An Sionnach

Well the journey west has begun. For all my life I have lived along the East coast. I was born in the great city of Boston, to shortly thereafter at the age of 5 move to New York, where I spent 25 years of my life. I had the opportunity to live in my Moms and Grandfathers hometown, Bangor Maine. It was then on to Philadelphia. Shortly after 9/11 I took a job working with adjudicated youth and lived in a tent for 2 years on a mountain just outside of Hendersonville, NC. The mountains grabbed me so much I decided to stick around and moved up to the city of Asheville, and spent almost 6 years driving through the mountainside. Never in my life has a place impacted me so much as the mountains of Western NC. Anyone who knows me has always said I am most at home when in the woods and mountains. Maybe it’s my the earthy element of my Celtic heritage. I knew these mountains, I even walked them from end to end in 1999.

But today I am leaving these mountains and taking another 2000 mile journey to Los Angeles. When I hiked the Appalachian Trail and reached the end I wondered where to now. As I looked past the terminus sign I saw blazes that led along the knifes edge, those blazes led down the mountain, to the yellow and white blazes of the highway. The Appalachian Trail never ends, because no matter where you look there are more white blazes leading along life’s trail. So while those mountains will sorely be missed I now journey West to another milestone in my life, marriage. Everything I have experienced and learned in my life in the East I am now going to share with my wonderful wife in the west. This seems to be the theme of my life. When it came to studying my faith it was a combination of East and West. Matter of fact it was something that Huw and I had named our combined blog.

This seems to be the theme of my life, it seems that life finds it’s balances. It’s Yin and Yang. When I have spent most of my time in the city it brings me to the woods, when in the woods to the city. Life in the East brings me to life in the West. The first half of my life was spent single or celibate as a Franciscan, the second half marriage. Is not God amazing?

So here I am 1/3rd of the way there. The past few weeks have been exhausting as I have finished up work, continued with classes, as have managed to eliminate so many things so as to get what I can could into my pickup. My 1st day on the road was short, very short. It was mostly to just get going. I stopped along the AT to see if I might run into any of the thru hikers for the year, the next day I drove 800 miles to a small hotel just on the border of Oklahoma. I thought about going another leg, but I saw the 36.95 sign with wireless and a bed called me. I was a little sketchy. I remember many of the 36 dollar hotels on the AT. But Interstate Motel had clean rooms and bathroom, cable TV, WiFi, and breakfast. The pillows could have had a bit more pillow to them. Combine the two, fold em, worked ok. But I advise bringing your own. The front wall is just single pane glass, so as the trucks roll by it sounds like the window is open. But for this tired kitsu, sleep was not a problem.

Well… Westward!!

The season of change have come and gone, it’s now a world of new beginnings. I look back three weeks ago to the beginning of my first Ramadan. It started with the beginning of the fast, in which I compare to the season of fall. Our bodies are still full of life, but each day we shed a new layer exposing our inner cores. Each day our bodies adapt to the lack of food and sleep, and while our bodies weaken, our core, our roots, our spirit become strengthened. Our leaves are gone, and our scars are exposed, our limbs cold, brittle and fragile. This is our winter. And then comes the Eid, the air warms and new leaves begin to blossom bringing life back into our bodies. We find ourselves renewed, our souls strengthened. Our lives start fresh again. We are once again reawakened to the Mercy of God, and share it with the world through our offerings. New signs of life awaken within us, for this is our spring. So within a months time we have gone through fall, winter and spring. Now we have 11 months of Summer. What will be do with it? Will we keep our leaves, or will we let them fall early. Will our limbs bear any fruit? What we do with our summer is entirely up to us. God has granted each of us his mercy. God has given us an instruction manuals, and God has given us an example through the Messengers and all the prophets (Peace be upon them all). Peace be upon you all.

Most of you who have been around my blog, or any of the sites I have designed, have seen some of my graphical work.  For years I have been toying around with graphics.  Outside of any formal art classes from back in high school, everything I have learned has been self taught, as well a being a gift from my creator.  For years my mom, dad, and aunt have hassled me about wasting this God given talent that I have.  Friends have pointed out my natural gift and have always asked for assistance when working on designs themselves.  And it wasn’t until recently that I realized that I am completely wasting this gift, and settling for something far less that only gets me by.  So after thorough examination of myself, my gifts and what I want in life; as well as some encouragement from some people close to me I have decided to enroll myself into college for a degree in Graphic Design.  It is an online course, fully accredited.  The first year focuses on the graphical aspects of the course, which will give me a diploma, as well as the skills to begin work as a graphical artist.  Once I have the diploma I can then pursue my Associates and Bachelors degree in one of two fields.  Graphic Design or Interactive Graphical Media allowing me to progress further into the field.  Classes start on Oct 1st, so InshAllah (God Willing) my Federal Loans with pull through in enough time to purchase books, supplies, and possibly a Mac.  I could stick with the PC, which I will stick with if I need to, but most graphical artists use a Mac and are usually looking for someone with Mac experience.  If I purchase one later then I will have to repurchase most of the software again for the Mac OS.  So hopefully things will work out.  The other tough part will be working, and taking courses at the same time.  Fortunately with online courses you can work on your own schedule, as long as you meet the necessary requirements set by the school.  I have to say I am pretty excited, and looking for this yet another challenge in my life.

Yankee Stadium Kinkade

Originally uploaded by An Sionnach

A few months ago my father went to a gathering for paintings by Thomas Kinkade. While there Thomas Kinkade made an announcement that he would be painting a copy of Yankees Stadium before it was torn down. Knowing that I am a baseball fan, particularly of older baseball, as well and a fan of the Yankees AND Red Sox he gave me a call and asked if I would like a copy. I have seen Thomas Kinkades other paintings as my mother had 3 of his pieces of his artwork, so I said sure if it wasn’t too expensive. Well the painting showed up on my doorstep last week, and wow. It’s nothing what I expected. The painting itself brings back many fond memories of going to Yankees Stadium and enjoying a good game of baseball. The picture doesn’t do the painting any justice.

Originally uploaded by An Sionnach

A journal ad for St. Raphaels, for the Parish Life Conference.