REDSTARTstudio

Pumpkin carving by Peter. Photos by Rusty.

On April 6th Lauri and I spent the afternoon walking around the bulb. We found several new sculptures: An amazing samurai, a painter and a fisherman. Many of the paths seemed wider than before, there has been some clearing going on and more of the rubble is visible. The Sniff paintings are falling apart. They have been busted up and covered with tags and paint.

Today Peter and I went to Redwood Park in the Oakland Hills to check on the Ladybug explosion that happens this time of year at a particular place on the trail in the park. We think that they are breeding beside and over a seep area that runs across the path and behind a bench. There were many more than last year. We were temped to scoop some up and take them to Blake Garden to volunteer for pest control, but only ended up bringing one home with us that traveled surreptitiously under my shirt.

On December 21 we visited Crista Assad’s gallery at 4th & Clay with Heather and John. Here are a few shots of side of the gallery/warehouse building which is covered with graffiti.

This past week, Kristen and I worked some more on the Aqueduct structure, attaching it an overflow valve on the cistern and running it into the greenhouse. A basic structure of nodes was laid out, and we managed to beat the rain so that we got to see it in action on Saturday November 2. This weekend I did some more fine tuning and problem solving. In the coming weeks another branch will be added to feed the other end of the greenhouse.

This past weekend 2.5 inches of rain fell on Blake Garden., most of it coming on Saturday November 1. On Sunday Lauri measured the rain, and I documented the process. The annual rainfall at Blake has been recorded for over 20 years.

On January 17, 2008 NBS & PCS, accompanied by Ani, trudged across the frozen marsh to inspect the remains of “The Fort”. It might be recalled that in December of 2005 an epic battle, replete with manly (and canine) exploits, took place at this location. The conflict was short and exhausting. There were no deaths, either physical or spiritual to report, and no wounds were inflicted. The cause or causes of the battle remain lost to time. The grizzled veterans are silent on all accounts. But as these explorers bore witness to, the skeleton of the fort still stands as a stark reminder of their valiant exploits.

The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.
– Thucydides  (c.460 – 400 BC)