The Congaree Excursion

so today, my friend Josh Hill and i went to the Congaree National Park off SC State highway 48 for a little hike, and on our way we noticed a blinking marquee. this Park being in South Carolina and all, it wouldn't have surprised the either of us to find that this sign was the entrance to a dusty park-ing lot featuring "Awesome Possum" with a dancing cane, a top hat, and a shiny tail. as it turns out we had no reason at all not to be surprised for the blinking marquee simply advertised beer and milk, while the Park entrance ended up being further down highway 48. all in all i was captivated by what i experienced today.

we took a 2.4 mile loop boardwalk trail that ran through a bald cypress, tupelo (too-pee-loh - say it like you mean it) tree forest. the base of the trees were reinforced by their widening foundations while the bald cypress trees were also sturdied by the roots emerging from the swampy terrain like knees, like snorkels, like stalagmites from underneath the floodplain floor. we heard warblers, thrush birds as the dusk fell, and saw a pileated woodpecker busily leaving his impression on a dying American elm.

when we had crossed Weston Lake (instead of Visitor Lake & Senator Lake, the Lakes of our imagination), an oxbow remnant from the days of the uninterrupted Congaree, which merges into the floodplain by eutrophication, we encountered loblolly pines wearing yellow scars on their bark from lightning burns like medals of honor, a moon shining distillery, some sprawling dwarf palmettos, and the swaths from Hurricane Hugo. nearing the end of our wonder-interrupted walk through the Congaree Forest, my friend Josh and i halted beneath loblolly pines averaging 130 feet in height to examine the spectacle that effortlessly rose around us, giving us the same sensation that the dwarf palmettos behind us must have.

turning our gaze back to our brochures (for they were smaller than us and could be wielded in our fists) we perused these lines "The forest canopy at Congaree has been said to be taller than any other deciduous forest on earth, taller than the hardwood forests of Japan, the Himalayas, southern South America, and Europe....You walked in the footprints of the Wateree and Congaree Indians, Francis Marion, and [General] Hampton."

Fragments of Life

so new years festivities were pleasing as i was merely one celebrant of many at Micah-Ginny and Greer-Laura's party and i was able to merge another groups of friends previously unaquainted with them (Partick, Drew, Jenni). i like it when friends from two different worlds can join and have a few (or a lot of) drinks without any premonition that there will be some pseudo-intimate, spiritual connectedness thereafter. most times people are too serious about meeting people so that they are either uncomfortable because the other party isn't serious enough or they uptight because the other party is too needy (thus making the former party nervous, because they can't break ties well, which is nothing more than weak resolve). its like a subjective scale of inane proportions. i like a happy medium of realistic community (uninhibited by juxtaposing expectations).

i've been thinking about the word belong. moreso about its peculiar construction combined with an unlikely definition. think of it: be-long. how could that mean what it means? i think i know but its simply the lose sum of the two meanings, transformed and translated into a different part of speech.

it was good to meet Ashley, Jay, and Jorden at Goatfeathers on Friday after a week of congestion. its fun to fellowship in such an unlikely setting. i also ran into Jenni which wasn't slightly awkward, but was aggravated and segmented as i was forced to pinball between the two parties so as not to devalue either.

yesterday, work was fun but it seemed like the world was waiting for the rain all day, and i began to as well. another prolonging (ha! pro-long, not even close in meaning to be-long, i just noticed that!) effect was the result of me losing the keys to all the churches where we deliver flowers on Saturdays. talk about a liability. i hadn't prayed so hard, so pathetically, so emphatically in a while. its a good reminder of how i should always pray, but not necessarily how i should always feel. (photo by: Jane and Richard)

"Holy Child"

(photo-stained-glass:
Star of Bethlehem)
a choir in the heavens
of angels have proclaimed
that you've become as man is
to understand our pain.

you had no crib my Lord
a manger's where you'd lay;
by sheppherd's you were soon adored
on universal hay.

a star for those who long
was opened on the skies
from east to east to lead the throng,
and worship you as wise.

no courtesy afforded
to you my Righteous Lamb;
instead you were kindly awarded
with gifts from eastern lands.

the sheppherds had their flocks
the academics, thought;
and though they seem a paradox
they seek and so are sought.

the angels are the flame
the single star is fire
these signs are for the Son who came
who'll usher our desire.

