As we come
to the end of Earth Week it seems appropriate to provide you with a
list of sites oriented around wedding planning from an eco perspective.
Like everything else in our culture the wedding industry has hyped
consumption to levels that we feel border on irresponsible. So this
list of links is just to give those who are interested in reducing
consumption and having a more simple and green wedding some resources.
I have checked each site for content and only the ones I felt sincere in their offerings are listed, so here goes:
As we come to the end of Earth Week it seems appropriate to provide you with a list of sites oriented around wedding planning from an eco perspective. Like everything else in our culture the wedding industry has hyped consumption to levels that we feel border on irresponsible. So this list of links is just to give those who are interested in reducing consumption and having a more simple and green wedding some resources.
I have checked each site for content and only the ones I felt sincere in their offerings are listed, so here goes:
For some reason the exhibit at the Experience Music Project featuring Jimi Hendrix has been haunting me, maybe it’s because the music of that era especially from the legends instantly takes me back in time. I think every generation has its’ musical anchor, the style that permantly marks our memories and our stories to the point that we have our own time machine. Music, can be key to our personal development and movement through life and besides serving as a generational marker can also identify waypoints on our journey.
So I dug around and found some video clips remembering him as well some of his performances. The first 2 clips are from a documentary about him.
This is an old clip of I think his first performance in London as he does "Purple Haze".
This next one is faily long.. an informal jam with the Rolling Stones back stage..check out Kieth Richards sitting next to Hendrix!
I failed to mention in my last post that one of the featured exhibits at the Experience Music Project was abut Jimi Hendrix. We spent way to much time riding our memories back to the Woodstock era especially when we heard "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze" and of course "Touch the Sky". In case you want to flash back to the summer of love here are some choice downloads I found on Amazon.
The first batch are mp3 downloads, while the second are cds & dvds.
Another amazing creation by architect Frank Gehry…Paul Allen’s monument to American music, his Experience Music Project. Unlike many of Gehry’s buildings this one is multi-colored and because of the materials used changing color as the metal develops it’s own patina. The metal panels pick upthe color of adjacent colors and surrounding structures to produce an ever changing rainbow of unexpected color.
The mono-rail tracks from the World’s Fair in the ’60s not only penetrates the building but also offers a stark juxtaposition of eras.
Back in the ’60s visionary Landscape Architect Richard Haag was one of the early pioneers of land reclamation. In Seattle he helped reclaim a natural gas refinery , turning it into not only a park on Lake Union opposite the downtown but also a new kind of playground. His design called for keeping the refinery equipment, making it safe and turning it into a playground. Unfortunately our litigious culture cased the playgound part to fenced off….boo!
It is still a great place to fly kites and catch the mountain when it is out hovering over downtown Seattle.
My hasty post and cob webby brain got the best of me…Brice (see comment below) points out that it was not Halprin who designed Gas Works Park. I remember now listening to a lecture by Richard Haag about the park while I was in grad school at the University of Oregon.
April 20, 2008 - 11:27 pmBrice Maryman - Hi Bill--
Thanks for recognizing Gas Works as a pioneering work of landscape architecture and land reclamation but Lawrence Halprin was not the landscape architect who designed Gas Works Park. That distinction belongs to Seattle's own Richard Haag who is widely heralded both for Gas Works and for Bloedel Reserve over on Bainbridge Island. He was also the founder of UW's Department of Landscape Architecture.
Seattle is not without it's Halprin landscapes, however. The Seattle Center Master Plan is one example, but the clearest expression of Halprin's genius along with that of the Project Designer, Angela Danadjieva, is at Freeway Park.
And it's a lovely spot for taking pictures too.
Two other local examples of land reclamation are Robert Morris's Johnson Pit in Seatac and Herbert Bayer's Earthworks Park in Kent, which is having a landmarks hearing this Thursday April 24.
Best,
Brice
I didn’t get a chance to post these until now, we spent a little time in Pike Place Market. I had my first intro to gourmet coffee ( at the time anything other than Folgers) at the original Starbucks back int the mid ’70s. I was hooked ever since and even mail ordered my coffee when I left the Northwest for Houston, way before Starbucks out multiplied rabbits!! The market was the same funky place but I could notice its’ gradual deterioration to gentrification. The waterfront no longer had the working feel…replaced by "upscale" condos.
Non the less it still had character and still provided everyday what most of us get to experience at best once a week.
The legendary flying fish market is always great entertainment!
Here is a video that better shows how the fish market can be a full day’s entertainment!!
We are spending time in Seattle with our youngest daughter and her husband and gathering photos for our annual holiday calendar. Day before last we spent the afternoon in the Skagit Valley photographing the tulip blooms…what welcome splash of color after a long and cold winter!!
As usual for me I wanted to get different take on subject so I used my favorite lens….10.5 mm fisheye. Everybody gets to see flowers from above what about from ant level??!!
Here are a couple more that show the volume and variety of the color…
The one above was taken by Marsha using the 60mm macro lens.
Also by Marsha notice the reflection..
Here is some more info about the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival and the Skagit Valley itself:
While many people seem to dislike the return of wildlife to our urban environments I actually enjoy it. We live in the middle of the city and regularly have visits from coyote, fox, hawks and even bald eagles.We also get almost daily visits by the neighborhood’s resident deer herd. They have taken to munching on the crab apples from our three trees.
Of course our faithful protector Loki can tell far in advance that the herd is approaching….but their almost complete domestication gives them a "who cares" attitude which infuriates Loki even more!! Anyway here are a few from the most recent visit, the night of the snow storm I posted about in the last post. The photos were shot hand held since I didn’t have time to get my tripod. They were also shot at a very high ISO which severly reduces the image sharpness. A couple were shot with flash to capture the eye reflections….not my best work! Funny thing was the deer just looked at me like "what do you think you are doing?"
by Bill Weaver
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