Saturday, 3 September 2022
Every Labor Day weekend, the West Point Band (the Army's oldest band) concludes their summer concert season with a crowd-pleasing performance that ends with cannon fire accompaniment and fireworks.
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| The bandshell is located above the Hudson River at Trophy Point - a spectacular setting. |
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| As we walked back to our car, I took a final photo of the barracks with the Cadet Chapel and the waxing crescent moon in the background. ("Hand-held night" setting on my camera.) |
Friday, 2 September 2022
Manitoga is the well-preserved estate of industrial designer Russell Wright in Garrison, NY, across the Hudson River from West Point. Over the course of three decades, this quarried and logged 75-acre parcel was developed into a showcase of nature-inspired sustainable architecture and gardens.
The Dragon Rock area (quarry, pond, house, and studio) are accessible only through a reserved tour. Four miles of trails are available during daylight hours without a reservation.
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| While officially "gardens" most of the landscape is left in a natural state, with some rearrangement to create trails and views. Various "rooms" are created in the landscape, most with a mossy "carpet" underfoot. |
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| This footbridge crosses a re-located stream that normally is a "waterfall" (cascade, rather than a free drop) and fills the former quarry to make a swimming pond. It's been an exceptionally dry summer in this part of New York, so there's currently no water flowing. |
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| A classic spiderweb in the woods. |
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| Currently, the pond is low and filled with murky water because of the drought. |
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| Normally, water flows over the dam, and these stepping stones have a shallow water flow around them. |
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| Leaves along the dam. |
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| The house and studio blend into the surrounding woods - especially when the trees have leaves. |
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| Looking along the studio towards the house. |
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| A pergola covered by Dutchman's Pipe vine connects the house and studio. |
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| Looking along the pergola from the house to the studio. |
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| The desktop in the studio has a "worm's eye view" of the surroundings - the outside ground is at desktop level. The window opens by dropping into a pocket for a seamless view into the outdoors. |
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| The ceiling in the studio has white pine needles embedded in an industrial resin. |
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| A translucent wall in the studio is made of an industrial insulation sandwiched between two panes of plexiglass. |
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| In the house, a similar translucent wall was made from thin sections of cardboard tubes, squashed, then embedded in acrylic resin between plexiglass panes. |
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| The "eclipse lamp" in the house. |
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| Currently, the dining room chandelier is an installation from Formafantasma, an Italian artist duo who is the current artist-in-residence. These artists use left-over parts of animals that are slaughtered for meat. These enormous egg-like structures are actually cow bladders. |
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| Every doorknob in the house and studio is unique. This one, at the entrance to the house, is a hook left behind from quarry operations. |
5 August 2022
On our way back from our summer trip to see family near Chicago, we wandered somewhat further west to Augusta, Missouri (great gallery and great wines) and northeastern Nebraska, before spending the weekend with my brother and his family in Minneapolis. We've been trying to visit the Ashfall Fossil Beds since 2017, but we were either passing nearby on the wrong day (closed Mondays) or the wrong season (open mid-May through mid-October). It was worth the effort to finally make it to the site.
Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park & National Natural Landmark is located in northeastern Nebraska. The fossil beds were created by ashfall from a huge volcanic eruption 11.2 million years ago in what is now southwestern Idaho. This eruption, 1000 times larger than the 1980 Mt. St. Helens one, was caused by the same hotspot that now sits under Yellowstone National Park. The ashfall was about 18 inches thick in this region, but the Ashfall Fossil Beds collected a much deeper layer (up to 12 ft) because the ash filled in a waterhole as it blew around. As a result, the fossil beds are layered with skeletons of animals that died over the course of a month or two. Since whole animals were covered by ash and the site was not disturbed by running water or destroyed by ice age glaciers (which came within 8 miles of the site), the skeletons are complete, intact, and tell paleontologists much about the climate and ecology of this area 12 million years ago.
At that time this area held wildlife now associated with African savannas such as the Serengeti. Rhinos, elephants, horses, camels, deer, antelopes, canids, felines, rodents, large birds, and a giant tortoise roamed these plains.
