These past two months have been full. Highlights include:

• Celebrating the 4th anniversary of being married to the amazing and beautiful Robin Kinney
• CPE Unit 3 of 4. For those who’ve ever done a Clinical Pastoral Education residency, you probably know how intense this unit can be. I can hardly wait until those summer interns come to help lighten the load
• Learning about the Enneagram, a facinating personality typing system that’s way better than Meyers-Briggs. I’m a 9; how about you?
• Upgrading to the Pentax K10D camera, just before the rebate ended!
• Flirting with purchasing a medium format camera system and shooting film for the first time since my childhood (looking at the Mamiya 645 system right now)
• Selecting classes for the PSR Fall semester (mostly MDiv required ones)
• Enrolling at Laney College to take some photography and art classes in the fall!
• Enduring a water leak which spread into our unit from a vacated apartment across the hall
• A wonderful First Congo Oakland spring retreat in the Marin Headlands
• Starting the Artist’s Way, gleaning a wonderful sense of creative recovery so far, and writing my morning pages (almost) every day
• Starting a LIFE (”living in faith everyday”) group at First Congo focusing on contemplative prayer and meditation
• Surprising myself by getting up into handstand for the first time in yoga class without any help
• A visit from Robin’s mom
• A cross-country skiing trip to King’s Canyon National Park, enjoying 5″ of fresh powder on the trail

I am looking forward to the continued warming of the weather, getting outside more often, the extended daylight hours, and more time with Robin once her school year is done in June. May the warmth and clarity of the California sun be with you all!

Grant :: May.04.2008 :: life update :: 5 Comments »

I came across a wonderful little blog by a commercial photographer the other day–what I love about it is that he gives us little glimpses of his life, not the nitty-gritty of a shoot or his lighting techniques or equipment reviews. He simply bears just a little bit of his soul as he writes about what it is like to be him: a photographer, father, and artist.

 See it here: http://thomasbroening.blogspot.com/

I mention it because I should aspire to such blog writing feats. Or maybe I could at least just update this more than once every two months.

I do want to say that CPE Unit 2 (of 4) was finished last week. That means I’m halfway done with my CPE residency! It’s 1) incredible exciting that I’ve made it this far 2) motivating to think I’m not going to have this program in 6 months, so I’d better use the time wisely in units 3 and 4. It will be back to the “real world” all too soon. Though after this, seminary is going to be like cruising in a convertable on a mid-summer’s day.

Grant :: Feb.24.2008 :: CPE, blog, life update :: No Comments »

Thanks to everyone who came out to the art fair at PSR (The Pacific School of Religion) on Tuesday. All of you helped make this a successful first showing of my photography. It was a great pleasure to share my work and receive your appreciation and feedback.

I’m working on getting an online gallery up featuring the prints that were on display on Tuesday, so you can look at them online. Future enhancements will also include online purchasing through Paypal (which has free and secure credit card payments), hopefully sometime over the next week.

Grant :: Dec.09.2007 :: art, seminary :: No Comments »

Robin and I cooked lunch for our church congregation yesterday. The soup we made turned out pretty well, so I thought I’d share the recipe with you, given it’s the time of the year for pumpkins. It’s adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks, The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Molly Katzen.

This recipe is easiest with canned pumpkin, but you could also cook and prepare it yourself. It makes 4-6 servings.

• 3 cups of cooked and pureed pumpkin, or 2 15 oz. cans
  (sweet potatoes or another winter squash would also work)
• 2-3 cups of water (depending upon how thick you like your soup)
• a splash of olive oil
• 2 cups of red onion, minced (other kinds are okay too)
• 1-2 large bell peppers, minced
• 2-4 large cloves of garlic, minced
• salt to taste
• 1-2 Tbs. of chile powder
• 2-3 Tbs. of fresh lime juice
• black pepper to taste

1. Add the pumpkin/squash and water to a soup pot, stir until the the consistency is uniform, and put on med/low heat. Continue to stir often as this heats up.

2. Warm up a skillet on medium heat, add oil, onions, and peppers. Saute until just tender (~5 min.), then add the garlic, salt, and chile powder. Continue cooking until the vegetables are soft and well done (~10 min).

3.  Add the vegetables and lime juice to the pumpkin. Stir well, and simmer for at least 10 more minutes. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. It’s best to let the soup simmer, covered, for up to a couple hours to mingle the flavors, but you can also eat it right away. You may need to add a little bit more water if you let it simmer.

4. Yummy!

Grant :: Oct.29.2007 :: church, life update, recipes :: No Comments »

As Robin alluded to on her blog, I’m doing a full-time year-long Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) residency this year. It’s a rather intense way to fulfill my field education requirement for seminary, but it’s also makes room for deep learning about my personal pastoral ministry and presence.

