angels. In Daniel 10 we read that each a nation has its guardian angel. And Jesus refers to the guardian angels of children: “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10 )

According to Hebrews 2, the angels were active in the giving of the Law to Moses.

In the Book of Revelation it is the angels who will execute God’s final judgement.

How many angels are there?

Perhaps God only knows the answer to that one. There must be far more than we can imagine – Daniel 7: speaks of “myriads upon myriads”. But their number is still finite: only God is infinite.

How may different types are there?

Again we do not really know, but we do read of various types of angels in the Bible:

Cherubs (or Cherubim)

The image suggested by the word cherub is probably of a chubby, red cheeked child. That is how cherubs are depicted in the paintings of Raphael and other Renaissance artists. This image owes more to the pagan Roman Cupid than to the Bible.

Cherubs in the Bible are very different. They are the angels who guard God’s presence. Two statues of cherubs were placed above the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies.

When Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden cherubim prevented them from returning: “So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” ( Genesis 3:24)

Seraphs (or Seraphim)

These seem to have a similar role to cherubim and they also worship God without ceasing.

We have already referred to guardian angels.

Destroying angels

At various times in the history of Israel God would bring his judgement upon the nation and send his destroying angel. The Angel of the Lord Very often the angel sent by God is referred to in these terms.

Sometimes the Angel of the Lord even seems to be a manifestation of God himself – a pre-incarnation manifestation of God the Son or an appearance of the Holy Spirit. If this is so then we are not talking of an angel here but of God himself.

Angel Gabriel

According to Jewish tradition there are four archangels: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael and Uriel. But in the Bible only the first two are named, and only Michael is said to be an Archangel.

Archangel Michael

He is the guardian angel of the people of Israel.

Reference is made in several places to various ranks of angels, but we haven’t got time to go into these now.

And then there are the fallen angels: Satan and his demons. This will be the subject of another sermon.

But going back to the good angels:

How do they work?

Once again we don’t really know. Often their ministry is secret and invisible. Billy graham has written a book entitled “Angels: God’s Secret Agents”. There are many instances, even today, when people have had food provided apparently miraculously, or have been saved from danger by what seems to be angelic intervention.

Only on occasions of supreme significance in the history of our salvation do angels reveal themselves. For example: in the life of Jesus. Angels ministered at his birth, his temptation, at the Garden of Gethsemane, at the Resurrection and at the Ascension.

Why are angels so often unseen?

Perhaps it is because if we could see them we would be tempted to worship them, as John was in the Book of Revelation:

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!” ( Revelation 22:8-9 )

In the Early Church there were some groups who worshipped angels. The Letter to the Hebrews was written to combat this heresy. In it the writer compares Christ to the angels and stresses his superiority over them.

Why do people so often misrepresent angels?

Why do they persist in seeing angel as fairy-like creatures? It’s surely because every picture they have seen in the media, in books, in popular art has been influenced by the art of the renaissance. This in turn has come down from images of Greek and Roman Pagan gods in classical art. If people read the Bible they would have a much better idea of what angels are.

Conclusion

Why should we think about angels? You might be thinking, “This is all a bit theoretical. What practical help is it to the Christian life?” A great deal, I would say.

Angels are holy and awesome beings who reflect God’s holiness and power. Read all the passages in the Bible about angels and you will inevitably be led to think about God’s holiness and to worship him.

Too often we let our worship sink to the merely human, mundane level. But we don’t just come to church to feel better, or to be entertained, or to meet people. We come to worship and honour God.

Often nowadays, in many churches in Wales, it is a small group of ten or less people gathering to worship. For them it is a great source of encouragement to know that the glory of God in worship does not depend on the number of people attending. However small our congregation we know we are joined by countless millions of angels in our worship of God. Let us be encouraged as we remind ourselves that our faith is not just of this world.

i’ve been catching up on seeing all the friends i left behind. yesterday i saw cookingwriter, who’s doing very well and gave me a tiny pumpkin i named edward (so as to keep up my reputation as “that-insane-writer-lady-who-has-to-name-everything), and went to sewingmommy’s house, where i got to see her new cherub, little’un. i was so dazzled by his unparalleled adorableness that i promptly forgot to take pictures, but let me just say pictures wouldn’t do him justice if i did take them. he is the most gorgeous thing, with teeny little hands and feet and beautiful blue eyes! blondie, colorfulheadscarves, and shawny were there with me, and they love him as much as i do (of course). unfortunately martialartsdude was not there and therefore couldn’t “help” sewingmommy with us by annoying playing with little’un. at two months he seemed hopelessly disoriented a little confused by being passed around by a couple of oddballs, but he smiled all the same.

