I added Sapporo (Japanese) and Tsingtao (Chinese) to my current beer collection in the fridge... (thanks to an Asian Fusion cooking club last weekened!) This totals 8 different kinds of beer at the moment... My only problem is which to drink first!

new life.

newness, seen wide., originally uploaded by krisde.

a day at Shaker Village.

blossoms of leaves.

blossoms of leaves., originally uploaded by krisde.

a day at Red River Gorge.

movie update. reflections on life in the wild vs society

my quick movie update.

the newest have included:
It Happened One Night - this one I found to be hilarious. A different kind of humor being a movie made decades ago, but very enjoyable.
Sunset Boulevard - a second viewing, a bit Citizen-Kane-ish mixed with Dickens.

I also watched for the first time Into the Wild. Now that is one incredible movie. Depressing and beautiful at the same time. Cinematography... amazing. I highly recommend it... a good movie to think about the lure of a simple life, away from society and all its ugly trappings of competition, money, materialism, consumerism, corporate ladder climbing, bureaucracy, image, familial expectations, and gluttony of everything cheap and worthless...
This simple life is found in solitude, simplicity, and being in the wild of nature...

and yet it's incomplete. The need for community is still there... man is not meant to be alone.

My goal is to live a life in community with others, to enjoy the shared experiences, while boycotting everything ugly that is (occasionally or often, I suppose it depends on your perspective and experience) found in society - the love of money, little regard for the effect our choices have on our world, and little regard for the fragility of the human soul... there needs to be more simplicity, communality, gentleness and love...

I watched this movie with a few friends, two of whom up my hippie cred by their presence around me... and a week ago, we built a compost bin for their yard together. Community + Earth Consciousness + Holy Spirit = Doing Good Things Together with the Love of Christ. YEA!

fridge o beer.

I opened my fridge today wondering what I could have for dinner. I was limited based on what was available.... milk, eggs, bread, jellies, butter, ... I settled on french toast... a childhood fav. It was then I realized as I glanced in my fridge, that while foodstuffs were sparse, it was the fridge o plenty when it came to alcohol...

My stockpile at this moment includes:
Rolling Rock
Corona Light
Shiner Bock (my favorite)
Yuengling (thank you Trader Joe's in NC!)
Hoegaarden (thanks Michael & Rebekah!)
Boddingtons

I have Mexico, Belgium, St Louis, Pennsylvania, Britain, and Texas represented in my selections. (I also have bottles of the non-alcholic Ale 8-1, a local favorite.)

In addition, I have 6 bottles of wine, 5 of them the "3 buck Chucks" (Charles Shaw) recently purchased at Trader Joe's in NC. Mmm.

Why KY does not have Trader Joe's is beyond me.
Why KY does not import Yuengling, apparently a strictly east coast beer, is also disappointing.
(Why KY also does not import the most amazing ROOT beer, Henry Weinhard's, is also a major letdown in my life.)

I swear I'm not an alcoholic even if it does run in my family... I just love beer. As much as I love Americanos...

So who is coming over to drink with me? :)

striking the sky.

striking the sky., originally uploaded by krisde.

Old Soviet War Monument.

+++

There are more pictures on my flickr now from this spring in Belarus... I'm slowly catching up to the present and have several hundred photos from the summer I'll be uploading... so keep checking back!

independence prospect.

independence prospect., originally uploaded by krisde.

Independence day: July 3, 2008. Downtown in Minsk, Belarus.

little window lights.

little window lights., originally uploaded by krisde.

Belarus, spring 2008.