Random ramblings

I ran to McDonalds to get Pixie a double cheeseburger, two for one. When she will not eat her regular food, I can rely on a cheeseburger! 

It is a cold, cloudy day but the flowers and bushes are bright and beautiful. The barberry bushes look extra red today, leaves look like they are glowing. Is it nature glowing or am I just feeling better? 

Years ago after going through a 5-year depression due to a horrible break-up ... I had another moment similar to this. I had survived the break-up, found a place to be after being kicked-out, found a great job at the Dallas Times Herald (also worked at Rio Airways). I was gassing up my car one night. I looked out to the horizon, all of a sudden, it felt like saran wrap had been pulled away my eyes and everything, the world was so bright. In a second I was okay ... the world was right, my life was back, I felt human again. Was it the end of my depression, was it a religious experience? I don't know but I have never felt that dark depression again. And from that moment on I thought, life is a gift and I am living it like that! 

Did I mention I have been addicted to Fruit Punch Gaterade?

Matt smoke a brisket for 2 days and it was delicious. For the first time in a long time, I had seconds of brisket and coleslaw. The BBQ sauce was little spicy-hot and the coleslaw was perfect to cool that down. 

Ran across John Grade mentioned on FB this morning. He has some sculpture installation at Washington Park Arboretum. Inspired by a fallen western red cedar in Seattle’s Discovery Park. The top of the trunk of the fallen tree was divided into two slender leaders. Broken by the fall, both leaders revealed their concentric growth rings. Focused on the similarities and differences between each of these cross sections, Union is a magnified representation of the cell structure of each of the two leaders.

Reservoir: Suspended above a clearing in a grove of pine trees, Reservoir is made up of five thousand individually heat-formed, clear droplets framed in steam-bent wood. The delicate droplets are attached to a pair of clear filament nets that are supported by tree trunks above. As rainwater or snow accumulates in the droplets, the position and shape of the nets lower and change. As collected water evaporates, the sculpture rises back to its original configuration. Sheathed springs below pulleys limit vertical range of motion so the sculpture remains at least ten feet above the ground. Even a very light rain creates enough downward movement to be comprehended visually by viewers below. When dry, the sculpture weighs 70 pounds. When filled by a heavy rainfall, the sculpture can exceed 800 pounds. Periodically the sculpture will be manually manipulated to rise and fall to engage with the movements initiated by dancers. The varied topography surrounding the site of the sculpture offers viewers both a vantage directly below the cloud-like mass as well as a view looking across the mid-line of the sculpture slightly above its changing center of mass.

Reservoir - Arte Sella.mp4 from John Grade on Vimeo.

UW Cells.mp4 from John Grade on Vimeo.

We hope that this photo awakens the awareness of the importance of trees

And lastly, Noah with a little summer-sunglass-'tude.