Category Archives: Religion

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 142 – RELIGION

Before I get into the participation and the tommyrot and the PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE quoting, I want to point out the historical significance of today. Today is the 2 year anniversary of The Great Turtle Race Robbery of 2016!

If you don’t know about The Great Turtle Race Robbery of 2016, let me give you the short, short, short version.

During the football season, me and few fellow computer miners engage in a spirited bit of gambling. The winner each week gets to claim a red solo cup filled with change. Well, maybe not exactly filled, but there is some change in it.

At the end of the season, the person with the most red cups is proclaimed The Witch and they get the travelling trophy. A Franklin Broomworks Children’s Broom.(Incidentally, I agree with Franklin Broomworks and their hardcore child labor policies.) In the event of a tie, the title of Witch gets conferred in a tie-breaking competition that is determined by the people that are not involved in the tie.

In 2016, the tie-breaker was a turtle race.

The 4 people tied for first place were Joe (AKA Flat Earth Joe), Michelle, Cathie, and Humble Narrator. Before our traditional year end banquet at Zeno’s in Marshalltown we congregated at the Colo Outpost of AMOutdoors. What happened next is something conspiracy theorists have been discussing for 2 years now.

But don’t take my word for it, roll this conspiracy’s Zapruder film.

NOTE: If you are an email subscriber to “An Artist’s Notebook and are in the Outlook list, you will have to go to the website to view this atrocity. If you are in the regular distribution list, you already had to come to the website, so this message isn’t for you:


As you can see, the Red Turtle (MY TURTLE), clearly wins this race! Yet inexplicably, the Orange loser turtle is somehow declared the winner. Rigged! I can only speculate at what level the Russians were involved.

That being said, if you are into hunting and fishing, you could do worse than checking out Micky’s hunting and fishing website by clicking on the link below:

AMOUTDOORS

Just don’t trust the guy to run a turtle race. He is as crooked as dog’s hind leg. Depending on the dog, crookeder.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Participation rates!

Tommyrot!

Here are the submissions for RELIGION:


WEEK 142 - RELIGION - BECKY PARMELEE
Becky Parmelee

WEEK 142 - RELIGION - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 142 - RELIGION - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 142 - RELIGION - SHANNON BARDOLE
Shannon Bardole

WEEK 142 - RELIGION - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp

WEEK 142 - RELIGION - TAMARA PETERSON
Tamara Peterson

WEEK 142 - RELIGION - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:


WEEK 143 - WORK
WORK!

WORK! What a great theme! But what is WORK photography? WORK photography would be a photo of somebody doing their job, at their job, the tools for their job. But WORK doesn’t just happen at a job. WORK can also be done for fun. Like gardening. Or landscaping. Or mowing. Wait, mowing isn’t fun, but it still counts as WORK. Along with doing dishes and dusting.

As always, I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

1. The picture has to be taken the week of the theme. This isn’t a curate your pictures challenge. This is a get your butt off the couch (my personal experience) and put your camera in your hands challenge. Don’t send me a picture of you next to the Eiffel Tower, when I know you were in Iowa all week. I will point out that I have let that slide some in the past. I will not in the future. Since it is literally about the only rule.

2. Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date. It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 COMMENTARY DIVISION

In recent weeks, 3 people have earned their very own Photography 139 avatars by leaving comments on “An Artist’s Notebook” entries.

Welcome to the Photography 139 commentary world:

Joe Duff
Linda Bennett
Tamara Peterson

Do you want your very own Photography 139 like giants in the blog post commentary industry like:

Angie DeWaard
Andy Sharp
Jesse Howard

All you have to do is leave a comment on an “An Artist’s Notebook” entry and I will gladly create you your very own Photography 139 avatar!

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 POST NOTIFICATION

I’m currently using a post notification plugin called MailPoet. I’m not 100% satisfied with it, but it will stay status quo until I get back from my mission trip to Houston at the end of June. At that time, I will (hopefully) have the free time to play with a couple of different plug-ins.

If you use Outlook to view the post notification emails, let me know and I’ll switch you over to the Outlook subscription group.

**************************************

That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very labored Monday!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Oh wait, that isn’t all I have for today. If you are out and about from 4-7 today, I will be hanging out with the Boone Area Humane Society taking pictures for their booth and mascot at Ericson Public Library’s Summer Reading Kickoff.

If you don’t want to come see me, come to see Hope:


Summer Reading Kickoff

Just to make it clear, I will not be in the dog costume. I am about a foot too tall for the costume.

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE REMINDER – RELIGION

It is reminder time!

Don’t forget that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is RELIGION!

You should also remember photos should be submitted by 11 AM CST to bennett@photography139.com.

What is a RELIGION photo? Here is an example below:


Week 142 - Religion
RELIGION

A RELIGION photo will show either a religious activity, a religious building, a religious book, a religious piece of art… The possibilities go on and on and on.