A Cherub is an Angel, not all are human, a wolf roams the land.

Shielding puppies, what God gives, invisible helping hands.

Four eyes and wings, it may look universal, with a guardian as protection, I can, I can.

An Angel’s wing’s! A covenant with God.

The Arch of wings and the choirs that sing.

Tres

I’m sat at work keeping my fingers crossed that my new kite sock arrives today. A bunch of the Cherub guys might be coming up to Grafham at the weekend and it’d be nice to have a working kite for some blasting. Couple more knots on the wind forecast would be good too!

Just so this isn’t the dullest blog post ever, here’s a picture of my friend Ben’s Rebel 41 at anchor on a glorious summer’s day. Remember summer? All those nice warm days… and here I am wrapped up in a jumper with the heating on.

Mutineer - Van De Stadt Rebel 41

Incidentally, she’s for sale. He’s going to grow up and buy a house instead – don’t do it, Ben!

I love a classic pin up girl…

You can never go wrong with cherubs!

I’ve done a lot of work on this next guy…. he had enough space left on his arm for an eye on the elbow.

Well I am more or less getting back into the swing of things now. Back at College and Work, even though I don’t want to go to College its good to be back into my regular schedule though.

My brother leaves tomorrow! Nooooooo! So I took the day of College to spend the day with him

I have started to write a short story called Parallel Exchanges (see Pages on the Right Hand of this Page) so I’ll keep you posted as I progress. Also, I am slowly, but surely working my way through the Cherub Book Series still: there are ten books and I am up to the sixth.

Not much else to say really apart from had the concert on Saturday, which went really well! The leaving dinner last night was good also, great place too!

Seth

UPDATE: Câştigătoarea concursului este Mirică Nicoleta.

Dacă îţi doreşti să câştigi minunata carte RECRUTUL de Robert Muchamore, oferită de editura Corint Junior, atunci participă la concurs!
Trimite pe emailul shaukismagicalshelf [at] yahoo [.] com răspunsul la întrebarea: Ţi-ai dori să fii un agent secret? Răspunsul trebuie argumentat în cel puţin 5 rânduri.
Perioada de desfăşurare: 11 octombrie – 14 octombrie.
Aflarea câştigătorului: 14 octombrie, ora 20.

Nu m-am aşteptat la ceva extraordinar când am pus mâna pe carte. Dar din teancul imens pe care-l aveam, RECRUTUL era cea mai scurtă carte. Aşadar, ce să fac-ce să fac? Am pus mâna pe RECRUTUL, doar să văd ce-i de capul ei. Ei bine, nu aveam de unde să ştiu că povestea ascunsă între paginile cărţii avea să mă încânte atât de mult.
Robert Muchamore este tipul de scriitor care mie îmi face plăcere să-l citesc – stilul este simplu, acţiunea este perfectă, nu există un început plictisitor şi detaliat care să te facă să vrei să azvârli cartea într-un raft şi să o laşi acolo pe vecie. Ca să fiu sincer, după ce m-am apucat de ea, am uitat de restul treburilor pe care le aveam şi i-am dat bice.
În RECRUTUL este vorba despre un puşti, James, care, după ce intră în belele la şcoală (tipic american) şi face faţă morţii mamei sale, ajunge (datorită un prieten nou pe nume Kyle) în CHERUB, o divizie a MI5, în care toţi agenţii au vârste cuprinse între 10 şi 17 ani.
După ce dă nişte teste şi decide să rămână la CHERUB, o instituţie luxoasă, băiatul îşi începe antrenamentul de bază cu un profesor dur care nu iartă pe nimeni de nimic şi le face viaţa incredibil de amară tuturor cursanţilor.
James este înconjurat mai mult de fete decât de băieţi şi, în afară de sora lui, cam toate îi par drăguţe şi se imaginează ieşind cu ele la un suc, ceea ce e destul de amuzant în comparaţie cu restul romanului; alături de Kerry, James va face faţă antrenamentului dur şi se va căli în Malaysia, însă alături de Amy, James va intra în prima sa misiune pe viaţă şi pe moarte.
Personajele par destul de reale, relaţiile dintre ele sunt bine conturate şi uneori, când ai câteva ore de când citeşti, ai senzaţia că vizionezi ecranizarea cărţii.
Sfârşitul poveştii pare destul de grăbit, însă adăugarea unor personaje noi şi uşoara transformare a protagonistului dă puţin condiment romanului. Având în vedere succesul autorului şi douăsprezece cărţi plănuite (zece deja lansate), acest fapt ne arată că seria CHERUB este un fenomen în plină expansiune, mai ales că deja un film este în pre-producţie. Pur şi simplu este greu să nu devii fan al seriei după ce termini de lecturat prima carte…

