Barber Three-Sixty

Met by Love at Every Corner

2012-01-31T11:53:00.000-05:00

God in His loving kindness will meet you at every corner.

The nature of corners is that they are menacing. They are menacing because we don't know what lurks around that corner. And, so often we go into them with a sense of apprehension and fear - and our heart is small within us and we long for greater courage.

What if you knew that there is no corner you can turn which will not bring you into the mercy and goodness of God?! What if, deeper than any uncertainty, there is the conviction that you move into Love; that the love that surrounds you now is the Love that beckons you into the future?

-- Dr. R. Maurice Boyd, 'Prevenient Grace'

My Little Friend

2011-12-17T11:00:00.002-05:00

Creation

2011-12-17T10:40:00.001-05:00

Water reeds

Roman Walls

2011-06-21T22:56:00.002-04:00

Westminster - Soho

2011-06-21T18:42:00.009-04:00

Kingley Street, Soho

The Entrance to Kingly Street through an arch connecting the Tudor building occupied by Liberty to its former premises on Regent Street.

The following is from Wikipedia -

Arthur Lasenby Liberty was born in Chesham, Buckinghamshire during 1843. He was employed by Messrs Farmer and Rogers in Regent Street during 1862, the year of the International Exhibition at Kensington in London. By 1874, inspired by his 10 years of service, Arthur then decided to start a business of his own, which he did the next year.

With a £2,000 loan from his future father-in-law, Arthur Liberty accepted the lease of half a shop at 218a Regent Street with only three members of staff.

The shop opened during 1875 selling ornaments, fabric and objets d'art from Japan and the East. Within eighteen months Arthur Liberty had repaid the loan and acquired the second half of 218 Regent Street. As the business grew, neighbouring properties were bought and added.

During 1885, 142-144 Regent Street was acquired and housed the ever-increasing demand for carpets and furniture. The basement was named the Eastern Bazaar, and was the vending place for what was described as "decorative furnishing objects". He named the property Chesham House after the place in which he grew up. The store became the most fashionable place to shop in London and Liberty fabrics were used for both clothing and furnishings. Some of its clientele was exotic and included famous some of the Pre0Raphaelite artists.

During 1884 Liberty introduced the costume department into the Regent Street store, directed by Edward William Godwin (1833–86). Godwin was a distinguished architect. He was a initiating member of the Costume Society during 1882. He and Arthur Liberty created in-house apparel to challenge the fashions of Paris.

During the 1890s Arthur Lasenby Liberty built strong relationships with many famous English designers. Many of these designers practised the artistic styles known as Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau, and Arthur Liberty helped develop Aret Noveau through his encouragement of such designers. The company became associated with this new style, to the extent that in Italy. Art Nouveau became known as the Stile Liberty, after the London shop.

The store became one of the most prestigious in London.

1920s

The Tudor revival building was built so that trading could continue while renovations were being completed on the other premises and during 1924 this store was constructed from the timbers of two ships: HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan. The frontage on Great Marlborough Street is the same length as the Hindustan. It is a Grade II listed building.

The emporium was designed by Edwin T. Hall and his son Edwin S. Hall. They designed the building at the height of the 1920s fashion for Tudor revival. The shop was engineered around three light wells that formed the main focus of the building. Each of these wells was surrounded by smaller rooms to create a homely feel. Many of the rooms had fireplaces and some still exist. The wells created a wonderful environment in which to drape exotic rugs and quilts, whilst the smaller rooms allowed the display of smaller items.

Arthur Lasenby Liberty died during 1917, seven years before the completion of his magnificent shops.

Post war

Liberty, during the 1950s, continued its tradition for fashionable and eclectic design. All departments in the shop had a collection of both contemporary and traditional designs. New designers were promoted and often included those still representing the Liberty tradition for handcrafted work.

During the 1960s, extravagant and Eastern influences once again became fashionable, as well as the Art Noveau style, and Liberty adapted its furnishing designs from its archive.