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| While the surrounding land is mostly flat, Verdigre Creek has created a system of small ravines. This erosion exposed the fossils. |
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| The original discovery was made in 1971, and this area was systematically excavated and examined over the next few years. The photo shows the earliest trenches and pits. |
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| Today the Hubbard Rhino Barn covers the most important part of the site. |
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| A view of the fossils protected by the Rhino Barn from the upper viewing level. |
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| In the Rhino Barn, several of the skeletons are marked - and have been given names. #1 is a young adult male barrel-bodied rhino ("Tusker", Teleoceras). #2 is a large 3-toed horse (Cormohipparion), whose left front foot is under the legs of #1. #3 is an adult female rhino ("Sandy") with baby ("Justin"). #4 is a juvenile rhino that shows evidence of scavenging after death; the bones were moved between death and burial. #5 is a juvenile rhino. (Click on the image to see a larger image.) |
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| A few of the skeletons have been removed, carefully mounted, and displayed behind plexiglass. This is Pliohippus, a three-toed horse whose outer toes have nearly disappeared - a link between 3-toed horses and modern horses. |
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| Skeleton #29: A large 3-toed horse (Neohipparion) lying next to scavenged camel bones and a partial skeleton of a small 3-toed horse (Pseudohipparion). |
The Morton Arb has added three new sculptures to its "Human + Nature" exhibition. My blog post from last year shows the original five. This year we went to see the new pieces and revisit the older ones.
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| "Gingko" is just outside the Visitor's Center. It's my favorite of the new pieces. |
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| "Mycelia" is certainly an appropriate name for this sculpture. It's somewhat disquieting with all those fungi emerging from the human form. |
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| "Sentient" is one of the original sculptures and, to my mind, is similar to "Mycelia" with all the protrusions from the figure. My least-favorite of all the pieces. |
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| "Ephemera" is the last of the three new sculptures. It's smaller than the old pieces of similar theme, and the I don't care for the daffodils and color scheme. |
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| "Hallow" is the most prominent of the original five sculptures, since it's very close to the lake and the Visitor's Center. It's huge - and inviting. |
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| "UMI" is another large sculpture that invites you into her womb. |
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"Heartwood" also just about demands that you walk through the interior - and count the tree rings should you desire to. |
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| "Basilica" is the only piece that doesn't have a face. While it is clearly marked that "you may touch, but not climb", it's practically invites you to climb through the vines and sit in the hands. (But, no, we obeyed the rules.) |
31 July 2022
Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Illinois, is the former estate of Col. Robert R. McCormick, longtime editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. The estate was named for Cantigny, a small town in France, where where Col. McCormick commanded an artillery battalion in 1918 in the U.S. Army in WWI. The 500-acre estate has extensive gardens, a golf course, a "tank park" (as in army tanks), and the First Division Museum, dedicated to the First Division of the U.S. Army. When I was growing up in Chicago, Cantigny was always pronounced "can-TIG-nee", but today the French pronunciation, "Can-TEE-nee" is preferred.
Currently, 49 sculptures are on display in the gardens. "Alebrijes: Creatures of a Dream World" showcases vividly painted creatures created by six artists from Mexico City. Nineteen of these are large "monumental" pieces, while 30 are smaller (but still large) creations. An alebrije is an imaginary creature, usually incorporating two or more animals, and is associated with the Mexican "Day of the Dead". On our trip, we managed to see all but one of the Monumentals (we didn't see the one at the golf course), and most of the smaller creatures.
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| Patapez. A deep-sea fish that can walk as well as swim. |
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| Firulais. A dog + salamander, guardian of the night. |
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| Malucan. The official description is "Toucan + Monkey + Jaguar + Frog + Eagle + Butterfly + Bull." I can see all but the monkey (the eye, maybe?) |
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| Nochipa ipan noyoltsin. Meaning "Forever in your heart" in Nahuatl. |
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| Octavio. The Octopus is a collaboration from all six artists, ... |
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| ... and the tentacles extend many feet from the body. |
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| Chopilin. "Cricket" in Nahuatl. One of the small pieces. |
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| Totolt. "Bird" in Nahuatl. I'd love to have one of these woodpeckers in my woods! |
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| Kutz. "Peacock" in Mayan. |
19 July 2022
When a long-time friend (college roommate) comes to visit, it's an opportunity to visit local attractions that we haven't seen in some time.
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| The "LOVE" sculpture at Humpback Bridge (in the background). Local industries, railroads, and forests can be found in the in the letters. This wayside is a few miles west of Covington on US 60. |
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| Falling Spring can be seen from US 220 a bit north of Covington. It plummets 80-some feet, making it one of the tallest free-falling waterfalls in the eastern US. |
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| The base of the falls is covered with mist and moss. |
It's time for young animals to emerge!
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| One of our trail cameras caught this black bear cub. |
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| Our other trail cam got pictures of this doe and fawn twice, about 3 hours apart. The fawn is very young and barely able to walk. |
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| One of the concerns about mowing a hayfield this time of year is that the tall grass is a favorite spot for does to hide their fawns while foraging. Lon spotted this young fawn as it moved away from his mower and into the neighboring forest. |
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| Heading into the woods. |
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| At the same location as the photo above with doe and fawn, this is quite possibly the same fawn about three weeks later. |
