Skating Through Life

As Jethro Tull says, we're "skating away on the thin ice of the New Day."

Happy New Year, everyone, and here's hoping we'll glide smoothly through 2010!

Bloom: The Elephant Bed

"Bloom: The Elephant Bed" is an art installation by John Grade at our new art museum, The Lightcatcher. It's difficult to capture the utter serenity of this piece in a picture alone. These paper sculptures hang in an enclosed room, and seem to emanate a calm presence. I'd like to spend an hour just sitting on the floor alone with them, basking in their peace. Here is the artist's statement:

"Floating inches below the surface of the sea are tiny microorganisms called coccolithophores. Individually, they are too small to see, but grouped together they form such large masses that they can be seen from satellites blanketing hundreds of miles of ocean, coloring the water a bright turquoise. Unlike any other type of phytoplankton, each coccolithophore surrounds itself with a microscopic plating made of limestone (calcite).

"When a coccolithophore dies (they have a life span of a few weeks), this outer shell slowly sinks to the ocean floor. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, these shells accumulated and formed a sedimentary layer that can be seen today as the white cliffs of Dover along England's southern coast. Geologists named this exposed accumulation of calcium made from the casings of coccolithophores, the 'Elephant bed.'

"Over the past decade there has been controversy over the role of coccolithophores as they relate to the health of the world's oceans and global warming. They thrive in areas of the sea that are otherwise largely lifeless, primarily in sub-polar regions. Generally, when coccolithophores inhabit an area, they dominate and supplant other forms of phytoplankton. In the past two years, coccolithophores have begun to cover large areas of the Bering Sea. This surprises some scientists because the Bering Sea is usually a very nutrient-rich body of water. In the long-term, coccolithophores appear to be a positive force in the reduction of greenhouse gasses. With the formation of each calcium shell, a small bit of carbon is removed from the environment to become part of the shell that will eventually sink harmlessly to the ocean floor. But an immediate concern arises when a coccolithophore takes carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere (for sustenance) because it is simultaneously releasing a small portion of it into the sea. This can cause the upper layers of the ocean to become warmer and stagnant-- essentially creating a 'dead zone' in the ocean suitable only for sustaining more coccolithophores. Over the past ten years, coccolithophores have been a growing presence in the world's oceans as they cyclically bloom in greater numbers.

"One of my goals with the installation of Bloom is to employ scale so that we can tangibly encase ourselves within a form inspired by the shell of a coccolithophore. I am also interested in impermanence, at directing our attention to what is compelling within a state of decay or disintegration. The sculptures that are gradually lowered into the pool of ink will collapse, sink and flake apart slowly while the remaining sculptures will dissolve almost instantly when we walk them out of the museum and directly into the bay at the close of the exhibition."

Goldenlit Grasses

Goldenlit grasses

warm in the afternoon.

The quick winter sun passes

and much too soon

they'll be silverlit grasses

in the light of the moon.

Skyviewing Sculpture by Isamu Noguchi

The crows are too far away

to hear their conversation.

Are they discussing the blue sky

or where to find lunch?

I think they're an old couple

who need no words to communicate.

They sit

the sun soaks their black feathers

and they say nothing

and everything

loving each other.

Old City Hall

Lizziviggi took the girls to the children's museum at the Lightcatcher building and snapped this shot of the old City Hall building. Once the municipal center of the city, it was replaced by a larger, more modern building closer to downtown. The Whatcom Museum moved into the building in 1941 and has occupied it since. The museum is now housed in three buildings: The old City Hall, the Syre Education Center seen just to the right of the City Hall building, and the new Lightcatcher building in the foreground.

The Red Box

A British Red Box stands as a reminder of the pre-digital age in a Fairhaven green.

Is this a Sir Giles Gilbert Scott original or a knock-off? It looks aged enough to be an original, but I'm no expert.

Celebrate Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Twirling Christmas Princesses

Christmas princesses a-twirl

Christmas dreams will unfurl

Tonight, in the warm beds

Of many boys and girls.

EJVig and I wish all our wonderful friends near and far a very merry Christmas.

Ornamentation

The tree was decorated with ornaments

The lens was ornamented with greasy little fingerprints

The combination created this warm, fuzzy photo.

A Morning at the Lettered Streets Coffeehouse

I sit under the backwards espresso sign
sipping my coffee
perusing a travel book about Turkey.
The borrowed pages
smell like paprika.
Droplets gather on the steamy window
and travel down in groups.
The women behind me talk
about their trip to Africa.
The glowing sign faintly buzzes
and I leave half my coffee undrunk.
It is winter
there are no flowers on the table
and I will never go to Turkey.