Monthly Archives: February 2009

Art and Culture, Asia, Weather +Climate

Can’t Get No Satisfaction

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Imbolc        Waxing Moon of Winds

Even now the winds continue as winter and spring continue their tug of war.  Seasons do not just give up here, seasonal ground has to be earned.

Two China tours today.  I left dissatisfied with my work on them.  My work was not as crisp or as engaging.  I may need to go back to themes and questions, which I have largely abandoned.   These were  senior high kids and there was a certain amount of boy/girl silliness with the girls in front and the boys in back, moving away.  Still, at my best I keep the kids engaged and today I didn’t.  Room for improvement.

My first asmat tour is next Friday and I have work to get ready for it.

Otherwise, tired.  Headed upstairs for a nap.

General

Snow, Snow, Snow

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Imbolc        New Moon (Moon of Winds)

The winds continue to blow, now driving a heavy snow.  The winds come straight out of the north with gusts ranging as high as 16 mph.

I’m not going to either the MIA (Maya lecture) or the capitol (Clean Cars hearing) in favor of staying home and working on the blog while the snow piles up.  Sometimes the distance and a lack of four wheel drive add up to remaining in place.

My energy level and my sense of well-being began to increase dramatically at the end of last week, either the end of a mild virus or the hangover from the vertigo/nausea fun of the previous week.  It feels so much better to feel so much better.

In a bit I’m going to dive into Obama’s first budget message to congress.  I have it on a pdf file.

Art and Culture, Politics, Weather +Climate

The Moon of Winds Delivers

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Imbolc        New Moon (Moon of Winds)

The moon of winds has already begun to deliver.  We’ve had gusts up to 15 and average windspeeds of up to 5.6 mph.  All the air and clouds running before a snow storm coming to us from the west.

The legislative situation has begun to pick up speed.  I’m not sure what all the momentum will do when it hits the wall of the new revenue forecast, anticipated to raise our state deficit by some billions more.

Two China tours tomorrow.  I’m doing my 8 dynasties tour for these Chinese language students from Highland Park High School in St. Paul.

Off to Costco.  No, not again.  Never made it Tuesday.  Gotta go today.  The dogs need food.

General

Green Cemeteries and Cherry Red Sculpture

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Imbolc    New Moon  (Moon of Winds)

Somehow the coincidence of these two stories tickled me.

Cemeteries go eco-friendly
Seth Tupper The Daily Republic, Worthington Daily Globe
Published Monday, February 23, 2009
Most cemeteries can be described as green spaces, but some are going “green” in the ecological sense.
“Green burials,” which can lack embalming fluids, caskets, vaults and sometimes even markers, are gaining in popularity around the world.

The cherry takes a trip
by Euan Kerr, Minnesota Public Radio
February 23, 2009
A Twin Cities icon heads off on a restorative vacation today. The cherry from the Walker Art Center’s famed “Spoonbridge with Cherry” will be lifted off its mount in the Sculpture Garden and sent away to get a little work done.

General

One Place Above All Others

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Imbolc       New Moon   (Moon of Winds)

Kate’s making red velvet cupcakes for Anne’s birthday lunch tomorrow.  I finished cleaning out the hydroponics and will start later today planting huckleberry and mustard greens.  The leeks don’t have to go in the pot until next week or a bit after.

When the arugula, pepper and lettuce plants came out of the pots, they had the aroma of the fresh earth.  It reminded me that in all the jobs I’ve ever had there was one place I liked above all the others:  the produce locker at Cox’s supermarket.  The combined scents of apples, pineapples, lemons, lettuce, radishes, oranges, grapes and other fruits and vegetables smelled as close to heaven as I can imagine.   There were sweet notes, tangy notes, but most of all there was the odor of life, not the odor of sanctity, which is roses, but the vital perfume of the plant world.  The root systems of these spent plants had some of that quality.

So far today has been more manual labor than anything else.  I miss that and find it soothing.  Working with plants and the living earth has a powerful cleansing effect on me.

General

Gardening in February

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Imbolc      New Moon

Today will be a gardening day.  How?  I’m going to start seedlings for this year’s garden.  Leeks and a few others have to get a long head start here since our growing season, even in its climate-change boosted longer version, still does not have enough days for many, many tasty vegetables.  The hydroponics has to get cleaned out and spiffed up, too.

It may become a total transplant site until mid-May.

Also, BJ, Kate’s sister from New York comes in today and we’re going to eat supper with her.  That will be fun.

Kate’s neck has started giving her fits again, this time in spite of several different medical interventions including physical therapy, a TENS unit, a neck stretcher and nerve root injections.  This may be headed toward surgery.

GeekWorld

A Computer Mini

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Imbolc     Waning Wild Moon

I bought a netbook computer, an HP-mini.  It’s a small thing that fits in the bag I used as a daypack during my Southeast Asia trip.  This mini is the first portable computer I’ve had that really fits the name.

It comes with easy access to wireless networks and, best of all for me, has a keyboard 92% the same size as a normal keyboard.  As a touch typist since the age of seventeen, small keyboards screw up my rhythm and make the whole process uncomfortable.  This one works fine.

The 3-cell battery that comes with it has 3 hours worth of life to it, a fact I checked on Saturday at the museum.  I ran it the entire class without a plug-in.

This is a yippee moment for me, a way of staying connected without pulling my shoulder out of socket or feeling like a pack mule in service to my computer.