Big HUGE Amazing Pumpkins at the Pumpkin festival in Damariscotta Maine

Whatever you have been doing with pumpkins I would bet it doesn't begin to compare with the town of Damariscotta Maine.  Last weekend we took a fall New England walk-about and stumbled upon the greatest pumpkin festival ever.  

Now only are they big-- This year three pumpkins were state record breakers, all over 1400 pounds-- but, the citizens seem to take the whole thing with a hearty dose of whimsy and good humor.

The history of the pumpkin festival in Damariscotta is not long, 3 years, but it has caught on with admirable enthusiasm and now there is an ever rising bar to explore and improve all things pumpkin including the pumpkin regatta -- yes a pumpkin boat race, costumes, carved and painted pumpkins by talented artists, decorations, and even pumpkin shooting or launching plus, pumpkin edibles of all sorts.  If you like pumpkin art definitely consider a visit.

Check out pictures of the 2010 Great Pumpkin Festival in Damariscotta Maine.

China & a view of overpriced appliances that do what the sun does anyway

 Wash and Fly.... no need to dry: 

A demonstration of energy efficiency by 

the American field sparrow

This from author Sharon Astyks's science blog called  Casaubon's Book is a vignette I shall call-- Dryers and China

 "As increasingly affluent Chinese embrace all the accouterments of the modern, middle-class Western lifestyle -- big-screen televisions, automobiles, washing machines, double-door refrigerators with automatic icemakers -- one glaring exception stands out: the clothes dryer.
For reasons practical as well as cultural, most Chinese consumers simply don't like clothes dryers. Don't want them. Don't trust them. Won't buy them. And, even when they have them around, won't use them.

 According to a spokesman for the appliance store Best Buy, the Chinese market for dryers -- or even washer-dryer combinations -- "is by no means fully developed.'' In the chain's stores, dryers and washing machines with dryer functions make up just 10 percent of all washing machine sales.
Other businesses report similar experiences. Zhao Na, a saleswoman for Haier washing machines, a domestic brand, said, "Our factory stopped producing dryers since last year because they don't sell.'
It certainly isn't true that a couple of billion non-dryer users "can't" be wrong, but in this case, there's a real likelihood that they aren't".

 You may not agree with this choice in your life but it is always useful to consider the query:  

Are my time-saving appliances and methods (e.g., hair dryers and even clothes dryers) actually, or possibly, enslaving me?

 There follows a remarkably entertaining and civil discussion about dryers, line drying, the role of women and how to keep your clothes from getting stiff sans electric dryer (versus solar passive or "line" drying).   I just couldn't help adding the illustration of 'fly and dry' by the Field sparrow (Spizella Passerina). Enjoy!

Must see movie-- Queen of the Sun-- bees abuzz

Check it out

 

In 1923, Rudolf Steiner predicted that imposing an ill-fitting industrial culture on bee cultivation would end up destroying the bees' own successful, adaptive culture. As one reviewer in Seattle said "there's a deeply, embarrassingly human truth to his criticism of our attempt to modernize bees for productivity, when they are still our leading models for density, sustainability, and allocation of resources."  Directors Taggart Siegel and Jon Betz have made a poignant film about relationships.  It is a love story if you will, between bees and the world.
Thus, rather than bees as agricultural product or tools for humans, Queen of the Sun offers a counter narrative, bees as teachers, and with much to show us.
 

The story is often told from the bees-eye-view including zoooming through fields at bee-height, your eye attracted by vibrant colors. And bees in close-up or en masse appear with the human "supporting characters," as Taggart Siegel calls them. They are beekeepers (commercial, backyard, and rooftop), farmers, philosophers, scientists, celebrities (Michael Pollan, Vandana Shiva), artists, and educators.
 

The movie is getting enthusiastic reviews-- quirky, fun, funny, visually beautiful, interesting, and important. It is in Vermont this next week and with such great reviews it will be popping up in more and more places. You can watch for it online at 

http://www.queenofthesun.com/index.html

Field of wild mustard waiting for bees

Bee boxes arrive 

A bee look-alike the Snowberry Clearwing Moth, nemaris diffinis, another great pollinator 

Local Photographers collaborate with Marriott to decorate new Residence Hotel In Colchester, VT

