Monday, June 29, 2009

Art In Atlanta Airport







Summer and a time for travel. I'm off to the West Coast for a delightful holiday. Driving up to Atlanta's North Terminal I was greeted by these wonderful whimisal recyled suitcase metal sculptures--I don't remember ever seeing then before. Where they there and I just never noticed before or are they new, I wondered as I missed the parking garage entery and had to drive around again to get into the parking garage...this did give me another chance to look at this fun sculptures.

Walking to the terminal I stopped to enjoy the tile mural that covers the cement parking garage. A dramatic action filled mural depicting travel.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Summer Soltice



Well, we have had our longest day with a heat wave that made us enjoy the sunlight behind glass while hugging the air conditioner. The view out my window is almost tropical as I watch the kudzu grow a foot a day with the vines reaching out to catch a leaf of a tree or twig or building that they will soon engulf. They create a living kind of sculpture hiding buildings and trees as they continue their quest for growth. They transform the landscape so quickly as summer comes. It truly is an amazement. Every winter they die back and disappear only to turn with abundance the next summer.

Not only is kudzu a transform of landscapes but it is a food. Yes, that is right you can eat it just make sure that when you pick or dig kudzu that it hasn't been treated with chemicals. Here are the eatable parts: Leaves- Having a mild "green" flavor and full of fiber, the tender leaves can be used like spinach, in salad, quiche or even chopped up and cooked like Poke Salet and Collards. The young kudzu shoots are great in a stir-fry, tasting similar to snow peas. The bigger leaves can be fried crispy or steeped in boiling water to make a delicious tea. Blossoms- The grape-smelling blossoms make delicious jelly, candy, and syrup or used to make a sweet homemade wine. OK. you can't eat the vines , but you can make baskets and wreathes out of them. You can bale them and fed to livestock or make a bale house out of them. Roots- kudzu's big bodacious starchy potato-like roots are full of protein, iron, fiber, calcium, phosphorous, vitamin A, and vitamin D. Most often the roots are made into a cooking starch used to coat foos to be fried and to thicken sauces and other liquids. I've been having fun collecting and creating recipes and it looks like it's time to start havesting my yard full of kudzu.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Peace Pole, Dahlonega



Hey, You All!
Well, we had a big turn out and even the press showed up for the Peace Pole Dedication at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Dahlonega. I created the Peace Pole from a 4x4 redwood post that I purchased in California and brought across the country on top of my car along with the Peace Pole from my last blog. This Peace Pole I created in a more traditional way with the phrase "May Peace Prevail on Earth" painted in 10 different languages. There are Peace Pole planted in over 280,000 locations around the World to help remind people to keep peace in your mind and heart.