Bagan

On my upcoming trip to Myanmar (with son, Luke), after finishing up in Nam Sabi (see Nam Sabi VMA and VMA Inventory) and then spending a few days in Mandalay, we will go visit Bagan (shown above). Thousands of stupas and pagodas stretching back from the Ayeyarwady River over 40 square kilometers. Yippeee!!

Thambuddhei Paya IV

My thoughts are turning to northern Myanmar in anticipation of my upcoming trip. Shown above, still another image from the Mohnyin Thambuddhei Paya in Monyin (see Thambuddhei Paya, Thambuddhei Paya II, Thambuddhei Paya III, and Tiger Balm). Buddhas and pagodas, and more Buddhas and pagodas, and glorious blue skies. Can't wait.

Hurricane Patricia

Hurricane Patricia, the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded, is racing toward the Pacific Coast of Mexico with sustained windspeeds of over 200 mph. It is expected to make landfall in Jalisco this evening. The popular coastal resorts, Puerto Vallarta and Manzanilla, as well as Mexico's second largest city, Guadalajara, are all in the projected path of the hurricane. Storm surges, hurricane force winds, flashfloods, mudslides, power outages – this looks really bad. Gulp. 

Marco Polo's House

After traveling around Asia for 24 years, Marco Polo returned to Venice in 1295. He and his family lived in a relatively unassuming residence – for Venice – near what is now the Corte Seconda del Milion. The house is not open to the public and is only acknowledged by the small marble sign shown above. You could walk right by it. [NOTE: The book, "The Travels of Marco Polo", is called Il Milione (The Million) in Italian, hence the Corte Seconda del Milion]. 

Letter are Things, Not Pictures of Things, But...

Insights from Robert Bringhurst (see The Elements of Typographic Style) noted while reading The Tree of Meaning: Language, Mind, and Ecology on the train to work this morning:

"I beg to remind you, however, that what you find on the font of a photosetting machine is the photographic image of a letter, and what you set with photosetting equipment is not in truth a letter but a picture of a letter. More precisely: a picture of a drawing of a letter. What you find on a digital font is likewise not a letter but a Bézier or cubic-spline description of a letter. What you set with your computer and print with a laser printer is a digital simulation of a letter. What you find in a California job case (see above) is also not a letter but a sort, which is a sculpture of a letter. What you print with a Vandercook or an Albion is the imprint of a sculpture of a letter. Where is the letter itself? This is the mind-body problem of the philosophers writ small."

And then I got to my stop. [NOTE: This book is a delight]. 

That Castle

The Buonconsiglio Castle in Trento was built in the 13th century. It was enlarged twice, and the structure has been used as a fort, a residence, a military barracks, a prison, and, most recently, a national museum. Was my first time to visit a castle. "Massive" and "solid" are the two adjectives that first come to mind. "Opulent", would be a third. I remember fantasizing about giving a talk in the meeting room shown below. How would you get the audience to stop looking at the ceiling?

Sigh Of Relief

I have spent the last eight weeks, in Italy and New York, writing a book of stories about my thirty years of working with communities around the world to manage tropical forests. And now I'm finished. Fifteen chapters and two hundred and twenty five pages. A lot of stories and wonderful memories.  [NOTE: Glad to see that my little bark paper journal from Oaxaca (upper left) made it into the photo].  

Venetian Still Life

I took a lot of pictures of gondolas and canals and skinny back streets, but this was the image that struck me as the most representative still life of Venice. Beautiful old walls, elegant decay, and rising water levels. And fewer and fewer people actually live in Venice, anymore. I never saw a place to buy groceries, a hardware store, or a laundromat. I worry about the impact of climate change here.

Burano

Still going through my images from Italy. The coloful houses, and healthy flowers, on the island of Burano in the Venetian lagoon are shown above. Ready to go back.

Duomo de Milano

The Duomo di Milano, or Milan Cathedral, is really, really big. It's the fifth biggest church in the world and the second largest in Italy (after St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican); the central approach to the main altar, i.e. the nave, is 45 meters tall. And not only is it big, it's real old, too. Construction was started in 1386, several hundred years before St. Peter's.  Breathtaking, awe-inspiring, humbling. Exactly as it was designed to be, I would imagine.