Happy photo harvesting!

05-09-08: The Big Jesus Road Trip

The photos from today’s blog come from the folder 05-09-08.

These pictures were taken during what historians have called THE BIG JESUS ROAD TRIP. It is hard to believe that 10 years have passed since THE BIG JESUS ROAD TRIP, but they have.

Jesse and I embarked on THE BIG JESUS ROAD TRIP with a destination in mind (Big Jesus) and a few stops in mind to make along the way. We wanted to see the place where “The Music Died”. We wanted to see the World’s Largest Cheeto. We wanted to stop at Bob’s Drive-Inn and try a Bob’s Dog. Anything else we experienced on the trip was gravy. Delicious gravy. The type you put in a gravy pitcher during Thanksgiving.

Mmmmmm…. gravy!


The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The World’s Largest Cheeto did not disappoint. Neither did Big Jesus or the Bob’s Dog. The Pocahontas statue… yeah. That is one ugly statue.

Sometime this year I hope to make a trip to see the world’s largest popcorn ball. Who is game?

By adding THE BIG JESUS ROAD TRIP photos to the Photography 139 Photo Gallery, I was able to restore the following historical “An Artist’s Notebook” post to its original glory:

THE BIG JESUS

There are more pictures from THE BIG JESUS ROAD TRIP that I didn’t share in this blog post. If you want to take a gander at those, click on the link below:

THE BIG JESUS ROAD TRIP PHOTO GALLERY

Next Saturday’s trip down memory lane will involve a trip to visit the Cardiff Giant and his giant phallus. Jason Baier will be joining us!

And I Wonder How the World Gon’ Take This; They Might Hate It, But You Don’t Know Anything About Me!

The world wasn’t ready for these MUSIC photos on Monday. Not sure the world is ready for them now, but I can’t hold them back any longer:


Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Photography - Alternate

Music - Alternate

Music - Alternate

Music - Alternate

Music - Alternate

Music - Alternate

Music - Alternate

Music - Alternate

Music - Alternate

Music - Alternate

The majority of the pictures were taken at Rieman Music in Ames. If you have any music needs, this is definitely the place to shop. Many of the guitars pictured are Derrick’s creation. He is creating a Jennifer guitar, an Evalyn guitar, and a Layla guitar to the honor the women in his life.

The rest of the pictures were taken at Boone First United Methodist Church.

You’re welcome world.

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE REMINDER – MUSIC

A friendly reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is MUSIC:


WEEK 139 - MUSIC
MUSIC

A MUSIC photo is any photo that is related to MUSIC. From live MUSIC to recorded MUSIC to sheet MUSIC to toy MUSIC to MUSICal instruments. Anything that relates to the creation and/or playing of MUSIC. Good or bad MUSIC. Doesn’t matter.

Happy photo harvesting!

+++++++++++++++++

This isn’t related to anything, but I wanted to put a quote here that I used as part of a Youth Group lesson on the Secular World vs. the Sacred World on Wednesday:

“One of the great hindrances to the development of biblically informed mainstream art has been the perception that Christians should make Christian Art. And that Christian Art is always explicitly religious. Understood this way, Christian Art is not distinguished by a regenerated outlook on the whole of life, but on a narrow focus on Bible stories, saints, martyrs, and individual’s relationship with God. Christian Art in this sense is either and aid to worship or a means to evangelism.”

It comes from a book called Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts. I haven’t read this book yet, but I’ll be getting to it soon enough.

Here is another quote from the book I cam across:

“A corollary of this has been that Christians have thought that they should only create art with a Pollyanna quality to it: paintings of birds and kittens, movies that extol family life and end happily, songs that are positive and uplifting – in short, works of art that show a world that is almost unfallen where no one experiences conflict and where sin is naughty rather than wicked.”

Remember that Photography 139 is a Christian “business”. It believes in creating works of art that glorify God. This stuff will get dropped on you from time to time.

Something They Told Me That I Won’t Make It, I’m Not Famous, I’m Just Bennett

The world wasn’t ready for these CITY pictures to be revealed on Monday. I’m not sure the world is ready for them now, but I can’t hold them back any longer:


City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

City - Alternate

I had big plans of making it down to Des Moines this weekend, but Logan’s graduation ceremony last about 7 hours. 5 hours and 30 minutes of that were trying to get out of the parking lot. Sunday, I decided to mow and then went to a concert at Boone First United Methodist Church. It was a guitar/violin duo named Lyra. They were worth the effort.

All of my CITY pictures were taken in the seedy back alley pictures of Boone.

You’re welcome world!