CPE is a nationally accredited program. Each unit lasts about 3 months, so I’ll be doing 4 units over the course of a whole year. It’s both scary and a wonderful growing opportunity because a lot of the curriculum involves giving and receiving direct and honest feedback about my personal presence and interpersonal relating. In other words, my fellow residents and the supervisor(s) are up front with what they think about me and the work I’m doing, and I’m expected to do the same for them. Ever wanted to know deep down what other people really think of you and notice about you? This is the place to learn.

If the advantage of being a resident is the learning opportunity, the disadvantage is they work you to near death for a pretty meager stipend. I’m really just happy to be getting paid, but at the end of 60-80 hour week (plus commuting back and forth to SF every day), I’m just plain tired. It’s a quick way to learn how to prioritize what renews and energizes me.

The hospital I’m working at is St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. It’s interesting for a couple of reasons. First, although it’s part of Catholic Healthcare West, it’s historically a community hospital that was later adopted into the Catholic healthcare system, so it has a mixed history. Second, it’s smack in between the poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich in San Francisco (the Tenderloin and Knob Hill). Chinatown is right next door too. The hospital’s patient population approximately reflects these populations pretty evenly. For doing chaplaincy work, I don’t think there could be a more dynamic place.

Grant :: Oct.08.2007 :: CPE, life update :: 3 Comments »

A few weeks ago I preached at worship in my church community, the First Congregational Church of Oakland. Just in case you want to listen, you can hear the streaming version here. You can also download the mp3 here.

First Congo Oakland is a radically different church than you’ve probably experienced before. Think progressive theology meeting radical welcome and charismatic worship. If you’re ever in Oakland on Sunday morning, I hope you’ll stop by and visit.

Grant :: Aug.24.2007 :: church :: 1 Comment »

Seattle was great. I spent as much time as I could taking busses out to different neighborhoods, walking around downtown, and visiting art galleries and museums. There was a particularly nice selection of photography at the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, and it was free admission thanks to the Boeing Corporation. The first night we had dinner with Robin’s friend from high school who she looked up on Facebook. On day two, I contacted a photographer, Doug Plummer, whose blog I’ve read for the past year or so. He graciously took the time to have lunch with me and I absorbed all the advice I could over a plate of Pad Thai.

After Robin’s conference, we rented a car and drove out around the Olympic Peninsula where we spent a couple nights camping. The Hoh Rain Forest was amazing (this area has the only temperate rain forest in North America), and I always enjoy a drive up the Pacific Coast. If I were to do it all again, I’d love to stay longer; it was our first time in Washington and the Seattle area. Pictures will be coming over the next few weeks.

I’ve put up some of the pictures from our Desolation Wilderness backpacking trip in July. You can see them here.

There’s nothing like sledding in July!
(Thanks to Webb, who’s Therm-a-rest pad suffered at least one puncture on this afternoon.)

And finally, a note: this blog will be moving to my own website in the near future. The content will shift to mostly photography information, but I’ll be sure to also include the occasional update about what’s going on with me. I’m beginning the process of coming out with my identity as a fine art photographer–a plan that is somewhat open ended, but looks to yield some exciting possibilities.

Grant :: Aug.19.2007 :: life update, travel :: 1 Comment »

Well, first off, I want to say thank goodness that all the loud bangs I’ve been hearing these past two days are firecrackers and not gunfire. For a few moments last night, I thought there was a gang war going on a few blocks away. Such is how one thinks when living in Oakland, even if this is usually a pretty safe neighborhood.

We’re off to Desolation Wilderness for a week’s stay. Thankfully the recent wildfire near South Lake Tahoe missed it, but not by much. We hiked through here on our way around Lake Tahoe in 2005, and it was beautiful, so I’m really glad to be going back and taking it at a slower pace.

While you’re waiting for me to come back and update this (well I guess no one’s holding their breath), here are a few pictures from my 5 day backpacking trip to Ventana Wilderness by Big Sur.

I hope you’re having a good summer!

Grant :: Jul.01.2007 :: Oakland, life update :: No Comments »

Just a quick plug for a great movie I saw last week, The Lives of Others (Leben der Anderen, Das). It seems more and more seldom that a high quality movie makes into the mainstream distribution channels, particularly for non-English language films–what a nice surprise. Great directing, acting, cinematography, set design, and an excellent story, it’s all there (well, unless you’re really into the CGI graphics; there aren’t any of those).Also, if you live in or around Oaktown (a.k.a Oakland) and haven’t visited the Parkway Speakeasy Theater yet, find something that’s showing you want to see and go there. Who wouldn’t want to eat pizza and beer while sitting on a comfy couch at the movie theater? (They also have some very nice sandwiches and wines if you prefer that scene).

It’s a “second run” theater, so you won’t find the latest and greatest just released movies, but you can’t beet the atmosphere, and I always love the chance to support a quirky locally owned and operated business.

Parkway Theaters link (now in El Cerrito too!)

What’s Playing

Grant :: Jun.14.2007 :: Oakland, movies :: No Comments »

Grant :: Jun.10.2007 :: food, recipes :: 1 Comment »