Nowadays Liberty sells fashions, cosmetics, accessories, gifts etc. in addition to its homewares and furniture. Liberty has its own team of window dressers and is known for imaginative and often surreal window displays, especially during Christmas time.

Since 1988, Liberty has had a subsidiary in Japan which sells Liberty-branded products in major Japanese shops.

Rural Road

2011-06-20T22:16:00.002-04:00

Quaker Road, Norwich, Ontario

Flower Tricycle

2011-06-20T22:12:00.002-04:00

Oakville Marina 'Forest'

2011-06-20T22:10:00.002-04:00

Eramosa River Cafe

2011-06-20T22:06:00.002-04:00

Rockwood, Ontario, Canada

Not Baaa'd

2011-06-20T21:58:00.001-04:00

Sheep in County Wexford, Ireland

Irish Cottage

2011-06-20T21:51:00.004-04:00

There are pioneer souls that blaze the paths
Where highways never ran-
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend . . .

(adopted: Sam Walter Foss)

It's About Time

2011-06-20T21:49:00.002-04:00

Time, like an ever rolling stream, bears all her sons away . . .

Toronto Skyline

2011-06-20T21:45:00.004-04:00

From Humber Bay Park, Etobicoke

Oakville Marina

2011-06-20T21:43:00.002-04:00

Farm Lane

2011-06-20T21:41:00.002-04:00

Remnants of Another Day

2011-06-20T21:38:00.001-04:00

Rural Ireland, 2009

Some Day Soon

2011-04-14T12:37:00.000-04:00

Getting ready for the Banquet

Small Wonder

2011-04-08T15:01:00.001-04:00

In her book, 'Small Wonder,' Barbara Kingsolver writes -The closest my heart has come to breaking lately was on the day my little girl arrived home from school and ran to me, her face tense with expectation, asking, "Are they still having that war in Afghanistan?"

I suppose there are a lot of things that may break our heart. The passing of a loved one, the absence of a friend, the hopes and fears that turn into dashed dreams and the reality finally happening: something we had greatly feared actually happens.

"As if," she continues, "the world were such a place that in one afternoon. while kindergartners were working hard to master the letter I, it would decide to lay down its arms..."

Said her daughter: "If people are just going to keep doing that, I wish I'd never been born."

Kingsolver writes that she "sat on the floor and held her tightly to keep my own spirit from draining through the soles of my feet . . ."

And she continues: "It used to be, on many days, that I could close my eyes and sense myself to be perfectly happy. I have wondered lately if that feeling will ever come back. It's a worthy thing to wonder, but maybe being perfectly happy is not really the point. Maybe . . . the truer measure of humanity is the distance we must travel in our lives, time and again, 'twixt two extremes of passion - joy and grief,' as Shakespeare put it."

One tries to keep balanced, or get balanced, tries to keep keeping on, to make sense when there's little sense - only mystery and more mystery, beyond any possible explanation; and when there is mostly silence when one tries to pray, or when one hopes a voice may respond to one's attempts at meaningful - even simple, basic conversation.

A la Carte

2011-02-18T16:33:00.001-05:00

Before the table is spread

A Window in Rome

2011-02-18T16:32:00.000-05:00

Somehow move evocative than Toronto

Pilgrim

2011-02-18T16:31:00.000-05:00

I was glad when they said unto me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord.'

Trinity

2011-02-18T16:28:00.000-05:00

And from God's bounty we all receive

Masks

2011-02-18T16:26:00.000-05:00

We all wear them

Clock

2011-02-18T16:23:00.001-05:00

There is no time but the present

Jesus

2011-02-18T16:19:00.000-05:00

Lord of Life

Light

2010-12-18T09:08:00.003-05:00

O Lord, lighten our darkness!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . .

2010-12-17T19:44:00.000-05:00

Not a Creature was Stirring

2010-12-17T19:40:00.000-05:00

Hope: Because one Child is born.

