Friday, September 30, 2011

Google and The Dead Sea Scrolls


This may not interest a lot of people, but I found it fascinating when I read about it a couple of days ago on the Net. Then I saw it on the evening world news on TV a day later. We can now see The Dead Sea Scrolls online. They have been digitized by Google. (If you are interested in seeing them, the link is: http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/ I took a couple of screen shots to show you here.)

One reason I was especially interested in this is our youngest son, Brandon, and son-in-law, Dan, both worked for Google in their scanning department. They were scanning the complete library of The University of Michigan. Unfortunately, they were not permanent positions. A person could only work for Google in the scanning department for two years, and then they had to leave.

 
The second and more important reason I find this fascinating is now any of us who are truly interested in whether the Bible has been translated accurately can look at the Dead Sea Scrolls online. I know I will never have a chance to see them in person.

Many years ago, a friend of mine gave me a copy of The Jerusalem Bible.  That translation received a lot of attention at that time, because it was authorized for use by the Catholic Church. The big change was that God's name had been put back in every place it had been taken out. It proved that God's name was not Jesus, but as shown in Hebrew in The Jerusalem Bible, Yahweh. The English equivalent is Jehovah. It can be found in the original translation of The King James Version of the Bible at Psalm 83:18.

That [men] may know that thou, whose name alone [is] JEHOVAH, [art] the most high over all the earth.

Many "newer" translations of the Bible have removed God's name from there, too, replacing it with LORD. The importance of The Dead Sea Scrolls is, anyone can see that God's name was indeed in the older scrolls. It is found written in the form known as the Tetragrammaton. It raises the question, why did the Catholic Church turn around and take God's name back out? The version that is now authorized for use by Catholics is The New Jerusalem Bible. You will not find God's name in it. 

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The Goodies Arrived!

Remember when I told you that I won a blog drawing? The package arrived yesterday. It was full of Italian foodstuff, French and Italian lace, a small French box, an Expresso Maker and even Expresso. They came from http://www.etsy.com/shop/EuropeanVintageMotif?ref=ss_profile It looks like I better get busy and make some Italian dinners! Thank you, Lana, for all of the great stuff!



Be sure to visit Lana's blog, too. She has some beautiful pictures if you like dishes, furniture, doilies and all that decorating kind of stuff. (I really need to think of a better word than stuff!) Here's the link to her blog: http://lanaaustinmotif.blogspot.com/

Three Muses Challenge - Moon

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

More Grandkids Pics

I haven't felt like creating much art lately, so here's two new pics of the grandkids:

Corben when we were getting apple cider last week. Yay! Autumn does provide some fun activities.


Rylan deciding it's time for him to learn how to read.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Art Journal Caravan Week 39 - Quote

As the stock markets all over the world keep going up and down, it's a good time to remember that it isn't money that will make us happy. Since my family has never had lots of money to worry about (usually just enough to pay the bills), it's a good thing!


(Frida figure by Christine Honsinger, but I altered her a little bit.)

Here's a new picture of one of our little blessings:

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Even Weirdos Need Friends!


Two girls by Wish Bliss Studios.

Totally Out There

In case you feel the need for something totally out there, which if you know me, you know I sometimes do, here's a new video by Bjork. Whoa! She's even more bizarre than CocoRosie.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Art Journal Caravan Week 39 - Verb - Count


I always got good grades in math, though. :O)

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Three Muses Challenge - Doorways


Some elements from Holliewood's kit "Broken" and Finecrafted Design's "What Ails You."

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

My Stacks, um, Piles

Our artist friend, the ever popular Seth Apter, is having fellow artists share pictures of their stacks of art papers, artwork, etc. Due to a total lack of room for creating and storing any art, I don't have any pretty, little stacks of anything. I have piles. I can't even create a piece of physical art at the moment, because I have to figure out somewhere to store things away. I guess that's why I usually create digitally. It's all on the computer with no mess or room needed. (Unless you run out of room on your hard drive, and that's a whole other problem!) Instead of taking one picture of my piles, I made a very short video using my Flip video camera. I hope you enjoy seeing my mess! By the way, there really is some art paper, chunky books and whatever else can be considered paper in my piles. You just can't tell which is which.



If you would like to see some real paper stacks, be sure to visit Seth's blog at: http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/

Broken Me


Digital elements from kit by Holliewood called "Broken."

Monday, September 19, 2011

Take A World Challenge #47 - Male

It seems like women always blame it on the men and men blame it on the women. How about we just say, "The Devil made me do it!"

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Friday, September 16, 2011

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Music . . .


(Most elements from Marta Van Eck's digital kit "Master of Puppets.")

That's actually me playing the violin. The picture was taken eleven years ago. Yikes! Why won't time slow down? I wanted to take violin lessons while I was growing up, but that was one of many things I wasn't allowed to do. About 20 years after being married, I decided to buy a violin and take lessons. I was starting to sound decent,  but we couldn't afford for me to keep taking lessons. Even back then, lessons weren't cheap. I keep thinking that now I've taken an early retirement, I ought to get my violin out again. The problem is, we definitely can't afford lessons at this point. What's a person suppose to do?

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Corben Learns to Vacuum

How time flies! Our little guy is already learning to vacuum. He didn't want to stop.