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 138 – CITY

Not a ton of submissions for CITY and this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. I worry that many of my followers are country bumpkins that fell off the turnip truck before they could make it to a big city like say… Boone, Iowa. Despite the lack of submissions, they do range in geography quite a bit. From Rome, Italy to Washington D.C. to Winterset, Iowa. All major cities of some historical importance. The birthplace of John Wayne taking precedence, of course.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about submission rates. You came to see the submissions:


WEEK 138 - CITY - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp

WEEK 138 - CITY - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 138 - CITY - ANGIE DEWAARD
Angie DeWaard

WEEK 138 - CITY - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 138 - CITY - CATHIE RALEY
Cathie Raley

WEEK 138 - CITY - CATHIE RALEY
Cathie Raley

Although they be little, they be mighty…

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:


WEEK 139 - MUSIC
MUSIC

MUSIC! What a great theme! But what is a MUSIC photo? A MUSIC photo is any photo that deals with the playing or creating MUSIC. Pictures could range from musicians to instruments to sheet music. Feel free to interpret the theme any way you see fit.

As always, I look forward to seeing your interpretations.

Good luck!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

1. The picture has to be taken the week of the theme. This isn’t a curate your pictures challenge. This is a get your butt off the couch (my personal experience) and put your camera in your hands challenge. Don’t send me a picture of you next to the Eiffel Tower, when I know you were in Iowa all week. I will point out that I have let that slide some in the past. I will not in the future. Since it is literally about the only rule.

2. Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date. It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

**************************************

That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very musical Monday!

04-30-08

The following images (and this collection is all over the place) came from the folder 04-30-08:


04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08
Karen

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

04-30-08

One of the bitter parts of this collection is that Karen has passed away since this picture was taken. Many of these pictures were taken during Olivia’s Stitching Time. A sewing circle that Teresa started and ran for a year or so.

I don’t believe I used the Little White Lye Soap pictures for anything, but I did take them. The tulips are in my Mom’s yard.

By adding these photos to the Photography 139 Photography Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic An Artist’s Notebook blog entries to their original glory:

Cheese Subscription

SCSI 29160

Habitat for Humanity Fundraiser

Olivia’s Stitching Time

By restoring those entries I have now restored every blog entry from April of 2008:

APRIL – 2008

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve more Little White Lye Soap and gymnastics,

I Wreck these Stages, Real Talk, Better Give Me Space ‘Cause I Am Chasing

The world wasn’t ready for these ARCHITECTURE pictures on Monday. I’m not sure the world is ready for them now, but I can’t hold them back any longer…


Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

Architecture - Alternate

I took all of these photos while I was out looking for town signs. They range from Roland to Cambridge.

You’re welcome world!

Graceland

Time to hit up the back log. These pictures are from Russell, Jesse, and I’s trip to Memphis to watch Iowa State stomp the Memphis Tigers in the Liberty Bowl.

I am a fan of Elvis. I get that from my Mom. From her I grew up listening to Elvis and Kenny Rogers. I love them both. I never quite inherited her love of The Beach Boys, but I do also enjoy them. From my Dad I got my love of old country. Johnny Paycheck and Tom T. Hall in particular. If you don’t love Tom T. Hall, you’re doing something wrong.

Before we left for Memphis I had done some research on places to visit. Graceland was number two on my list behind Beale Street. My research showed that an actual tour of Graceland can take over 3 hours. While I was willing to spend the small fortune it costs to tour Graceland, we just didn’t have that time.

However, I read that they open up the grounds of Graceland from 7:30 – 8:30 for people to pay their respects to Elvis’ grave, for free.

I convinced Jesse to wake up early and check this out with me. Russell wasn’t buying waking up early on his vacation. He stayed at his hotel.

Here are pictures from Graceland:


Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

Graceland

When I was trying to figure out where in the back log to hit up, I was considering the trip to Mount Rushmore, March for Our Lives, or the flowers of Donna Jones. However, recently HBO has been playing a 4 hour documentary on Elvis called ELVIS PRESLEY: THE SEARCHER. I knew it was time to reveal my photos from Graceland

If you are a fan of Elvis, music, or history and have access to HBO or HBO GO, I can’t recommend it enough. I’ve learned quite a bit about Elvis and his musical influence. I think it is unfortunate that because of the way he dressed, the antics, the way he died, and the horrible movies, I think sometimes it gets lost what an extremely talented musician he was. Also, what a completely unique voice he had as an artist. I don’t mean that in the way that his physical voice was unique. I mean the way he expressed himself as an artist.

Can you imagine an artist in modern times that would record entire gospel albums at the height of this popularity? Some Christian artists will crossover, but they certainly never come back. I don’t know of an artist in modern times that could weave so many musical influences in to their own unique sound.

Could you imagine going to a modern rock concert and then BOOM! here is one from the hymnals!

Elvis Presley is the only royalty that I will ever recognize!

Any other Elvis fans out there? Let me know what your favorite Elvis song is in the comments section of this here blog!

I’ve decided when I start working on the party soundtrack for my birthday party in 2019, there will be a full hour of Elvis music.