Reflections

Trees on the grounds of the Imperial City in Hue, Vietnam (see Imperial City) reflected in the moat surrounding the Citadel.  Beautiful place to spend the morning.

Infra

I am a big fan of Max Richter's music. Put it together with Lauren Cuthbertson and Ricardo Cervera from the Royal Ballet, the contemporary modern choreography of Wayne McGregor, and the LCD display animations of Julian Opie and the result is something truly sublime. The piece, called Infra, premiered in November 2008 at the Royal Opera House in London. [NOTE: Posted on Sunday afternoon to be enjoyed at a difficult moment (of your choice) on Monday].

Counting the Rings (From The Archive)

Mark Ashton (left), Morris K. Jesup Professor of Silviculture at Yale, and Yang Chenghua (right), botanist at the Guizhou Forestry Academy, count the rings on a large cross section of Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook to estimate its age and growth rate.  This valuable timber species, known locally as "shamu", is used by the Miao to build their houses (see Miao Still Life) and it is widely planted and managed in local forests. We spent the day in the drizzling rain running inventory transects in the forests outside of Wudong to quantify the density and size-class structure of Cunninghamia trees. We got soaked - but we finished 2,000 m² of transects. A good day.

[NOTE: I post this again because I am teaching Introduction to Indigenous Silviculture: Ecology, Livelihoods, and Policy at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies this semester and I see Mark every Monday. We reminisce about counting rings in southwestern China - among other things]. 

Still More Snow II

The crispness and quiet and clarity of a snowy landscape. 

A monk said to Tozan, "Cold and heat descend upon us. How can we avoid them?" Tozan said, "Why don't you go where there is no cold or heat?" The monk said "Where is the place where there is no cold or heat?" Tozan said, "When cold, let it be so cold that it kills you; when hot, let it be so hot that it kills you."

Case 43, The Blue Cliff Record
Tozan's Cold and Heat 

Go here for the complete Hekiganroku (Blue Cliff Record). Stay warm. (thx for the koan, Jason)  

Still More Snow

Pretty much had to close the schools today. There's 18 inches of snow on the ground. All happened last night while we were sleeping. You go to bed with a little sleet and rain, and then you wake up and your car is just a cold, white bump. Time for the snow shovel - again (see More Snow and Postcard from The Bronx).

Micro-copter

Clearly one of the favorite Christmas presents this year. And my son is quite an accomplished pilot with this little remote-controlled craft. Out and back. No crashes. With me filming. Nice job, Luke.

Parit

Found a box of old slides from Indonesia. This one shows Elysa taking some measurements on a drainage canal, or "parit", being dug through one of the peat swamps outside of Pontianak (see String of Pearls and Peat Farmer).  These site will ultimately be turned into species-rich agro-forestry systems dominated by fruit trees like langsat (Lansium domesticum Corréa) and durian (Durio zibethinus Van Nooten). It all starts by digging a canal and draining the water out of the peat so that it subsides - and can be burned. [NOTE: The last two posts have had some truly great hats in them...]

Tangled Up In Blue

I saw Bob Dylan with his Rolling Thunder Review in January of 1976 in Hatttiesburg, MS.  I was in Forestry School at the time at The University of Arkansas at Monticello (home of the Fighting Boll Weevils. Really). Didn't take any pictures - or have lost any pictures that I might have taken.  Thrilled to have found this video, because, in my mind, he looked and sounded just like this. Something for your Monday. [NOTE: The hat, the white facepaint, the incomparable lyrics, and the unmistakable voice. Where would we be without Bob Dylan?] 

More Snow

Started snowing again last night after midnight, and now we have 3 - 5 inches on the ground.  Schools are still open, however, much to the dismay of my kids. School district probably used up all of their snow days. [NOTE: Have started posting my videos in HD through Vimeo. HD video is so big that it can’t fit in the width of a regular web page, so it is displayed at half size. To see the whole image, go into full screen mode by clicking the full screen button in the lower right of the player. The native size of Vimeo HD files is 1280×720].

Los Añujes

I spent most of my years in the Peruvian Amazon living at the IIAP field station in Jenaro Herrera (see Jenaro Herrera and Overnight Boat to Jenaro), but whenever I was in Iquitos I would stay at the Quinta Schaper with my dear friends and colleagues Christine Padoch and Miguel Pinedo Vasquez. Miguel had two añujes (Dasyprocta punctata Gray) that he kept around the house as pets (shown above in Elysa's arms). 

Once, when Christine and Miguel went to the field for an extended period of time, Miguel arranged for one of his friends in Iquitos to "take care" of his añujes. Unfortunately, the meat of these cute little animals is very tender and tasty and highly esteemed in the Peruvian Amazon, and to "take care" of pets, for some people, apparently includes roasting. The añujes were nowhere to be found when Christine and Miguel got back. Sigh.