2010-12-17T19:25:00.002-05:00

"Give Hope"
Christopher Fry (1906 - 2005)

The darkest time in the year,
The poorest place in the town,
Cold and a taste of fear,
Man and woman alone,
What can we hope for more?

More light than we can learn,
More love than we can earn,
More strength than we can treasure,
More peace than we can measure,
Because one Child is born.

As though a single flake
Of snow touching the earth
Would all our thirsting slake
And turn all death to birth,
Bidding our spirits wake.

To what makes the many one
The deep solicitude
Which bred both star and bone,
Claiming by stable and rood,
God's will to be our own.

Bicycle

2010-12-04T23:01:00.001-05:00

Loco

2010-12-04T23:00:00.002-05:00

St. Martin's

2010-12-04T22:58:00.002-05:00

St. Martin's In the Fields, Trafalgar Square
London, England

St. Patricks, Armagh

2010-12-04T22:55:00.002-05:00

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, Northern Ireland
(Church of Ireland)

Angel

2010-12-04T22:53:00.002-05:00

Angel, Dublin Church

Spirits

2010-12-04T22:51:00.002-05:00

Umbrella

2010-12-04T22:48:00.002-05:00

Red Boat

2010-12-04T22:45:00.001-05:00

Vatican by Night

2010-12-04T22:44:00.002-05:00

Jane and Charlotte

2010-12-04T22:42:00.002-05:00

Lamp

2010-12-04T22:40:00.002-05:00

Rocking Horse

2010-12-04T22:39:00.002-05:00

Big Ben

2010-12-04T22:38:00.001-05:00

Cattle

2010-12-04T22:36:00.002-05:00

Roman Arch

2010-12-04T22:35:00.002-05:00

Angel

2010-12-04T22:33:00.002-05:00

iBrain and Macrowikinomics

2010-12-04T21:19:00.002-05:00

Re the last post, am looking forward to reading:

Macrowikinomics; Rebooting Business and the World, Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams

and

iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind, Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan.

The brain’s plasticity—its ability to change in response to stimuli from the environment—is well known. What has been less appreciated is how the expanding use of technology is shaping neural processing. Young people are exposed to digital stimulation for several hours every day, and many older adults are not far behind. Even using a computer for Web searches for just an hour a day changes the way the brain processes information. A constant barrage of e-contacts is both stimulating—sharpening certain cognitive skills—and draining, studies show.

Digital Rewiring of the Brain

2010-12-04T21:16:00.003-05:00

From a Toronto Star article, December 4, 2010, by Geoff Pevere, Entertainment Columnist - about the changes that the digital age has brought and is bringing, even to the evolving of actual brain patterns, especially among youth and children.

Digital media has not only created a world that is starkly different from the world of a mere fifteen years ago, they have changed the way people who live in the world think, behave, create and consume. They have facilitated a generation gap that makes the divide between Boomers and their parents narrow by comparison, and they have accelerated the pace of cultural and political change to something like warp speed.

The future has arrived more quickly that most people were prepared for, and the consequences of this abrupt collision with tomorrow will likely not be fully understood for generations to come. Meanwhile, this much is certain: culturally, we’re not even in the same solar system as Kansas anymore.

“We believe the world has reached a critical turning point,” writes Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams in Macrowikinomics, a book that situates changing cultural industries as central to the new digital era. “Reboot all the old models, approaches and structures or risk institutional paralysis or collapse.”

Neurologically, the reboot has already occurred, write Dr. Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan in iBrain: Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind: “The current explosion of digital technology not only is changing the way we live and communicate but is rapidly and profoundly altering our brains.”

And not simply in the way you may think: “Rather than simply catching ‘Digital,’ ” write Small and Vorgan, “many of us are developing neural circuitry that is customized for rapid and incisive spurts of directed concentration.

“Because of the current technological revolution, our brains are evolving right now — at a speed like never before,” they write.

