Tem Do Music Shuffle Survey Thingy, Don't Read If You Don't Like That Sort Of Thing.)

RULES: 1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.

1. SOMEONE SAYS "ARE YOU OKAY" YOU SAY?

Red Barchetta –Rush (Pretty)

2. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?

Portrait (Out of the blue) –Enya (Even prettier, what gorgeous piano playing.)

3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?

? –Eva Cassidy (I don’t think “?” is the actual title, it’s an acoustic cover of that song by Cindy Lauper, “Time after time”, it’s one of my all time favorite songs. I think it fits well here.)

4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

Zion Train –Bob Marley and the Wailers (Interesting…)

5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?

Alabama –Neil Young (This game might work better if I had actually been the one to download all of these songs, the iPod I’m using used to be my dad’s, lucky for me, my musical tastes are pretty close to my dad’s.)

6. WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?

I can’t Explain –The Who (I love the beginning guitar of this song. And the song doesn’t fit too bad here, either.)

7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?

DJ –David Bowie (What friends? Just kidding. (Interesting song, I wonder how relevant it actually is?))

8. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

Dreaming –Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (Baha, that’s funny. I like this song.)

9. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?

The Jumpin’ Jive –Joe Jackson (“Boys” Oh brother. Huh. Not exactly one of my favorite songs, but the gibberish is funny J )

11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

Closedown –The Cure (Love this band. Pardon me a moment as I figure out if this song is relevant to the question… I have no idea.)

12. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

Fragile –Sting (Kinda perfect, and I rather do adore Sting, he’s another of those poet musicians.)

13. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

Indoor Fireworks –Elvis Costello and the Confederates(?) (No I don’t, I swear!)

14. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

I Am Weary, Let Me Rest –The Cox Family, from the soundtrack of “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” (Interesting…)

15. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?

Redemption Song –Bob Marley and the Wailers (Aha, a rebel song, me like.)

16. WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?

Por El Suelo –Manu Chao (Huh, one of maybe the two songs of theirs that I actually like.)

17. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

Suspicious Minds –Fine Young Cannibals (Again, huh. I am not the biggest fan of that particular band.)

18. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?

Tombstone Blues –Bob Dylan (Weird. Do any of these make any sense to you, knowing me?)

19. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?

Juliana –Quarteto Em Cy (I won’t even bother commenting on this.)

20. WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?

Sanctify Yourself –Simple Minds

21. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

I Believe –Tears For Fears (Eesh, I don’t really like this particular song, but it makes sense to me here.)

22. WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?

Wake Up –Arcade Fire (I’m liking this one, nice song. Though I’m almost nearly totally ruined for Arcade Fire forever by a music video of theirs that I saw on Today’s Big Thing. The song was pretty creepy too.)

23. HOW WILL YOU DIE?

Burning Skies –Tones On Tail ( Interesting.)

24. IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?

Duboniks – Return of Mark Skids (Ek.)

25. WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?

Tem Do –Caculinha Seu Orgao Seu Conjuncto 

"The notion of saving the planet has nothing to do wiht intectual honesty or science. The fact is that the planet was here long before us and will be here long after us. The planet is running fine. What people are talking about is saving themselves and saving their cash flow."
~Lynn Margulis. (Found in the Sunbeams section of The Sun.)

Interesting... though I don't wholly agree with it. I really do think we're doing a pretty bad job in our "stewardship", whether or not is we are actually the stewards. But really, that whole thing about people really just wanting to save themselves and their cash flow seems pretty insightful to me, which kinda ties into this one, also found in the Sunbeams:
"Even the most ardent environmentalist doesn't really want to stop pollution. If he thinks about it and doesn't just talk about it, he wants to have the right amount of pollution. We cannot afford to eliminate it - not without abandoning all the benefits of technology that we not only enjoy but on which we depend."
~Milton Friedman
Something to think about, at the very least. I mean, if I think about it, I am right now writing quotes about the environment on my blog, which happens to exist on a computer that runs on electricity that I am certain was not converted from the sun or wind's energy, while I sit on a swivel chair made from plastics and metals which were taken from the earth and which are pretty difficult to give back. Would it be difficult for me to live without these things? Most definitely, but I like to think that I could totally live without them. And besides, I am of the opinion that we haven't truly explored what humanity is capable of without the aid of technology.
I seem to be on a quote spiel today, as I really feel that both of these lead into this: "Between the two poles of whole truth and half truth is slung the chancy hammock in which we all rock." ~Shana Alexander. That rather explains my feelings about both quotes, that they don't necessarily have all of the truth, or all of the untruth.

All three of these quotes are, inexplicably, strung one after the other on their page in this order: Lynn, Shana, Milton. Huh. As if Shana's explains and unifies them... Baha, perhaps I am thinking about this too much :)

50 must read books (as compiled by Amoniel, mom, and dad.)