Marriott opens new Residence Inn hotel near Burlington, Vermont On Tuesday, September 14 Marriott opened The Residence Inn Burlington Colchester, located at 71 Rathe Road, six miles from the Burlington International Airport. With 4 floors and 108 suites this new hotel offers accommodations with separate kitchens, sleeping and work spaces. What else is new about this facility? A few years ago the President of Marriott Corp, J.W. (Bill) Marriott, Jr. visited the Burlington Marriott on Battery street and noticed the work of Bill and Bene Dodge on display in the dining room. The specialty of Dodge Studio's are breathtaking images of Lake Champlain and Vermont. Mr. Marriott liked what he saw, and suggested that for a new facility being planned near Colchester that Dodge studios collaborate with the Marriott interior design teams proposing the use of art in the hotel that would feature the landscapes and highlights of the local area with the intention that guests not only feel at home but also that they see the best of the region they are visiting. Artists and photographers Bill and Bene Dodge from Dodge Studios and Silver Maple Editions along with Sharon McDonnell of Mother-Daughter Press and Gay Bumgarner Images produced this novel "staying in place" concept for Marriott. A chance to deepen the sense of having visited somewhere and gaining familiarity with a place. The pictures are large-scale, breathtaking images of Vermont -- including Lake Champlain, the Northeast Kingdom, the animals and plants of the area and other unique aspects of Vermont that make it a top travel destination. In choosing to decorate the hotel in a way that honors both Vermont and Vermonters, the Marriott organization has made a beautiful environment for both employees and guests. See the slide show below -- it gives only a wee taste of the many pictures used. Or better yet, visit the hotel in person to experience this art first hand: Marriott - Images by Gay Bumgarner Images and Mother-Daughter Press and Dodge Studios, Bill and Bene Dodge If you like the idea, talk it up. Let the Marriott know, let the artists know. Tell the guests that what they are seeing is Vermont and even if they cannot get to all its lovely places-- soak it up-- in pictures. Hotel art is for once something to brag about. I hope the Marriott is rewarded by their "risk". The Marriott Corp may not be playing it up in their advertising yet--perhaps they should take more credit and brag. We hope it is an idea that catches on. Maybe when we go on business trips and stay in nice hotels we can expect to learn more about the place rather than see generic pictures from "anywhere" off Art.com. Art as conversation, as a guest service, facilitating a nice experience and familiarity. Wahoo!! We will try to get more pictures to share.

What does big government mean?

  Greetings I have had it! I have listened to people shout bumper stickers at each other and the other day one more person said "no more big government" and I had to start researching. I have started tables of data to show trends and yet I would really like to know.... what do you think "Big government" means and what should I count to see if it is big, bigger, less big or whatever?  Can you help. What do you think I should "count" as I try to define the size or "bigness" of government?


Thanks Please leave ideas on this blog, facebook or email. You do not have to register.

Sharon

Making news...PBS NewsHour and the effects of stories and images

See NewsHour coverage about an initiative
called Peaceworks and OneVoice

Male Peacock, Pavo cristatus, displaying

Images matter

If I cannot picture it I cannot create it

In the tangled story of something like the Middle-East
the PBS NewsHour tells me story

about how peace is kindled and possibly made

about how journalism chooses the stories we tell,

the pictures we see

These images re-form in our minds

reform our minds

they become our stories

they are possibilities

a story about

how reality starts

As the young business visionary who started the projects says "We're moving from theory into action. And the first part of the action is actually visualizing what is it that the people are going to do and then helping empower the people to actually start..."

See the clip "Hostile Neighbors Come Together as Trade Partners"

Courage applied to peace in practical measures is something I need to see more often. I want to tell the NewsHour that this journalism helps-- this type of story is important. It is news.
If you do too, you can click on their feedback page and tell them so.

Sharon

This post is dedicated to Bruce Dan MD who makes fun of me for watching PBS because, as he says, I am the only one.

More Note Card Sets-- Easy for you

New cards sets-- check them out

Many people that visit our website are astonished at the number of images --- truly lovely images --- that are all available but, too often they became overwhelmed and say "YOU CHOOSE". And so, we do sometimes and its great. Making a coherent set of cards is science and Gut Gestalt. We did an iterative process-- thanks to the committee friends Bill and Bene Dodge in Burlington, Suzanne Rhodes , Morgan McDonnell, Gib Parrish, and of course Gay Bumgarner herself.

Gay loved taking theme pictures and for many years she had a chair obsession thus, creating a gorgeous array of places to sit that were collectively called "Sitting Pretty". Anyone that had a really great or unusual chair would let her borrow it so she could place it in all sorts of settings. Her interests in the chairs, how she placed them, what they symbolized, and the story implied changed a lot over the years but... that is, another story.

This set is called Rural Living -- Four gorgeous country scenes. On the back of all cards we have collected stories, facts, odd ball information and lovely poems-- each relating to the image on the front-- as a way to learn and enjoy the cards a bit more.

For the Rural living set on the back of the picture with the iron wheels we explore all the different uses of the term "re-inventing the wheel". It turns out engineers have a rich set of stories and concepts about this and many related sayings such as "reinventing the square wheel". But, not to give away too much, the wheel has been reinvented at least 2-3 times depending on your definition.

These card sets are available online or by EMAIL here or in Burlington Vermont at Silver Maple Editions in Burlington, Vt.

Next onwards to winter birds -- cardinals, birds of all type, with berries, and snow.
Feel free to suggest a card set or theme for one....