MoMA Impression

1). People Mountain, People Sea

你在楼上看风景，看风景的人在楼上看你

2). I am modern art challenged. I need to take an modern art appreciation class.

I say this not just because of these paintings which I have no clue what they are about (they do look impressive to the eye), but also about numerous other drawings, etc. which I think pre-schoolers can mass-produce to no less pure art value. The question is, which comes first, the artist's reputation, or his or her who-knows-what-it-is-about abstract scribbles? And really, how valuable are the Emperor's new clothes?

3) No photos for this one, because it was prohibited. But where is the fine line between art and pornography? Some paintings simply just sickened me. That says so much of my taste.

4) Last but not least, I rediscovered an artist that I really like: Andrew Wyeth.

I remember I first saw this tempera painting, Christina's World (1948), in high school, an information-deprived era so long ago. I've always really liked the spirit of this girl, who was crippled by polio but free and hopeful in her mind.

纽约街拍

很应景吧，不过让人倍感凄凉。

O mio babbino caro

Mr. Puccini, thank you for the music, and happy birthday!



O my dear papa
I like him, he is handsome, handsome
I want to go to Porta Rossa
to buy the ring!
Yes, yes, I want to go there!
And if my love were in vain,
I would go to the Ponte Vecchio
and throw myself in the Arno!
I am aching, I am tortured!
Oh God, I'd like to die!
Father, have pity, have pity!
Father, have pity, have pity!

Remembering a Prosperous Time

Even the most decorated house in JP feels the pain of the current economic downturn. This picture was taken this time last year. The house was lit in its full extravagance, costing the owner thousands of dollars in the electricity bill each month. This year, the lights were cut back dramatically. No lights in the yard. House was lit by at most 20% of those bulbs used last year. Thus it doesn't warrant a photo taken by me, who happens to be a very economic photographer.

Danny Boy

Beautiful Irish tone Londonderry Air, with lyrics written by an English lawyer.




Danny Boy - King's Singers

O Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone and all the roses falling
It's you, it's you must go and I must bide

But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
For I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny Boy, oh Danny Boy, I love you so

But when ye come and all the flow'rs are dying
If I am dead, as dead I well may be
Ye'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an Ave there for me

And I shall hear though soft you tread above me
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be
For you will bend and tell me that you love me
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me

Birds, Back Yard, Black Friday

Many birds came to my back yard after the heavy morning rain. They were quite noisy, chirping all the time. Here are some of the birds I saw:

A blue jay.

Starlings. Quite gregarious.

A starling.

A robin.

Then all the birds left as suddenly as they came. The back yard turned quiet again, until something strange caught my eye, and I started taking pictures non-stop:
This bird landed in the garden, with its wings spread out, looking quite suspicious. I wonder what he was doing, what he was up to. What I saw and heard next would shock me for a whole afternoon.
It turned out that this bird was a sharp-shinned hawk, and it caught a starling. Since they arrived in the garden, the hawk had been plucking feathers out of the poor starling, which cried every time a feather was plucked. (I'm ignorant about birds. This was identified by our resident bird expert A. Before this, I didn't even know a hawk could look like so innocent and small.)

I thought about weather I should save the poor starling from this cruelty, but then I decided I'd better let Nature run its course. It had been a quite difficult experience, witnessing the killing with my own eyes. I hid safely in my study, while the unfortunate starling was being torn apart little by little. At some point, I coughed, hoping my existence would scare the hawk so he would leave the starling alone. Being a predator, he didn't even care. He knew I was watching, and he looked directly into my lens:

In this picture he looks like a hawk.


Minutes later, he took off, with the starling in tow，只留下一地鸟毛。

Sinterklaas

Last Friday, Dec. 5, was Sinterklaas, a traditional Dutch holiday celebrating the birthday of Saint Nicholas (280-342), patron saint of children. We came back from JC, and were surprised to find personalized gifts on our desks! I got a flower shop, filled with chocolates.

Thank you, Sinterklaas!

