“In the bird gallery of The Natural History Museum in London there is a nineteenth-century glass cabinet the size of a circus car that may have once belonged to William Bullock, the London Museum curator. The cabinet is large but easy to overlook–from a distance it looks like a neglected herbarium, one in which the foliage has been allowed to go brown and twiggy. Up close, this desiccated forest blooms with hundreds of hummingbirds posing stiffly on every branch, their iridescent plumage only slightly dulled by the passage of two hundred years.”
-by Judith Pascoe, Questia
This stunning building was designed by “…Alfred Waterhouse who… designed the façades in his own idiosyncratic Romanesque style…terracotta tiles (were manufactured) to resist the sooty climate of Victorian London.”
It’s a gorgeous building, with wonderful exhibits.
We were there a few hours ago.
Big Ben is an elegant structure (although slightly out-of-whack-looking here from a 3-photo collage). I haven’t been to London in 25 years, and first impressions are that— at least in central London and Westminster—it’s clean and well tended (and very expensive!). I remember it being much grittier 20-30 years back. It seems as if all the wonderful old buildings have been sandblasted or water-blasted. Maybe it’s just early fall, but the air is clean. We’ve got a fourth-story walk-up room in a modest hotel on a quiet block, two blocks from the British Museum. We look out the window into an inner courtyard, where there’s a beautiful tree with almost iridescent yellow leaves. I’m on the road for the next five weeks, and will post photos and observations whenever I can.
The 2009 Natural Building Colloquium will take place in Oregon in about four weeks. It is hosted by the Natural Building Network and includes: Pre-fabricated strawbale panels with Chris Magwood; Earthen floor contracting for residential and commercial buildings with Sukita Crimmel; Bamboo roof structure for cob entry way project with Darrel Deboer; Integrating natural building into the urban environment in Portland with new codes and techniques, with Joshua Klyber; Report on the first code approved straw bale in Portland from Lydia Doleman.
DATE: 18-24 October 2009: LOCATION: Camp Latgawa, Rogue National Forest, Oregon. “This beautiful camp is nestled in a secluded valley in the Rogue National Forest in Southern Oregon. Beautiful fir trees tower above 2 crystal clear streams that boast populations of endangered Coho Salmon. The grounds of the camp are home to several natural building projects created during previous colloquiums. These include earthen ovens and sculptures, stone benches, round-wood furniture, wood sheds, a sweat lodge, a labyrinth, and a naturally renovated cabin from the early 20th century.Colloquium participants will stay in one of several comfortable dormitory-style cabins (no need for a tent!). All meals will be freshly prepared by the camp hosts, Eva and Greg.”
Info: https://groups.google.com/group/nbco-2009
My wife Lesley and I are leaving for London tomorrow. We’ll be there a week, then head for Ireland to travel on the west coast. We hope to visit and maybe stay at Dan Hummel’s stone home he built in the ’80s and ’90s (shown here) on the coast in Cork County. We’ll roam around (Ireland (which I love), then cross back to England, go through the Lake District, to Edinburgh, down to Suffolk. I’ll head to the Frankfurt Book Fair for a week, then we’ll meet for a week in Paris. I’ll be shooting photos (with my new Panasonic Lumix G1), posting them on my blog.
Ronnie Wilhelm was a local’s local. Born in this small town, he was a fisherman, hunter, carpenter and lover. Ronnie was always smiling, always made people feel good. He partied hard and famously. He had tons of friends and people who loved him dearly. A few weeks ago Ronnie died of a brain tumor. He spent his last days surrounded by friends. This bench is just outside Ronnie’s house, with a view of the ocean and San Francisco across the bay. it was chain-sawed out of a downed cypress tree by one of Ronnie’s friends (who wishes to remain anonymous). Scenes from Ronnie’s life are inset on the right side — hunting, fishing, a jumping salmon—carved out of walnut. Last time I went by, on my way down to the beach, about a dozen of Ronnie’s friends were there with a bottle of whiskey, visiting and looking out to sea.
A Kazakh family constructs a yurt for a wedding party northwestern China.
Three taggers at work on the beach yesterday.
