NEW FEATURED PAGE!

The Sermons of Dr. Robert R. Ball

    At the request of the author, and with great pleasure, Mom will be presenting weekly Dr. Robert R. Ball's 1970s series of sermons from Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas. At the 2010 Joyful Noise choir  reunion and conference it was a joy to discuss with Dr. Ball the theology approached in this series of sermons and the subsequent effect they have had on the lives of the young people who heard them.

     Each sermon presented in this context comes from copies collected, carried, preserved and studied by TEENAGED congregants, who have incorporated this thinking into their lives (we are currently in our fifties). Dr. Ball wanted to share these for the edification of the new generation and the revivification of the older one.

          Presbyterianism being primarily a volunteer organisation, Mom naturally volunteered for this happy duty. It is an honor to revisit the foundation of Mom's whole philosophy and theological outlook.

This week:

  WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN? 

January 25, 1970

FURRY FEATHERED CREATURE OF THE MONTH OF

September: Alexander Dog

ART WORKSHOP: Collage

Mother Head to Foot, a work offered for sale

The art of using that which is discarded by others

Mom and Dad have been making coil cups during the Tuesday art workshops. Last winter's cups are here and for sale. Come play in the clay with us!

Dad's 'Plum Jelly' series is coming right along.

Mom's 'Snakey Cups'

BUY OUR T-SHIRTS ! PLEASE!

Proceeds from T-SHIRT sales go to feed the many animals in our menagerie: The two llamas, the rescued dog, the three adopted cats and six rescued cats, Dot, the late Bunny, our fifteen named chickens, the rescued turtles, the newts, crabs, and goldfish.

M.A.D. to have a LLAMA T-SHIRT ?

Crazy about Fairies? Zoom me over to The Shire Fairy T-SHIRT.

Gardens at The M.A.D. House

Well, you can bet they don't look like that in December, January, February, or March!

April and May are when they really sparkle.

OUR LANDSCAPING PROJECT

Living on the side of the hill has presented a number of challenges through the past few years. How to keep the water out of the living room...the den...the barn...etcetera. How to make beautiful gardens out of clay and rocks. Planting lilies of the valley with a pick axe was one of the first clues that things were not going to be boring here. The llamas and the chickens have provided rich sources of mulch, which, when combined with the abundant oak and elm and hickory and cherry and sycamore leaves, has given us a means of developing terraced gardens and good soil. Obviously we have rocks for making the terrace borders, and last year an unexpected project by the phone company and the water district provided beautiful boulders and rocks for the front yard, but how to get materials down the hill to control the runoff in the side and back of the house?

In 2009 Mom came up with an unconventional idea. Dad was reading his monthly Martha Stewart Living and saw terraces with big tufts of tall grasses he liked a lot, but buying railroad ties was too expensive. Why not old tires? cheap, durable, non-toxic, and the topsoil will be built up from the aforementioned natural materials and animal debris.

Mom and Dad have begun the enormous task of setting, weighting, filling, and planting the dozens of tires it will take to control the runoff north of the M.A.D. House, and we will keep posting updated images as the flowers grow and the tires are installed!

Here are some Summer 2009 photos of the steps and levels with green beans and pholx growing to beat the band.

A new niche garden out back by the Air Conditioners.

Go to the Terrace garden Project Page.

Livestock at The M.A.D. House

Our animal friends comprise a big part of every day, and give us inspiration for our creative impulses. We have currently two Llamas: Magical Flag and Sir Charle; two dogs: Nymphadora and Alexander; seven cats: (Dusty in memoriam), Xena, Roger, Millicent, Whiskers, Samuel A. Cat, Oley, Ubu Roi; turtles: Mertle, and Lloyd; four guineas: Vinnie, Sal, and two babies, Chickens: Snowballs, Snowflake, Foghorn Leghorn, Lucy, Clairdaughter, Peaches, Grise, April, May, Raven, Curley, Moe, Amelia, Mrs. Bankhurst, one little grey hen, and three chicks; the Button Quail: Abiquail and her two friends; The ducks: Larry, Curley and Leonard; four koi and goldfish: Bob, Freckles, and company; five shiners (zippies); two newts: John Cleese and Isaac Newton; four Land Hermit Crabs: Floral, Flowers, Tiny and the other one; and two brine shrimp. This also keeps us off the streets and out of the bars, as it were.

BOOKS!

Every year is a year of reading here at The M.A.D. House Artists!

Be sure to look at our listings at AMAZON.COM and Alibris! No storefront at this time, but for each of the 1,000 books we do have listed we have uploaded an individual picture of the book on the Amazon listing page or the Alibris listing. You will never buy a book from us sight-unseen! The books are still here and are still for sale. Please, if you are looking for a book, let us know. it may be among the 10,000 not yet listed.

SIGN OUR GUEST BOOK!