Arches National Park

I visited Arches National Park on one of the hottest summer days. It is a very strange place: all the rock formations look so out-worldly. You can draw your own conclusions from the pictures.

Park Avenue

Park Avenue

a dear on Park Avenue

Three Gossips, Park Avenue

Sheep Rock and Tower of Babel

Sheep Rock

Delicate Arch viewed from Garden of Eden, 7.3Km away

Delicate Arch viewed from Garden of Eden, detail (can you see people there?)

South (left) and North Windows

Turret Arch

One of Window Arches can be seen through Turret Arch

Double Arch

Skyline Arch

Landscape Arch. It is huge!

Wall Arch
Here I mourn for it, because it is lost forever.
Its demise came unnoticed one early September day.
It collapsed. No one witnessed it.
I used to think geological time scales are big. Maybe not so much.

Fins northeast to Double O Arch

Double O Arch

Double O Arch

I don't know what this arch is, but I was looking towards northeast from Double O Arch.

Delicate Arch, viewed from Lower Delicate Arch Viewpoint

After about an hour hiking under 102F temperature and a setting sun, 146m elevation gain later, I finally saw Delicate Arch from its west side. La Sal Mountains in the far background.

Balanced Rock, sunset

sunset at Arches NP

Crazy Jade in Blossom

Ever since Jade bestowed her elegant Jade plant upon me, the poor plant hasn't been having a good time on my window sill. In my hands, it grows out of control. And finally, today I found out what has been going on: it's blooming!

Dear Jade, I'm sorry that your Jade plant looks like this now:


请忽略窗台的凌乱。窗外的日落还是不错的。

US Politics

It's going to be really interesting this fall. As J pointed out, the White House is going to have an occupant who is not a white man for the first time. I knew the VP candidate for the GOP: she was running for the Alaska Governor when I was in that state two summers ago. I remember she was young and good-looking, and was surprised at her winning (being a woman and all that). My memory was right: she was a beauty pageant queen. I commented jokingly to J, "maybe P. Hilton should run for office, too." Then the White House will become the Pink House.

北京奥运2008

今天我很高兴地向我的同事宣布：“我最近非常地为我的祖国自豪，为我们成功举办的奥运。当然，这并不是我成年后第一次由衷地为我的祖国感到自豪。”同事们都很会心的笑。

这届奥运真的很精彩，各国运动员们表现出色，比赛项目安排井井有条，运动场馆很漂亮，开闭幕式壮观辉煌。要说最让我感动的时刻还是《歌唱祖国》，可爱的小姑娘，天籁般的歌声，真挚的情感，很让我骄傲我是中国人。就算是双簧我现在也原谅他们了。要说咱们中国代表团这次真的很厉害，拿了那么多金牌，咱们中国是真的崛起了。我的感想就说这么多了。

Dead Horse Point State Park

Imagine a place where eons were spent sedimenting layers of rocks, and then water came in to cut away what was laid down in the course of millions of years. Dead Horse Point State Park is such a place with a grand scale. My first sight of Colorado River, which is 2000 feet below.
The overlook is a promontory. From left to right you'll see the following 6 (overlapping) views:




To the west is the Island-in-the-sky district of Canyonlands National Park. An afternoon thunderstorm provides some much-needed water.
Legend has it that cowboys used to drive mustangs to this point to pick the best horses. The rest were left here but they were too afraid to escape from the 30-yard wide narrow neck of the highland, so they died of thirst with view of the Colorado River 2000 feet below. Thus the name of Dead Horse Point.


偷拍MM。后来我也跑到这个台子上，不过风吹来的时候，我居然觉得脚下（实际上是臀下，我有些恐高）在动，吓的我赶紧爬下来。今天看到Wall Arch坍塌的新闻，很让我后怕呢。看来这种砂岩真的不够结实啊。
Living in this dry and hot land is this colorful lizard.

Views on SR 313. These two buttes are named after two battle ships in the Civil War: Merrimac and Monitor.
La Sals in the distance.