Dar RECRUTUL are şi două minusuri: 1. Sinopsisul de pe spate nu are nicio legătură cu acţiunea, personajul principal sau ceva de genul, şi face cartea să pară una de copii mici – cu toate că pe copertă scrie clar „Nerecomandată copiilor sub 9 ani”; plus că cele unsprezece continuări (dar chiar şi prima carte) ating puncte de interes pentru adolescenţi (de la 16 ani în sus). 2. E prea scurtă!

Titlul Românesc: Recrutul
Titlul original: The Recruit
Autor: Robert Muchamore
Editura Românească: Corint Junior
Editura originală: Hodder Children’s Books
Traducător: Adrian Deliu
Continuare: CLASA A (în curând)

Now, I know what you must be thinking! How are you posting this? Aren’t you meant to be your road-trip? Correct. This however is a pre-written, post-published, public announcement.

Well, now that’s brushed under the carpet, I would like to let you know about the series of books I have been reading at Rottnest (and continuing). They are by a chap named Robert Muchamore and the Book series is called Cherub. The books are written for kids, probably teenagers, but don’t let that discourage you. They are a very good read. For all of you who may have enjoyed the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, you will definitely enjoy this. While Alex Rider is more James Bond, with the suave and gadgets, Cherub is more gritty and realisitic, almost like an old British TV Series called Spooks. Without spoiling too much, it is about a 12 year old spy who helps gain intel for MI5 (British Secret Service) about Crooks and Criminals, and his general life at “Cherub” where all the kid spies live, train and learn. I am up to book 4 and so far it is trés good!

If you have any other thoughts, contrary opinions, other books etc. etc. please let me know. I’m always interested!

Always
Seth

The ancient Greeks often take the credit for concepts they borrowed from the Ancient Near East. When casting about for the origin of dragons, a staple, if unstable, element of ancient Semitic myths, the credit often lands in ancient Hellas. Those of us influenced by western culture prefer the Greek versions of myths because they tend to be (mostly) coherent and do not have large gaps like those scrawled on fragmented clay tablets. Also, the word “dragon” traces it etymology to ancient Greece where it apparently derives from the verb drakein, “to see clearly.” Often commentators suggest that the rationale for the name is that dragons guard treasure and need to see clearly to do so.

Babylonian dragon

Dragons, however, actually first appeared, like so many western civilizations concepts, in Sumer. In the ancient world, what we would recognize as dragons are always associated with water. Water is an uncreated element, existing as the primordial substance from which everything emerges. It is personified as a dragon that must be subdued for creation to take place. Images of the dragon from somewhat later time periods in Mesopotamia already depict the familiar form we still recognize as draconian.

Marduk astride Tiamat

The Bible has its share of dragons as well, although they never actually existed. Tannin, whose name probably relates to serpentine features, is regularly cited as a biblical dragon. Leviathan, as described in Job 41, has scaly skin, lives in the water, and belches fire (perhaps having taken lessons from televangelists). These characteristics probably played into modern conceptualizations of the dragon. Fire breathing, however, is first attested with Humbaba, the Cedar Forest guardian of the Gilgamesh Epic. Humbaba is not a dragon, but he may be the ancestor of our fire-breathing Leviathan. Some ancient iconography may also show fire projecting from the mouths of dragons as well.

