"When spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without a thought on anything but the ride you are taking."
There is a really neat stone mill on campus. The wheel is approaching 100 years in age and was orginally located somewhere elses. (picture above from HCC website). Excerpt from recent web article: The waterwheel at HCC has a long history in Haywood County. It was first purchased in 1908 from a company in Pennsylvania by David Crockett Campbell for Campbell Creek in Maggie Valley. The wheel was used to power a gristmill, sawmill, and electric generator, which powered the first electric icebox in Maggie Valley. The wheel spent 39 years on Campbell Creek.
I just think the waterwheel is a fascinating combination of stone, metal, and wood.
Rustic attempt by dropping the color info.
Fun with photoshop's pencil filter.
Many of you know that I have this little hobby / business on the side called 2doggraphics. It does break even and even allow me to upgrade my computer equipment and keep an up-to-date camera and software, but lets just say I won't be opening up a branch office any time soon.
Anyway, I am in the early conceptual stages of designing two posters for a client in New England and I thought these were kind of fun. In the end they will probably want something more traditional for recruiting, but I thought these would be more eye-catching than the standard fare you see hanging on every bulletin board in every college.
OK, so I know that anyone who would read a blog entitled Lollygag must at least allow their minds to wonder a bit from time to time :-) Well you have to check out this applet.
This graph is of the Weather Channel Website.
...and this interesting one (kind of looks like a dandelion) is from The International Mountain Bike Association.
So a student and his friend have formed a new group named Ebb and Flow. Probably the only band you will ever see whose name is inspired by a type of greenhouse irrigation system. Just an acoustic guitar and a bass and lots of good jazz. Really sounded like jazzy blue-grass to me, but my use of the music vernacular is so amateur I'll have to post a sound clip when I get one and let you decide for yourself.
Adam really gets into his base playing. They are as much fun to watch as to listen to. They played during the lunch hour on Friday...made for a nice break.
Here is the gateway sign to our little corner of the world. It is amazing how many on-line vendors and local utility reps get a giggle out of my address when I give it to them.
Here are some shots from the back deck. This is the southeast view. There is one functional and one defunct silo in the background.
This is the hill view to the east.
and this is the mini-mountain to the west. We are really enjoying the pastorale views and the quiet. Vermont was quiet, but Sesame Street is even quieter except for the occassional cow and goat noise off in the distance.
So things are finally mellowing out on Sesame Street, we are more or less moved in and with the exception of a dining room table and chairs, that have yet to arrive, it is feeling like home. I have begun to get a chance to get out and look around. Western North Carolina is an interesting place. A generation ago it the main industries in the area I now live in were furniture making and agriculture (mostly tobacco). As far as I can tell the most profitable industries now are construction and tourism. However, there are still a lot of locals whose families have lived here for generations. They are now sharing space with many retirees often from New England and often buying their second retirement home.
Waynesville is still a place where train operators regularly reorganize cargo from the west coast and southeast to be moved northeast. Last week when I was down at Panacea (a great hippy coffee shop in the old industrial section of town (called Frog Level)) having my mocha, there were six tankers parked across the street that were full of sulfuric acid...nice.
Also in a back alley in Frog Level is this great old fading Coca Cola sign painted on the side of a building.
I had quite a few things to post and now that we are moved in I just decided to post a bunch of unrelated fun stuff. First, I finally got a copy of Adobe CS2. The image above is a picture of a moonrise over Sesame Street in the mountains of North Carolina. I applied the "plastic wrap" filter. I had to try it...not sure what I would normally use it for, but it is fun.
On campus there are two trees that have grown together. The maple (left) and oak (right) are fused for the first five feet of there trunks. If it ever has to come down I am dying to get a look at some trunk cross sections. Theoretically these two should not form a successful graft union...so my hunch is that there is a region of wound healing that has been going on for about fifty years allowing the two trees to persist.
The unholy union from another view point. The maple foliage is highlighted in green. The oak foliage is shown in orange.
We recently had a great celebration for a couple of faculty that are moving on to new chapters of their lives and it turns out almost everyone in our department (except me) is musically gifted. I got a couple of interesting shots during the impromptu jam session.
American guitar and Gambian drum.
The horticulture students had their annual plant sale today which went well. Some of the students formed a band on the spot. I snapped this shot of the base player and I like the rugged appearance of the hand on the instrument.
