An August Sunset at the Beach

We have been going to the Dunkin' beach each evening when the weather is good so that Kathy can walk on the level sidewalk as she recovers from her knee replacement.  So tonight after dinner we were stunned with the sunset as we walked along the beach.  It was a gorgeous, colorful sunset!  As many of you will recognize, I have photographed this tree against the sky so many times. But rarely with people in it.  It was a pleasant evening and the parking lot was nearly full, with people just sitting on the beach enjoying the weather.  After I got this photograph I walked right up to the tree and was surprised to see something.

A group of young boys with some adults present were busy doing something and when they all walked away from their project, I saw this!  And it is perfect with the clouds from the sunset.  They had built a cairn, which in the original Scottish Gaelic meaning is "A pile of rocks."  Cairns are originally designed to mark points along a trail, so that people can find their way.  Recently there have been complaints on mountail trails that some hikers have built their own cairns which is a problem because they can confuse other hikers and cause them to lose track of the trail, which is hazardous.  That is not a problem here, of course because there is no trail, just a pile of rocks on the land near a beach.  I do love this photograph the best, for today's shots!

 

"Asterisk"

This architectural installation by Sam Frésquez’ is titled "Asterisk."  It is a very small kitchen in the middle of this large gallery.  As you approach it, you realize that it is more than one kitchen.  When you get right up to the low railing you can see that there is another kitchen, which is smaller than the first and it is an exact copy.  Then you notice that there is another one beyond that one, and smaller yet!  Each kitchen is fitted out with the same appliances and lights, but those items are also smaller.

Ranging from life-size to miniature, the telescoping rooms unfold into a sequence of six miniaturized versions of the same room, prompting viewers to contemplate the compression and expansion of lived histories.  The title of the work, * , a typographic symbol that connects one text to another, underscores the work’s function as a portal, connecting one plane, one moment, to another.

And an extra added bonus is when you leave the front of the piece and look from behind at how the rooms were constructed.  This carpentry is absolutely fascinating, and a work of art by itself.  It was so much fun to walk from front to back, really close to the whole structure and see how it was built.  There is a secret - if you go to the smallest part, on the left hand end of the structure, there is a tiny window that lets you see backward, from the back of the smallest kitchen to the front.  This was such an interesting piece of work to study and to contemplate.

 

Mass MoCA

I went to Mass MoCA of course as I always do when in Vermont.  Mass MoCA is in North Adams, Mass, and is about an hour and twenty minute drive.  There are always wonderful surprises each year when I visit.  This is the first sculpture you see when you enter the first gallery.  It is a huge sculpture and hangs in a three-story gallery - it goes up to the ceiling.  The sculpture is by Cecilia Vicuna, and is titled Quipu desaparecido.  It is made from unspun wool and climbing rope inside.  Here is a closer view...

When you view it and walk around it, and actually you are encouraged to gently walk through it, it is an amazing thing to see and contemplate.  There are very powerful feelings evoked when you are close to it.

As you walk around it, the color of the light illuminating it changes it when you watch from a different direction.  This was a joy to see and a pleasure to contemplate and I spent perhaps half an hour photographing it and looking at it.  It was the most interesting artwork in the museum this year. Cecilia Vicuna is based in New York, NY and Santiago, Chile.  Her quipu installations, of which this is one, are woven metaphors for the cosmos and resilience.  There was so much more information about her and the sculpture, but I thought I would include one sentence so you might get some sense of what this is about.  But I found I didn't need to know that.  I just needed to be in the presence of it and feel "something" from it that was such a nice experience.

 

The Morning After

"The Morning After" is a funny name for this photograph, but it is definitely appropriate!  At the Bed & Breakfast where I stay, there are a whole bunch of other amateur astronomers who stay there as well.  When it is time for observing, I stay up on the hill at Stellafane.  But a few of them stay down here at the inn because the owner keeps a large area of grass mowed short so they can set up their telescopes right here, and after they are done, they cover them with waterproof fabric to keep them from getting wet from dew.  I have to unload my telescope, carry is some distance, set it up, and when I am done I carry it back down to my car and then drive back to the B&B.  Anyhow when they are done, they just leave the scopes where they are and go inside and sleep!  So here are two scopes in the morning after being out all night after an observing session.  I got to spend some time looking through the black shrouded telescope to the left and the views were fantastic.

 

A Stellafane Tribute

One of the greats of amateur astronomy passed away last October.  Al Nagler who started his business, Televue, years ago and who made great advances in telescope eyepiece technology has been attending the Stellafane Convention for years and years.  He won prizes for telescope design.  He made his first telescope when he was a high school student in the Bronx.  He went on to design complex optical systems used by NASA Apollo astronauts to train for lunar landings, among other things.  He loved Stellafane and was here every year I was here, and I have been coming to Stellafane for 37 years.  He was so generous - in order to raise money for Stellafane they have a raffle on the last night of the convention.  Al would donate literally, bags of expensive telescope eyepiece sets.  His son continues the tradition and he donated four bags of 5 eyepieces each, one valued at $2,500 and one at $3,500!  So they did a presentation about Al Nagler's life and accomplishments, and then they had handed out tiny little battery powered electric candles, and we all turned ours on as a tribute to his passing.  It was so moving.

 

It Took Me Long Enough!

Today I went to Mass MoCA in North Adama, Mass, which is such an amazing and wonderful art mustum.  In on of the giant galleries, there was an exhibit  that took up maybe 1/2 of the room.  Then there was a background and you had to walk around the edge and through this dark cloth tunnel to get to the second part of the exhibit.  The first time I went to walk through, there was a couple exiting the tunnel in the distance.  I grabbed my camera but I was too late, they walked out of the dark and turned right and disappeared from sight!  So I waited for another couple and no one came.  So I continued touring the whole exhibit, but I still wanted my photo.  I saw a couple who had walked through it and thought of asking them if they could go back and I would do my shot, but I was too shy or didn't want to bother them.  Later on another couple were in the last part of the exhibition and I knew they would HAVE to come back through, so I waited and they didn't come.  Then I decided to go back through and see if they were coming, and they were.  They did enter the tunnel together but one was in front of the other so it wasn't a nice silhouette!  So I screwed up my courage, and said "Can I ask a favor?" and they agreed and then walked down the tunnel, holding hands, in perfect silhouette!  I thanked them profusely, and I finally had my shot!  Not even sure why I like this so much but it has to do with the triangular opening.

 

The Heart of the Milky Way

I spent all day at the Hartness House Workshop which was a series of lectures all day long on so many different topics having to do with astronomy, observing and some talks about imaging in order to gather some scientific data for research.  It is always such a spectacular series of talks from experts in their fields.  I look forward to this talk each year.  Then there was a dinner and a keynote speaker.  By the time I got back to the farmhouse inn it was about `10PM and I was beat but against the forecast, it was perfectly and some of my fellow astronomers had telescopes set up out in a field that the proprietor mows, knowing that some will like to set up their telescopes..  I was too tired for that but decided to get my camera out and to do a few photographs, so that I would have a nice blog post.  I cannot remember the last time I saw the Milky Way.  I think it was when I was out observing at Orient Point about a year or so ago.  Such a joy to stand under a dark skies, full of stars from horizon to horizon!  This is a larger image, so please click on it to see more detail.