Nowhere has this shift been more dramatic than in popular culture. The old models for the creation, production and dissemination of these things have virtually collapsed in the past decade. The industries producing music, movies, TV, books and news have seen their paradigms not merely shift but explode, and each is scrambling to re-define itself for a future where the only thing from the past that applies is our passion for pleasure.

This is a key point. For all that is changing neurologically, socially and institutionally, content is constant. As the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Henry Jenkins writes in Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, “History teaches us that old media never die — and they don’t even necessarily fade away. What dies are simply the tools we use to access media content.”

The current explosion of digital technology not only is changing the way we live and communicate but also is rapidly and profoundly altering our brains. Daily exposure to high technology—computers, smart phones, video games, search engines such as Google and Yahoo—stimulates brain cell alteration and neurotransmitter release, gradually strengthening new neural pathways in our brains while weakening old ones. Because of the current technological revolution, our brains are evolving right now—at a speed like never before.

Dawn Treader Coming . . .

2010-11-21T19:08:00.002-05:00

"It isn't Narnia, you know," sobbed Lucy. "It's you. We shan't meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?"
"But you shall meet me, dear one," said Aslan.
"Are -are you there too, Sir?" said Edmund.
"I am," said Aslan. "But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there."
— C.S. Lewis (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader)

Winterset Garden

2010-10-04T18:53:00.002-04:00

Clouds

2010-10-04T18:30:00.011-04:00

Charlotte and Grandpa

2010-10-04T18:15:00.002-04:00

Capture your screen in seconds

Red Tablecloth

2010-08-21T14:58:00.002-04:00

Private home in Turkey

Geraniums

2010-08-21T14:51:00.003-04:00

Geraniums near St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, Northern Ireland

Yellow Door

2010-08-21T14:48:00.001-04:00

A closed-up doorway in Rome

Bicycle

2010-08-21T14:00:00.003-04:00

A bicycle at a shop in the west of Ireland.

Red Coat at Giant's Causeway

2010-08-21T13:35:00.002-04:00

The 'Giant's Causeway' is a natural phenomenon in Northern Ireland.

Orange Poppy

2010-08-21T13:33:00.001-04:00

Street - Houses, N. Ireland

2010-08-21T13:31:00.002-04:00

Created on iPad SketchMee app

Yellow Flowers

2010-08-21T13:29:00.002-04:00

Rose: Philadelphia Church ruins - Turkey

2010-08-21T13:27:00.002-04:00

B&B - Northern Ireland

2010-08-21T13:24:00.002-04:00

Chora Church Window

2010-08-21T13:08:00.002-04:00

Chora Church - an ancient Christian church in what was Constantinople (now Istanbul in Turkey). 'Chora' meant outside the walls or city proper - like St. Martin-in-the Fields or St. Giles-in-the Fields in London, England.

Friends Model RR - Diesel

2010-08-21T12:57:00.003-04:00

King of Glory

2010-07-14T20:27:00.002-04:00

Jesus Christ a King of Glory has come in Peace.
+ God became man,
+ and the Word was made flesh.
+ Christ was born of a Virgin.
+ Christ suffered.
+ Christ was crucified.
+ Christ died.
+ Christ rose from the dead.
+ Christ ascended into Heaven.
+ Christ conquers.
+ Christ reigns.
+ Christ orders.
+ May Christ protect us from all storms and lightning.
+ Christ went through their midst in Peace,
+ and the word was made flesh.
+ Christ is with us with Mary.
+ Flee you enemy spirits because the Lion of the Generation of Juda,
the Root David, has won.
+ Holy God!
+ Holy Powerful God!
+ Holy Immortal God!
+ Have mercy on us.

Amen!