I attended a really neat hands-on workshop on Tuesday where we learned about Biodiesel fuel and then actually made it from canola oil from the grocery store and few other simple ingredients. In an hour we had made a small batch that was ready to power any diesel engine. Apparently, in Asheville there is a Cooperative that sells B100, B50, and B20 all made from fats in the local waste stream from several industries. It also take less energy to make than traditional petroleum based diesel. Apparently, when Diesel introduced the engine design at a world's fair in the early 20th century, his plan was for the fuel source to be peanut oil. Left: A small batch made the day before; clear layer biodiesel; dark layer glycerin which can be used as a carbon source for composting, a base for soap, or an animal feed. Right: our batch beginning to settle after only 30 minutes. Brassica species seem to be the best pick for high yield oil crops that could be a source of oil to convert to biodiesel.
I came across this sign recently and it made me think that maybe there were other things that I could do for money besides teach. It is always healthy to think of alternative paths in life.
I wonder what type of training you need for the job and how they evaluate performance? I know I am capable of good work. Hopefully, the corporate mission is quality not quantity.
Several folks had requested more Paris pictures, so here they are. I have a zillion more, but I don't have the gifts that John Coe has so I am already into my "middle of the road bunch", but hopefully the subject matter will be interesting. I really enjoyed all the roof top gardens in Paris, since so many people are crammed in the city they try to put plants everywhere.
Parisians also make regular use of large public spaces since the city is so dense. It is a city built on the human scale for the most part and not the car. I really liked how the paving stones in front of an arch (near the Louvre) extended out to the lawn and transformed into a long row of hedges. It effectively unified the space connecting statuary, hardscape, and landscape.
In the universal language of graphic design it is clear that although these activities are unsafe for children they must be fine for adults. I didn't try the foot thing, but bannister sliding is fun even when you are nearing 40.
Charles DeGaul airport is really interesting from an architectural view. Lots of organic forms. Some of the air conditioning vents apear to grow out of the walls, but I thought this people mover was hilarious. I can just imagine Inspector Clouseau in a ridiculous chase scene trying to run down some criminal.
You could be in Paris a month and not really do the museums justice. The artwork was great, but I was also just fascinated by the spaces that the architects and interior designers have created to showcase the work.
Large gallery roof line in the Musée d'Orsay (converted from a train station).
Gallery space in the same museum. Gaps in the wall entice you into the next viewing space.
What can I say, I love the fact that public transportation is so readily available in Paris. You really don't need a car at all. Between bus, train, and metro you can get anywhere.
Finally, the sister to lady liberty in New York.
Ok, so I really reached for the title on this post, but the images I had were rather unrelated. I believe that I mentioned this sign in a previous post. When I flew back through Cincinnati this weekend the sign was still there at the Peet's in terminal A, so I had to take a picture of it. For the record, the Barista said that she loved kids...just not behind the counter where steam and hot coffee are flying.
One of the administrative professionals where I work adopted this three day old billy goat. The mother was born with only one teat and had twins last week. The stronger twin won out and this little guy wasn't going to make it if someone didn't adopt him. These pictures were taken on day 3. He stood and wobbled around on day 1, on day 2 he found reverse and on this day figured out forward.
On day 3 the little guy also began to display head-butting behavior. You have to admire a 2 lb creature that will try to knock over a 200 lb student!
Just one of the endless alleys at the Versailles Gardens. These trimmed trees give the illusion of the large grounds being absolutely enormous.
When we went to the Louvre they had several galleries that indicated large format paintings. I had seen some of these paintings in books before, but I never read the small print that indicates their actual size. Large format really means large format.
These 'smart cars' actually create new parking spaces for themselves between real parking spaces and walkways, fire lanes, etc. According to a couple of locals the police don't give them parking tickets because even though they are not in a parking space they are also not breaking any laws such as obstructing a pedestrian walkway. Neat.
I think we should all have to own one of these for short trips, but I must admit the thought of being on the road with big American SUVs in one of these is a little frightening.
This shot was taken from a pedestrian bridge a couple of blocks from the hotel where we stayed.
If you are going to build a stairway in the Louvre you need architects that can design something to compete with the art treasures within.
This is another shot from a pedestrian bridge. The color of the store fronts really 'popped' against the gray skies and neutral colored buildings.
This was the big train station near the hotel. You could also access several metro lines from here. It was an amazing place to people watch.
I am living in a cabin until Christine and I close on our new house on May 3rd. This critter scared the crap out of me on Sunday. I was working away on my computer and all of the sudden I got that crazy feeling I was being watched. I looked over and Mr. Groundhog was peering in the picture window. I swear he was cupping his paws on the sides of his head to block the reflection and be able to look in. I ran for the camera, but by the time I got it he had retreated to the hill behind the house. I am almost certain a previous renter must have been feeding it.
