Wind Turbine

One of the highlights of my trip to the midwest last week (see Wildflowers and ART) was a visit to a high school in Union City, Indiana to see their 2.5 MW wind turbine. Generates electricity and provides a wonderful teaching tool for classes on sustainable energy. [NOTE: Clif Bar, Inc. provided a subsidy to build the wind turbine through its carbon offset program. Go here for more about Clif Bar's sustainability program].

Bathing the Buddha

Dennis Shofu Myozan Keegan (see Myozan and Teachers) ladles tea over a golden statue of baby Buddha as part of the celebration of Buddha's Birthday (see Happy Birthday) yesterday at the Empty Hand Zen Center. [NOTE: This is birthday number 2,545 for Prince Siddhartha Gautama].

Wishes

One of the exhibits at the Columbus Museum of Art (see ART) is a Wish for Peace Tree. Based on Yoko Ono's interactive artwork Wish Trees (1996), children write their wish on a paper tag and then tie it to a tree, in this case, a beautiful little Japanese maple (Acer palmatum Thunb). I was particularly taken by the wish shown above. As a longtime fan of Akira Toriyama's wonderful manga series, Dragon Ball, I, too, was always hoping that Son Goku would find all seven of the mystical orbs and be able to summon the wish-granting dragon. [Spoiler Alert: He does].

Wildflowers

Spent a delightful spring afternoon walking through the Whitewater Memorial State Park near Liberty, Indiana. Wildflowers were everwhere. Like the Dutchman's breeches (Dicentra cucullaria L. Bernh.) shown above and the white trillium or wake-robin (Trillium grandiflorum (Michx.) Salisb) shown below.

For me, however, the real stars of the show were all those eastern redbud trees (Cercis canadensis L.) growing down by the lake. [NOTE: I took way too many pictures of wildflowers (e.g. bird's foot violets, azure bluets, Canadian cinquefoil, valerian, virginia cowslip); Elysa found a comfy wooden bench and took a nap].  

ART

There is a delightful piece of public sculpture down from the Columbus Museum of Art at the corner of Washington Avenue and Gay Street in Columbus, Ohio. Its message is especially clear on a cloudless day with a crystal blue sky - like yesterday. [NOTE: The red steel sculpture was created by Doris Shlayn for the Columbus College of Art and Design].

Inside the museum is an incredible assortment of other wonderful pieces, many from some of my favorite artists. For example:

Cardbird IV (1971), Robert Rauschenberg, color offset photolithograph on cardboard, and

Imola (1981), Frank Stella, paint on corrugated aluminum. [NOTE: I have always tried to follow Stella's maxim in my own work: "You can't use too much glitter"].

Badminton

N18°11.664'
E104°58.346'

Another view of the District Forestry office in Lak Sao, Laos (see Training in Lak Sao). This is what things look like in the evening, when thoughts of sustainable forestry have been replaced with visions of shuttlecocks, carbon fiber racquets,  and forehand slams. Badminton is very popular in Laos.

Easter Eggs

Not going to be around this weekend, so we dyed Easter eggs last Sunday evening. Great, messy, creative fun and lots of raw material, i.e. cracked eggs, for making egg salad. Finished eggs are delivered to Part of the Solution (POTS) soup kitchen in the Bronx. [NOTE: I did the yellow egg with white spirals and the turqouise egg with the little yellow circles - among others. Daughter Amy made the orange egg that says "Spain 2012". She leaves for Madrid on Friday].

Walls of Orchids

Went to the Conservatory before it opened last Saturday and had a delightful walk through the 2012 Orchid Show at NYBG. This year, the show features the vertical gardens or "walls" of French botanist and artist, Patrick Blanc. Vertical surfaces covered with a proliferation of orchids, ferns, epiphytes; splashes of color amidst a carpet of green; thousands and thousands of some of the most beautiful, evocative, and evolutionarily-advanced flowers you can imagine. Really gorgeous.

That said, the subtlety and wonder afforded by the careful study of single orchid is somehow lost for me when these amazing flowers are presented in such large numbers.  I mean, really, check out the incomparable reproductive structure shown below. How much more sensual could a pollinator-attracting device get? [NOTE: The Orchid Show continues at The New York Botanical Garden until April 22]. 

Looks Like She Won

After almost two decades under house arrest (see Aung San Suu Kyi and Clinton and Suu Kyi), the leader of Myanmar's democracy movement and Nobel-laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has apparently won a seat in Parliament, i.e. the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. Although this ruling council is still overwhelmingly under the control of the military, Suu Kyi's election is a meaningful and exciting step in the right direction for this country. [NOTE: I certainly would never have predicted that things would be moving so fast in Myanmar. She was still under house arrest when I was last there. Photo by Nyein Chan Naing/European Pressphoto Agency].