Go Before Us, O Lord

2010-07-14T20:15:00.001-04:00

Actiones nostras, quaesumus Domine, aspirando praeveni et adiuvando prosequere: ut cuncta nosta oratio et operatio a te semper incipiat et per ta coepta finiatur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Go before us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, in all our doings with Thy gracious inspiration, and further us with Thy continual help, that every prayer and work of ours may begin from Thee, and by Thee be duly ended. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Diorama of Friends Model RR

2010-07-14T19:56:00.002-04:00

Created with Sketchmee on my iPad

Quiet Nights, Diana Krall

2010-05-16T19:23:00.004-04:00

The Wonder of a New Day

2010-05-16T18:49:00.003-04:00

Nothing Compares 2U

2010-05-16T18:44:00.002-04:00

Your Love

2010-05-16T18:34:00.003-04:00

Eleanor Rigby

2010-05-16T18:14:00.003-04:00

Apocalypticism

2010-04-18T12:57:00.003-04:00

Apocalypticism ‘denote(s) the world view in which certain people come to believe that their group is set apart from the rest of humanity, that it is righteous and all others are sinners, and, more particularly, that an event will soon occur which will sort things out once and for all. The sun and the moon will be darkened, literally not metaphorically; the Lord will descend from heaven and snatch the saints up in the air, literally not metaphorically; the Mount of Olives will be split in two, and rivers of fresh water will flow down to the Dead Sea, literally not metaphorically. And of course if you believe this sort of thing about yourself and your group, certain social practices follow: a tight drawing of boundaries within the group, a rigid exclusion of those outside, a carelessness or even downright rejection of most of the concerns of ongoing society, a focus on particular styles of worship and holiness. As history both ancient and modern will show, such groups are often internally fissiparous, fragmenting into smaller groups that then reserve for one another their bitterest anathemas.

N.T. Wright – The Millennium Myth, Publisher:Westminster John Knox Press, 1999, p32-33

Apocalyptic

2010-04-18T12:00:00.001-04:00

Apocalyptic “involves vivid metaphors which enable the writer to say, and hopefully the reader to understand the significance, within God’s dimension of reality, of events that happen within our dimension, within the world of space, time and matter. “

N.T. Wright – The Millennium Myth, p 30, Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press, 1999

Holy Week

2010-03-31T22:26:00.000-04:00

What will you do with this man?

Old Log Barn

2010-03-30T20:52:00.000-04:00

Lanark County, Ontario

Coldstream Guard

2010-03-06T12:15:00.001-05:00

Glass Nectar

2010-02-23T00:04:00.001-05:00

Purple Flower

2010-02-23T00:00:00.001-05:00

RBH, Burlington, ON. Wish I knew all the names for these gorgeous flowers.

Music of the Spheres

2010-02-22T23:58:00.000-05:00

RBH, Burlington, ON

Royal Botanical Garden

2010-02-22T23:56:00.000-05:00

Burlington, Ontario

Byblos Beauty

2010-02-20T19:47:00.003-05:00

Byblos is just north of Beirut, on the Mediterranean Sea, in Lebanon.

It is believed to have been founded around 5000 BC, and according to fragments attributed to the semi-legendary pre-Trojan war Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon, it was built by Cronus as the first city in Phoenicia.[1] Today it is believed by many to be the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world.

It is mentioned in the Bible in 1 Kings 5:18, referring to the nationality of the builders of Solomon's Temple, and also in Ezekiel 27:9, referring to the riches of Tyre.

(pic by me; some info from Wikipedia)

Original Nike

2010-02-20T19:09:00.002-05:00

The god Nike, in Ephesus.

In Greek mythology, Nike (Greek: Νίκη, "Victory", was a goddess who personified victory throughout the ages of the ancient Greek culture. She is known as the Winged Goddess of Victory. The Roman equivalent was Victoria. Depending upon the time of various myths, she was described as the daughter of Pallas (Titan) and Styx (Water), and the sister of Cratos (Strength), Bia (Force), and Zelus (Rivalry). Nike and her siblings were close companions of Zeus, the dominant deity of the Greek pantheon. According to classical (later) myth, Styx brought them to Zeus when the god was assembling allies for the Titan War against the older deities. Nike assumed the role of the divine charioteer, a role in which she often is portrayed in Classical Greek art. Nike flew around battlefields rewarding the victors with glory and fame.