Humbaba (center) on a bad day

Traditional Mesopotamian dragon

I would even venture to suggest that the origin of the name dragon could go back to ancient West Asia. The idea of seeing clearly reminds me of the ancient cherubim. According to Ezekiel, they are full of eyes. This complements their role as guardians of the thrones of ancient deities. Cherubim are Mischwesen composed of lions, eagles, humans, bulls, or any other spare parts lying around. In my imagination it doesn’t take much to shape them into dragons, the original watchers.

A true cherub

No matter who coined the word, dragons have been with us from the beginning of human civilization and continue to live on in popular culture. Maybe they are, like the unruly waters, truly uncreated.

Why, yes, there are things on my mind, but nothing I’m planning on sharing. Yup, that’s right…I’m a selfish bastard. So, sue me. Meanwhile, here’s yet another photo for your viewing pleasure. Or pain. Whatever works for you. Hey, I hear tell that some people derive pleasure from pain, so um, yeah. I’m not going to finish that thought.

Normally, I don’t much care for “cute” things, but this little cherub statue caught my attention as I was walking past. Sure, it seems a bit worse for wear, but hey, aren’t we all?

As for the statue itself, I found it perched on a low wall next to a driveway on Colonial Avenue in the Ghent neighborhood in Norfolk, Virginia. The photo itself is a straightforward black and white conversion from a color digital file from my Nikon P80. Not much else to say, and my brain is about to shut down for the night, so that’s all for now.

Enjoy.

So happy to be able to do the Scrap Online tonight which was hosted by Irma..
As usual it was alot of fun and I’m thrilled to bits with the outcome!
So thanks a million!!

I wanted to use another of the Fundraiser stamps from SUGAR NELLIE
this time its Cherub..
and the artwork has been donated by Leanne Ellis.
Once again, 100% of the proceeds of the sale of these stamps will go
to the It’s a girl thing Fundraiser in support of Breast Cancer research

Card Recipe:

You know, I’ve had that background stamp for years and this was the first time I’ve used it.. You will probably see it all the time now.. I love the effect it has!

Oliver has had an adventure!

As you can imagine my kids are just as taken with Olli as I am and can’t leave him alone for a minute..
It’s great for me as I’d be able to get some crafting done
But yesterday evening when they were ready to go to bed I asked them where Olli was
and they said they didn’t know..
We all went on hunting for him.. but he was nowhere to be seen!

As we live right in the middle of nowhere I was scared that he’d either got to the fast road in front of our house.. or got lost on our field where I know there are foxes and buzzards around!

I didn’t want to go to bed.. but it was way too dark to go looking so decided to leave it until this morning..
At first light hubby and I scoured the garden and low & behold..
Olli was hiding underneath a big tree.. shaking like a leaf!

He hasn’t left my side all day.. think it really must have shook him up.. the little mite
and I must admit I’ve never felt such relief.. couldn’t stop snuggling him!
Isn’t it amazing how quickly you can get attached to such a little animal?

Marlene x

As many of you will know there’s loads of campaigns running to get children and young adults reading more. However it never fails to amaze me that the price of books for Young people is so high. What’s more there is a worrying trend to maximise the profit by bringing out hardbacks before paperback thus inflating the price to encourage young people to part with their parents cash to get the latest.

Some books have always come out in hardback before paperback, the Harry Potter ones being a good example (although these usually worked out cheaper than the paperback if you shopped in the right place!). However I’ve noticed some are coming out in paperback first and then in hardback. The first I spotted of these was Shadowmancer. Howver that gives the young person the choice.

So what’s got up my goat this time ? Well simply the fact that a very popular series by the great writer Robert Muchamore has published his latest Cherub book in hardback first. Very annoying for all his fans out there. All the others are paperback so why now? I hope this isn’t going to happen on a regular basis, however if sales are good then I wouldn’t count on it.

I know you can say they can wait or borrow from the library (excellent idea by the way )However that involves wait and turns this nation into a two tier society – those who can afford Cherub and those who can’t). Publishers please sort this out and make books more affordable to younger people.