1. Jonathon Livingston Seagull -Richard Bach
2. Treason -Orson Scott Card
3. the Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East (Series) -Baird T. Spalding
4. The Prophet -Kahlil Gibran
5. Lord of the Rings (Trilogy) -J.R.R. Tolkien
6. Catch-22 -Joseph Heller
7. Death of a Salesman -Arthur Miller (?)
8. Ender Series -Orson Scott Card
9. Walden -Henry David Thoreau
10. Leaves of Grass -Walt Whitman
11. Heart of Darkness -Joseph Conrad
12. The Monkey Wrench Gang -Edward Abbey
13. Everett Ruess: Vagabond for Beauty -W.L. Rusho & Vickey Burgess
14. Born to Run -Christopher McDougall
15. Memories, Dreams, Reflections -C.G. Jung
16. Winter Count -Barry Lopez
17. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly -Jean-Dominique Bauby
18. A child Called it: One Child's Courage to Survive -Dave Pelzer
19. The Hidden West: Journey in the American Outback -Rob Shultheis
20. A Biography of Ed Abbey -(?)
21. The Moors Last Sigh -Salman Rushdie
22. Sundance -Sigmund Brouwer
23. Candide, ou l'Optimisme -Voltaire
24. The Odyssey -Homer
25. The Poisonwood Bible -Barbara Kingsolver
26. Riddle of Stars -Patricia A. MCkillip
27. The Bean Trees -Barabara Kingsolver
28. Seymour, an introduction -J.D. Salinger
29. People's History of the United States -Howard Zinn
30. Watership Down -Richard Adams
31. Stotan! -Chris Crutcher
32. The Diary of a Young Girl -Anne Frank
33. The Bible -A whole bunch of people
34. Greek mythologys (?)
35. Silent Spring -Rachel Carson
36. Out of the Dust -Karen Hesse
37. Return of the Native -Thomas Hardy
38. I will Fight No More Forever: Chief Joseph and the Nez Pierce War -Merrill D. Beal
39. Fight Club -Chuck Palahniuk
40. Brief History of Time -Stephen Hawking
41. A Seperate Peace -John Knowles
42. Desert Solitaire: a Season in the Wilderness -Edward Abbey
43. The Milagro Beanfield War -John Nichols
44. The Tales of Alvin Maker (Series) -Orson Scott Card
45. The God of Small Things: A Novel -Arundhati Roy
46. The Complete Short Stories of Earnest Hemingway -(Bet you can't guess who it's by.)
47. The Chosen -Chaim Potak
48. Dostoyevsky (?)
49. Travels In Alaska -John Muir
50. War and Peace -Leo Tolstoy

This Post is Titled: Amoniel Loves Mushrooms (But Her Camera Refuses to Acknowledge Their Beauty)

Utah is Absolutely Gorgeous

An awful lot can happen in three days when you're camping. How I wish I could go back already.
I now want to travel as much as possible when I'm old enough, through cities and forests, the wild and "civilization". I seem to be happiest when I'm moving.

A Currently Useless Thing (Why NOT to start anything late in the day.)

This was built by me last month to serve as a hide frame, we had recently killed a goat then, (Some dear friends were moving far away, and couldn't take the goat with them.) and mom was scraping the hide, draping it over the log pile. She was pretty much done by the time I finally got the frame all built, and we couldn't find any twine to tie it with. The hide ended up getting buried in our field. We had neglected to salt it from the very first, and to multiply that mistake, we left it outside that night instead of throwing it in the refrigerator the moment we got home. Sadly, the whole thing was a waste. But hopefully, if we ever try to tan leather again, we will remember what we learned from doing that one, and we will have this frame to stretch and scrape it on.

We're all mad here, darling

 "Of course, in an age of madness, to expect to be untouched by madness is a form of madness. But the pursuit of sanity can be a form of madness, too."
~Saul Bellow, "Henderson the rain king"

A story by Amoniel, Kathryn, and the Dreamer

(I will try to alternate the style of the letters where I detect a change in handwriting.)

Once upon a time
Alphonse ruled over a kingdom of
fictional animals, and they all


Had fictional tales of an amourous quality
and spent endless hours fighting of[f] the dreadful foes that inhabited the flames of candles.
They fought long and hard, day and night, until


The tiger lost a tooth, and he cried "Mama save me!"
Little did he know that a wild cowboy was in the area at the time and was quick to respond.


"Hi ho Silver!" The cowboy yelled as his horse reared. He waved his banana-yellow hat in the air and galloped off toward the scene of the crime.
When the shadows grew larger he dismounted his horse to prepare for the long night ahead, all the while thinking of a plan for discovering the truth.


He unrolled his sleeping bag as the moon rose, making everything look like liquid silver.
"I've got it!!!" He shouted.
Everything made sense now as he rushed to repack his stuff. "I've got to hurry! It'll be too late if I wait for morning." He muttered as his hands flew. Packed with a new found energy the cowboy leapt on his horse and rode towards the castle. If he hurried he could catch the


Black knight, dastardly doer of dark deeds.
'I've got you now' the cowboy said under his breath as his horse galloped faster and faster. The castle came into view as
a growing feeling of unnatural discomfort ran down the cowboy's spine. In a sudden gush of wind the Back Knight appeared in front of the cowboy and pleaded for forgiveness. "I was wrong to do such evil, let me make it up to all the victims of my crimes somehow." The Black Knight begged. With a slight smile the cowboy laughed, "Throw us a tea party[.]"
And the mad hatter and march hare came; they all lived happily ever after. (Except the hare smashed the best teapot.)


[It's random because we wrote it as a game; the game is best played with three people. You have a piece of paper, lined is best, the first person writes something on the top of the paper, (preferably something that is easily added to) and passes it to the second person. The second person reads what the first person wrote and then writes something under the first person's writing. (I think it works best to leave an unwritten line in between each person's turn.) The second person then folds the first person's writing under the paper and passes the paper to the third person. The third person reads what the second person wrote and adds something of their own to the paper, and so on.
I think playing with at least three people really makes the story random, the third person never reads what the first person wrote.]
[Kathryn, could you show this post to your oldest sister?]

Because I Love Clouds

 Enjoy!

Except for the first one, these were all taken on the same day.

July of the 31st (But Not Today.)

We celebrated Harry Potter's birthday with home-made poppyseed cake yesterday, he turned 32, I think. And no, I forgot to take a picture of the cake before it was devoured yesterday, I'm terrible at remembering those things, but here's a link to the recipe we -Jeru, Tor and I made it together, I think it went way faster then it would have otherwise- used.
And if one more person asks if it was Daniel Radcliffe's birthday we celebrated, I will cream them. ;)