“For thousands of years a deep underground spring has been pouring out streams of hot, mineral-saturated water. As it has flowed down the mountainside the steaming water has hollowed enormous circular basins in the earth, and the water’s rich mineral content has coated them in a smooth layer of dazzlingly-white calcareous rock. To the ancients such beauty could only mean that the place was sacred to the gods….”
This is a great all-photo blog by Doug Lawson. “I’m a writer and tech consultant who’s living with my family in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California.”
Doug on Twitter: https://twitter.com/douglawson
At left: Snail car
Amazing how The Mother Earth News has transformed itself in the last decade to a relevant, interesting, timely publication with all sorts of useful info. The June/July issue includes adobe brick homes a la Hassan Fathy, fiber-cement house siding, raising chickens for meat, building a clothesline (avoiding hi-energy costs of dryer)…https://www.motherearthnews.com/
Mother Earth photo by Clarke Snell
Ross Elliott, from McDonalds Corners, Ontario, runs a rural building consulting company, and sent us this winter photo of a “…strawbale place, curved to fit around some 100 year old maples.”
“We salvage trees brought down by storms or left behind by forest companies. Our favourite is the Western Bigleaf Maple (acer macrophyllum), sought after by luthiers, wood turners and carvers for its exceptional colour and figure.
Tree growth takes place just beneath the bark. The rich contours of this ‘live edge’ give a sculptural quality to our furniture.
On its journey to become your custom made furniture the tree is milled into massive slabs, innovatively dried, exquisitely designed, expertly crafted and finely finished all at our studio on Vancouver Island.” https://www.liveedge.com/
This big flock of beautiful wild pigeons inhabits a few square miles in my neighborhood. They, along with blue herons, are the most wary of local birds. When they come in like this, the slightest bit of motion, even when we’re inside looking through windows, will set them off in a flurry of wings and noise. (Also, I’m convinced animals feel it when you look at them.) We were having tea this morning when they helicoptored in. I crept over to the window with my Canon 20D. Look at the bird coming in for a landing on the right. — poetry of motion.
“Viennese artist, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, has designed what has become one of the more unique and visually stimulating buildings in the world. With over 1000 unique windows, individualized handles on windows and doors, a living roof, café, parking garage, restaurant, bar, playground, and a running stream, the Waldspirale in Darmstadt, Germany is an architectural wonder. Upon first glance, second and third, one is simply enchanted and astonished.”
In a long article about the possibility that Apple will come up with a beautifully designed and crafted, wow-inspiring device that’ll knock somewhat-dowdy Kindle for a loop:
“Nonetheless, this is how Steve Jobs could perform a jujitsu move on Jeff Bezos. After Amazon went through the trouble and expense of seeding the landscape, implanting the concept of the e-book in people’s minds, creating a market where there wasn’t one before, and moving to control the distribution system, Apple could muscle its way in with a full-color multitouch-screen media tablet that not only reads books but also offers video, music, Web surfing, email, and the combined power of the iTunes and Apple App Store. The device might even load into a desktop dock that accommodates a full-size keyboard. Books would only be a small part of what it offers, making it appeal to a vastly larger audience than the Kindle’s….”
Hmm…
From “Amazon Taps Its Inner Apple” by Adam L. Penenberg; fastcompany.com, Wed Jul 1, 2009
Friday I worked on my (irregular) email newsletter GIMME SHELTER most of the day (slow writer) and around 6 took my paddleboard down to the lagoon. Incoming tide, headed into one of the secret side channels, maybe 25′ wide’ winding thru mudflats and pickleweeed. No soul in sight. Gliding along prone, @water level, get v. close to birds. Elegant egrets, wary blue herons, cloud of red-wing blackbirds at one point. Water warm from day’s sunshine, headed into small side channel, gliding thru cordgrass. Pulled board up on mudflats, stripped and coated every part of my body I could reach with gooey black mud that was pungent with ocean & sea minerals. Dried a bit in wind, then jumped in deeper channel to wash mud off. paddled back to dock and here was fisherman Andrew, pulling in with 4 fresh halibut. I bought a 7-pounder, brought home and filleted. Great evening at seashore.
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