by Wm. Rieppe Moore

Rieppe's Recipes: OneMan Meals "Sour-Corn Fiesta"

1 & 1/4 cup of frozen whole kernal Golden Sweet Corn
(add 1/4 cup of water, salt lightly, and cook in the microwave on high for 2-3 minutes. let cool for 1 minute)
4 T Mt. Olive relish (relish in the delight of an unusual ingredient)
3 T Tobasco Hot Sause (or as much as will cause there to be a slight film of sweat on your forehead)
2 T fat free Sour Cream (it's fat free, be liberal)
2 T 100% grated Parmesan Cheese (don't ask, just add)

you can't handle the truthiness

"'Truthiness' Is Named the Word of the Year" (Fri Dec 8, 5:04 PM ET)

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - After 12 months of naked partisanship on Capitol Hill, on cable TV and in the blogosphere, the word of the year for 2006 is ... "truthiness."

The word — if one can call it that — best summed up 2006, according to an online survey by dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster.

"Truthiness" was credited to Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert, who defined it as "truth that comes from the gut, not books."

"We're at a point where what constitutes truth is a question on a lot of people's minds, and truth has become up for grabs," said Merriam-Webster president John Morse. "`Truthiness' is a playful way for us to think about a very important issue."

Colbert, who once derided the folks at Springfield-based Merriam-Webster as the "word police" and a bunch of "wordinistas," was pleased.

"Though I'm no fan of reference books and their fact-based agendas, I am a fan of anyone who chooses to honor me," he said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
by ADAM GORLICK, Associated Press Writer

Article Annotation: part of me wants to pretend this is simply make believe, but its all to real. for instance, Colbert's derision for institutionalized litergical hierarchy is simply a reflection of his dim whit. paradoxically, the medium for all his puns, punch lines, and saturnine perspectives, is the same thing of which he derides; that is they stucture of language. there is a "begging the question" in the previous sentense, but it isn't a logical falacy, because language can't exisist without general rules, and Colbert expressed that he generally disagrees with the ruler of language, namely dictionaries vis a vis definitions. but one thing is for certain; he is a perfect American, who detests whatever the transcendant standard is, in favor of himself. now I'm a huge fan of silly expressions and homeade terms, but not at the expense of definitiary claritarity. my question is if supercillious comedians like this are let loose on language, even to damaging the understanding of truth, how should an intellectual respond. step back fromt the audience for a moment and consider the ineffable value of truth. "when the foundations are being destroyed, what are the righteous doing?" (Psalm 11:3 NIV)

appellatious acronyms

this acronym is directly from http://www.go-quiz.com/ where i clicked the link titled "The Magical Name Acronym Generator: What does your name say about you?" so i typed my name into a window and the magical name exposition was revealed. it's interesting how much like an axiomatic fortune cookie the results from this were; some positives with some questionably vague characteristics. i definately don't agree or qualify for a few of these...

R	Responsible
I	Ideal
E	Emotional
P	Primitive
P	Pure
E	Energetic

this acronym was something that i considered over a period of time. without trying to be pretentious, i created my own name-acronym before i took the magical test (i've made slight, minor alterations). i had heard of the Go-Quiz magical name-acronym generator, but i don't promote or support the immediacy slash flippancy of the world of magic so i decided to create my own. notice the similarities...

R	Religious
I	Insightful
E	Exponential
P	Passionate
P	Personal
E	Etymological

"Future Past, Beauty Forever"

She tied her hair with pearl barrettes
And wore her silver gown;
Her shining broach was amethyst.
She seemed an angel in the crowd—
A star that’s heaven bound.

She took my arm with cashmere grace
And diamond elegance;
Her slippers came from Tripoli.
She watched the town in innocence
Without a consequence.

She wrapped a linen shawl around
Her neck and shoulders then;
For chilly air had touched her skin,
And from another northern wind
She fell upon the ground.

She fell, a feather from her youth
Where I would follow, sure
That I could comfort her;
I promised I’d retrieve a cure.
But that was not the truth.

I said this is a moment
That wouldn’t be her last;
And then I saw her eyes
Reveal my future past.

I shut her eyes to rest
And turned to curse the weather.
The town then said its best;
Her beauty was forever.

by Wm. Rieppe Moore