Tiny Bubbles

Experienced mescaleros (see Mescalero and Experts) in Acateyahualco (see Meeting in Acateyahualco) gauge the quality of their product (see Mescal) by pouring the newly distilled mescal into a calabash cup and looking at the density of bubbles. I asked if this was a measure of alcohol content and was told that it was not. I was also told that if you do the same thing with commercially-produced mescal - made from Agave grown in plantations - you don't get any bubbles. Interesting. [NOTE: Image above shows mescal with "an average quantity" of bubbles. Really superior mescal would fill the cup with bubbles, I was told].   

Enterprise

The Space Shuttle Enterprise riding piggyback on top of a NASA 747 jet at JFK airport in New York. The space shuttle, now retired, will be housed in the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum. More details about the Enterprise's move to New York here. [NOTE: Photo from the iPhone of the ever-vigilant Elysa who is on her way to the Dominican Republic (thx, Elysa)].

Thong Namy Market II

N18°10.314'
E104°14.143'

Another image from the wonderful Thong Namy market (see Thong Namy Market) in Bolikhamsai Province, Laos. I took several shots of this vendor. She was staying so busy cleaning and trimming and arranging the few items that she had for sale. [NOTE: I bought some ginger and got a beautiful smile].

Endeavor

Another beautiful piece from the Columbus Museum of Art (see ART and Wishes), this one by the Italian glass artist Lino Tagliapietra. Entitled "Endeavor", the installation includes thirty-five, brightly-colored glass boats suspended from the ceiling. [NOTE: Lino Tagliapietra's home page is here. Love this stuff].

Ananda

This lovely Tang dynasty (618 - 907 C.E.) statue is from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is thought to be of Ananda, the first cousin and devoted attendant of Shakyamuni Buddha. Ananda had a prodigious memory and is said to have remembered - word for word - many of the Buddha's discourses. These were transcribed in the First Buddhist Council and later became the Sutta Pitaka of the Pali Canon. [NOTE: The Sutta Pitaka contains over 10,000 teachings attributed to the Buddha or his disciples]. 

Ananda was also known as a champion of women's rights and persistently "lobbied" the Buddha on behalf of the ordination of women. He eventually convinced him. [NOTE: Nice discussion of the first Buddhist Nuns here (thx, Barbara)].

Bapaks From Bagak (From the Archive)

Pak Afong (with the baseball cap) and Pak Po'on (with the towel), both Selako Dayaks from the village of Bagak Sawah in West Kalimantan, helped a lot with my research on illipe nuts at the Raya-Pasi Nature Reserve (seeIllipe Nut III). Pak Afong was the official forest guard at Raya-Pasi, and he was the one who first told me about the annually fruiting illipe nut and helped me lay out and monitor my research plots. He was also the one who stopped me from stepping on the cobra (thx, Afong). Pak Po'on, an older gentleman who always went to the field in flip-flops, would help out when Pak Afong was not available. Po'on loved to talk and was an enthusiastic kretek smoker. The only thing that he would bring to the field was his towel and parang, so whenever it rained we would both hunker down under my poncho. Invariably, Pak Po'on would light up a kretek and start telling a story, usually about the old days during the Japanese occupation. The smoke under the poncho would get so thick that I couldn't see his face. It was a pleasure to work with both of these men. [NOTES: Pak Po'on's parang is stuck in the durian tree to the left of his head. The Indonesian word for tree is pohon.]

Tribute to F.H. Bormann

I participated this weekend in a much-deserved tribute to Dr. F.H. Bormann, Oestler Professor Emeritus of Forest Ecology at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Herb, who turned 90 last month, mentored thirty Ph.D. students, is a longtime member of the National Academy of Sciences, wrote eight books and 175 scientific papers, and was awarded the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, the Blue Planet Prize, and the Ecological Society of America's Eminent Ecologist Award. Truly a gifted scholar and a wonderful human being.

As shown in the image above, speakers at the event - all Bormann students - included:  (l to r top) Jerry Melillo, Distinguished Scientist and Director Emeritus, Marine Biological Laboratory, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies; Peter Marks, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University; Dan Nepstad, Executive Director IPAM international; me; Joann Roskoski, Directorate for Biological Sciences, National Science Foundation; Guillermo Castilleja, Chief Program Officer, Moore Foundation; Tim Wood, Executive Vice-President of Research and Development, USANA Health Services (retired); Larry Forcier, Rubenstein School of the Environment, University of Vermont; (l to r bottom) Steve Hamburg, Chief Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund; Herb Bormann; Christine Bormann; and Dean Peter R. Crane, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. 

A good time was had by all. [NOTE: Elysa took the picture on her iPhone (thx, Elysa)].

Ganesha (with Coffee)

 

Linoleum block print of Ganesha by Case Peters, 2012, from the Earlham College Senior Art Exhibition in Richmond, Indiana. The print is entitled "They Say I'm A Well-Rounded Individual (But I Feel More Obtuse)". Nice. Love the coffee cup.

What Fiber?

Spent several hours on Tuesday afternoon with the Conservators in the Anthropology Department of the American Museum of Natural History looking at artifacts from the 1935 Vernay-Hopwood Expedition to the upper reaches of the Chindwin River in northern Burma. Trying to indentify all of the different plant fibers used. The knotted, split cane wrapped around the base of the headress shown in the image above, for example. Bamboo or rattan? And the yellow, flattened (vertical) fiber shown on the left in this image? Dendrobium stalk? And the red dye? And the mordant (see Mordant) used to fix the color?

And how about in the image of the scabbard below. Is the horizontal curve of rounded plant material in the center of the image a cane - or a root fiber? And the finely plaited material shown to the right? Split bamboo or rattan? This is tricky stuff. And great fun to speculate about. 

[NOTE: Warm thanks to Erin, Nicole, Judith, and Samatha at the AMNH for letting me interrupt their lunch and for giving me a glimpse of these priceless artifiacts. Images by Samantha Anderson].

Levon Helm

Levon Helm, drummer, mandolin player,  and frequent lead vocalist of The Band, is apparently losing his decade long battle against cancer. This marvelous musician brought a lot of joy to my life - and even gave me a reason to dance occasionally.  Thank you, Levon. [NOTE: Video shows The Band, 1990, playing "The Weight" at Festival Express in Toronto].