Turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks!
My first piece of fused glass.
All part of the practice.
storm on the Great Salt Lake
There is a pilgrimage I like to make once a year to the far North edge of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Like most things that are a challenge to our senses, this landscape is an acquired taste. But once experienced, it’s a place that is difficult to forget, and for me, it’s the phenomenal magic of the place that keeps me returning. Snow, rain, wind and blistering sun.
A horizon line that at times is only recognizable between the mirroring of sky on flat water.
A flat land that tumble weeds blow across and snow squalls dance through.
sunsetting to the west rainbow to the east
a little Donald Judd for the morning
When we are children we wonder who we will become, when we are adults we wonder who have become.
Between Becoming and being…we are all apart of the extensive continuum.
We are constantly becoming ourselves. And Simply being along the way.
Design Sketch, Click Cabin
A critical aspect of designing architecture is that at it’s very nature the process creates tangible reality through it’s physical expression. Both understanding the existing conditions of the place and how the potential design fits into the place along with the ephemeral experience of life, changes reality, and is the great value and necessity of architecture. In its most positive propositions, these changes in our reality provide aspects of positive cultural transformation that change the way that we see the world and ourselves in it.
For the designer, the process is one of the great adventures of life.
drawing from life
Its Friday, and the weather is changing. From 90 degrees yesterday and full of sun, to blustery Fall. By tomorrow most of the yellow and red left on trees will be bare. Tomorrow will be full of rain and wind. And here is where practice splits in time. To draw on the guest house I am designing (which is its own sort of reward) or to take a hike….
a practice of making
What we know, we can practice. We know ways of being, we practice these. These practices add up to a life, lived. We learn, believe and live differently. We practice our differences, and if we practice diligently there is a unique presence that comes to live on the Earth for a while. Practice has success, failure, sharing, love, making and challenge all wrapped up in time. We transform as we practice, as we move through the world every day. These posts found under “PRACTICE” are shared thoughts about practicing, and moments of my practice.
Let us all be brave to find the best way for each of us to Practice, to create a life that is full of moments of who we are.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Farms and farmers these past few months . Not because I saw a documentary, which seems to spur on most contemplative American moments these days. But because I am thinking about people, Land, place, food, population , hunger, the need for healthy food, and plants that are genetically modified . From these I come to consider farms, where is our food grown, and by whom. I think about farmers. I think about food, how intimate food is just by the fact that we take it into our bodies, that the food we eat results in our physicality, our state of mind, our overall energy , our potential for creativity and expression.
What I am troubled by is that instead of recognizing the intimate connection we have with food, we consume it with the same disconnected attitude we have for most things we come in contact with. We disregard food, it’s origin, it’s value , it’s necessity and it’s ability to connect us to the world around us; mind, body, and spirit. When we disregard the origination of our food , where it comes from and who has grown it for us, we disregard a primary and critical link between humanity and planet, between people and place. We give away our rights and responsibility to be a participant on Earth.
What makes me hopeful these days is the recent increase in discourse about food and farmers. Who grows what where, why particular foods are grown, and the value of what is grown relative to the place and the community. There is a connection being made between farmers, the food they grow for us , how they grow it ( organically or other) , and how their choices fit – or don’t fit the land it is grown from. There is a beginning of a recognition of how food is grown by these committed farmers, not abstractly as a commodity for an uncommitted population, but instead for a committed people.
This connection between farmers, food and us extends beyond the delectable recipes photographed in Food and Wine or Gourmande magazine that encourage us to become weekend warrior chefs, but to instead join the day to day living that makes us whole, and part of the planet.
Engage in intimacy, enrich your soul and feed your body, meet the farmer who grows your food, thank them for committing their lives to your health, to caring for the planet, and considering what comes next.
In my last post I talked about the looming threat of wild visitors to my Apple Tree. Yesterday I took a hike up the local trail and upon my return the tree had been visited. All the apples were stripped from the bottom branches ! Ha! Time to harvest. So, here is my share of the apples. I left some on for any wayward visitors who really need an afternoon snack.
By the way, I’m still hoping someone will send me their favorite recipe for an Apple Crisp!
The Empire Apple, small as a plum
Apple season has arrived in my yard. Almost overnight the leaves on the Amur and Cottonwood are turning bright yellow. And I am not exaggerating about the “overnight” aspect. Come and see for yourself if you want. In addition to the bright light of leaves glowing in my yard I think the apples on my single apple tree are ready to pick. And as I noted in a previous blog, that means I need to pick them before the Moose or Bear get them.
One came off the tree the other day, and I decided to give it a try. They are smallish. Like a plum. They are mostly yellow with a beautiful overlay of reddish streaks. But I don’t know which variety they are. Looking on line it seems like it may be an Empire.
Here is what they say about the Empire Apple:
Empire
Introduced in New York, 1966 (McIntosh x Delicious).
Ripens in late September, (two weeks later than McIntosh).
Fruit is medium; skin is red-on-yellow to all red. Flesh is crisp, juicy, aromatic and slightly tart.
Sweet, spicy quality excellent for eating fresh, in salads and fruit cups
Take a look at the pics and let me know what you think. Am I right? Or is it another variety?
What I know, is that the one I tasted is sweet. very fragrant, and slightly soft. Delicious, and wonderful considering I got to watch it grow from sweet pink blossom to edible fruit!
I think I need to pick some a make an Apple Crisp. Anybody have suggestions for a recipe?
between here and there 