Can't wait until I can teach him how to load the dishwasher! And to think he only just turned one year old!

Collage Obsession Challenge - Peace


Please click picture to see larger version.

(I do not have any rights to the photo I used by Patrick Andrade. His work seems to vividly portray the need for the subject at hand. http://www.patrickandrade.com/)

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Three Muses Challenge - Autumn

I won? I won!

I received an email last night saying I won a "leave a post on a blog" contest. If you want to read about it, here is the link: http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2011/09/beautiful-giveaway-from-european.html#more



Am I really going to receive all those goodies? Yahoo! I typed in "yahoo" in the Google translator to see what the French would say, and it was the same - "Yahoo!" I have never had much success at winning anything. Although, maybe I should take that back. I did win a book provided by Seth Apter when he had a "leave a post" contest on his blog.  Thank you, Seth. Maybe you started a trend! :O)

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Art Journal Caravan Week 37 - Verb - Challenge


Digital elements from Tangie Baxter's kit "Dance." Billizetti character by me. (In case you didn't know by now.)

Thursday, September 8, 2011

There is no greater agony . . .


Digital elements from Brimm's "Land Time Forgot," and C Renee's "An Open Book."

Billizetti says:

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Billizetti says:

For Katherine:

Billizetti says:

For Marguerite -

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The Three Muses Challenge - Words


Man, for being a shy person, it seems like I always have something to say!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Digital Whisper Challenge #115

Over at the Ning site "Digital Whisper," we were provided with the following background to alter:


(http://moonchild-ljilja.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48)

This is the digital collage I ended up with:


He obviously isn't a Star Trek fan!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Take A Word Challenge #45 - Butterflies

After looking at the two beautiful samples using butterflies created by my friend June, I remembered a story I wrote some time ago title "Lumina." I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I'm a big Star Trek fan. I wanted to try writing what is known as "fan fiction." It definitely fits this week's Take A Word Challenge - Butterflies.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/63953357/Lumina

Maybe now I should get busy and illustrate it!

Well, I couldn't sleep, so I created a picture to go with this post. I do hope you'll read the story I have linked above. The illustration is just a little something extra.



Creative goodness through art-making, connection, & collaboration

If anyone is interested, there are going to be 6 e-classes offered at an incredible price of only $49.00. The group of them is being called "6 Degrees of Creativity." If you would like to check them out, here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/3df4rnw  I wanted to let people know, because Lani Gerity will be teaching one of the classes. I've taken several of Lani's e-courses before, and I can tell you she has such positive and happy energy that you will feel better immediately! (Not that I'm implying you don't feel well.) I always need positive, happy energy.

The collage below is one that Lani created:


Lani also created a short video about the classes you may enjoy watching here: http://topsecretannex.blogspot.com/p/six-easy-lessons-for-happy-artists-life.html

Art Therapy


When I post weird stuff like this, I'm not really looking for any advice or answers. I just hope if some younger person sees it, meaning young as in a young parent, they'll realize how what they do to their children can haunt them the rest of their lives.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Art Journal Caravan Week 36 - Quote


Elements from Tangie Baxter's new kit "The Princess with the Sea Green Hair." Billizetti mermaid by me.

For anyone not familiar with the Art Journal Caravan hosted by Tangie Baxter, we are given about six quotes every week to use should we choose to. 

Friday, September 2, 2011

Eiffel Tower

I saw the original picture of the Eiffel Tower today (Friday) on Yahoo. It was so "striking" and immediately stirred my French blood. I knew I had to do something with it. The photo was taken by Bertrand Kulik and I do not have any rights to it. This was done strictly for fun. The fantastic photo of the bluebird was taken by my online friend Jan DeBellis. Of course, she may not be my friend once she sees what I did to her wonderful photo.


Beverly's Pink Saturday - September 3, 2011


Just in case you weren't sure what pink is! If you would like to visit other blogs that have posts for Beverly's Pink Saturday this week, please visit her blog here: http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

Art Journal Caravan Week 36 - Verb - Question


Most digital elements from Tangie Baxter's Parcel #36. Billizetti character by me.

A Picture of My Brain

This is a picture of my brain after going four weeks without my depression/anxiety medication.


My synapses are not firing properly! My sleep is all messed up, but I'm not having any problem eating. I wish it was the other way around.

(I grabbed the picture off the Web. I believe it was some of the damage done by Irene. I don't have any rights to this picture, and I am not trying to steal it.)

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Creative Souls Story Time #18

This quote is from page 181 of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children:

"Ladieeees and gentlemen!" he crowed.  "It gives me the utmost pleasure to present to you a performance like no other in history!  A show of such unrivaled daring of such accomplished magicianship, that you simply won't believe your eyes!  Good citizens, I give you Miss Peregrine and her Peculiar Children!"

The above quote was suppose to be our inspiration.  The digital picture I created doesn't represent the quote above so much as represent what kind of crazy children they must have been. I've never read the book, but it sounds like they were pretty outrageous! Evidently Miss Peregrine's peculiar children were/are quite a handful to take care of. Every time she turns her back, they run off to go skinny dipping.


(I hope I can't be held personally responsible for the craziness my brain comes up with. Maybe I'm one of those peculiar children! I do remember someone whispering behind my back that many years ago my mother dropped me on my head.)