08 March 2022

I brake for chipmunks

This morning on my morning walk, I noticed a chipmunk was crossing the street about fifteen feet ahead of me. I stopped walking, just about as the chipmunk stopped moving. It seemed to be listening to see if those approaching footsteps were dangerous. It turned around, ran back in the direction it had come, and went almost up to the pine trees and stopped again. I didn't move. It reassessed the danger. Turned around again and ran across the street when it determined the footsteps were no longer approaching.

When I lived in Texas, I had a bumper sticker on my Isuzu pickup that said "I brake for Greek Revival." I think it came from the preservation society in Providence because Texans don't have quite so much Greek Revival as they have in Rhode Island. Bob drove the truck to work one day and one of his coworkers thought it said "I brake for Geek Revival." Not the same thing.

P.S. because it's a small world. I was looking for a picture of a chipmunk running across the street and one of the Google responses was from Dickinson, North Dakota, the destination of the road trip in Breakfast with Buddha.

04 March 2022

The Modern, Fort Worth

This fine building, housing the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, was across the street from the Amon Carter Museum when I worked there. The building then housed the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth which later moved to a Tadao Ando building not far away. This building was designed by O'Neil Ford & Associates and is connected to the Scott Theater designed by Herbert Bayer.

Today I got to try to disentangle the authority record for Arts Fort Worth which is the new name of the merged Fort Worth Community Arts Center and the Arts Council of Fort Worth. But, more importantly, I got to think about this wonderful building.

Now the Modern looks more like this.

I was quite disappointed when I first visited Fort Worth after this building was open. I approached it from Allen's house and what you were greeted by was the loading dock. Not very pedestrian friendly. It is Sunbelt U.S. of A. Oh, well, you also get loading dock when you approach the Art Institute of Chicago from Monroe Street, a little more disguised.

01 March 2022

separated at birth: Sicilian mecca

 

Selinunte,

on the southern coast of Sicily,

picture taken in March 2013


Mecca Hills Wilderness, California,

picture taken by DAS in February 2022