Nike is seen with wings in most statues and paintings. Most other winged deities in the Greek pantheon had shed their wings by Classical times. Nike is the goddess of strength, speed, and victory. Nike was a very close acquaintance of Athena. Nike is one of the most commonly portrayed figures on Greek coins.

Names stemming from Nike include Nicholas ("victory of the people"), Nick, Nikolai, Nils, Klaas and Nicola.
-- from Wikipedia

With Gladness

2010-02-20T18:57:00.000-05:00

Preacher

2010-02-20T18:54:00.000-05:00

Out on a Limb

2010-02-20T18:49:00.000-05:00

Tulips

2010-02-20T18:20:00.003-05:00

Longing for Spring!

Trafalgar Saint

2010-02-20T18:14:00.003-05:00

"We are committed to identifying and affirming what is good and identifying and opposing what is evil, and living as best we can in the mess in the middle."
- confusion or necessity in missional praxis? (from church website, St. Martin's in the Fields, London, England)

Piping

2010-02-20T18:05:00.002-05:00

He who pays the piper calls the tune.

Laurence Writing

2010-02-20T17:54:00.005-05:00

I think I may have a book in me . . .

Laurence is an English male given name and surname. In all cases it is derived from the Roman given name, Laurentius, which can mean either "from Laurentum" or "wreathed/crowned with laurel. My mother named me after characters in one of the favorite books of her childhood: 'Little Women' (Louisa May Alcott) where there is a man named 'Mr. Laurence' and the boy named 'Laurie' (my nick-name).

He Knows My Name

2010-02-20T17:51:00.001-05:00

I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands

Chorus
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
and He hears me when I call

I have a Father
He calls me His own
He?ll never leave me
No matter where I go

Chorus
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
and He hears me when I call

-- Tommy Walker

Fruit and Vegetables

2010-02-20T17:48:00.000-05:00

Cart at restorante entrance in Rome.

Berries and Window

2010-02-20T17:47:00.000-05:00

Almonte, ON

2010-02-20T17:32:00.001-05:00

So many beautiful, unexplored places . . .

Poppies

2010-02-04T21:43:00.002-05:00

Iris

2010-02-04T21:37:00.003-05:00

The iris flower is of special interest as an example of the relation between flowering plants and pollinating insects. The shape of the flower and the position of the pollen-receiving and stigmatic surfaces on the outer petals form a landing-stage for a flying insect, which in probing the perianth for nectar, will first come in contact of perianth, then with the stigmatic stamens in one whorled surface which is borne on an ovary formed of three carpels. The shelf-like transverse projection on the inner whorled underside of the stamens is beneath the over-arching style arm below the stigma, so that the insect comes in contact with its pollen-covered surface only after passing the stigma; in backing out of the flower it will come in contact only with the non-receptive lower face of the stigma. Thus, an insect bearing pollen from one flower will, in entering a second, deposit the pollen on the stigma; in backing out of a flower, the pollen which it bears will not be rubbed off on the stigma of the same flower. (from Wikipedia)

The Banquet

2010-02-04T21:28:00.003-05:00

Prayer the Churches banquet, Angels age,
Gods breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth.
- George Herbert

WWI Plane

2010-01-31T22:53:00.003-05:00

Air and Space Museum, Dulles, Virginia

WWII Plane

2010-01-31T22:50:00.004-05:00

Air and Space Museum, Dulles, Virginia

Space Museum

2010-01-31T22:43:00.004-05:00

Air and Space Museum, Dulles, Virginia

Satellite. I have no idea what this was for . . .

Been There, Done That

2010-01-31T22:32:00.005-05:00

Apollo 11 Space Suit, National Air and Space Museum, Dulles, VA