Friday Surf Report - Things I Like

• This is very, very cool: The Car Photo

• I adore this photo (look at the prayer beads wound in there!)

via the inimitable recuerda mi corazon

• Number 19 from Gary Snyder's book Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems

Once at Cold Mountain, troubles cease --

No more tangled, hung-up mind.

I idly scribble poems on the rock cliff,

Taking whatever comes, like a drifting boat.

Cold Mountain, or Han-Shan, lived during the T'ang dynasty, approximately A.D. 627-650. Snyder describes him as "a mountain madman in an old Chinese line of ragged hermits." Han-Shan lived alone for most of his life in a mountain hut. See, here I am working in my escape desires -- I vant to be alone.

• Another reason to eat chocolate cake -- and move on.

• My beautiful blogger friend Karen Gerstenberger of Gberger has just published a book titled Because of Katie about her family's heartbreaking yet entirely profound journey with their daughter Katie who was diagnosed with cancer as a twelve year old. I have had the enormous privilege of getting to know Karen over the years, and her strength and deep spirituality are a constant source of inspiration to me. I am certain that her book will be treasured. You can order your very own copy on Amazon in a couple of weeks or on Karen's site right now!

• I loved this conversation between Krista Tippett and Kevin Kling. Here's what Tippett's blog OnBeing says:  In a face-to-face conversation from the studios of American Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio, Krista Tippett will talk to this American humorist and writer about confronting and embracing these physical challenges and his own mortality, and the will to create rather than despair. Through his work and his personal story, we’ll focus on his work as an artist, the importance of humor and craft in his spiritual life, and how he finds meaning in the world around him.

Video streaming by Ustream