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Even though I am not calm about our Congress, part of me is at Peace because we finally have had some cold and SNOW! The horizon down at the lake was so dramatic the other day that I actually interrupted my peace and brought my phone on my walk again to photograph.
I thought this image was a fitting one to usher in the new beginning of the NPO I began two years ago. It's called Sustainable Sharing with Guatemala (SSG).
We have fabulous board members (Wesley, Melisa, Kristen, Greg, Paula and formerly: Stephen) to whom I am so grateful!
Our Mission: "We work with indigenous Mayan communities served by established organizations who share our vision and values to build working models across borders and cultures. These models promote and sustain social justice, education, agriculture, environment and health."
We are currently set up to support AFOPADI in Guatemala. Read more about us on our new website here: SSG. And if you want to donate: click here.
Meantime: since we will be celebrating the New Year quietly at home in Evanston, we went to hear the Roy Hargrove Quintet last night. You can take in more of their great performances through January 1, 2013 at Jazz Showcase in Chicago.
I always joke about the end of the year as "the fabled down time" in my profession. I wish...
One of the many wonderful things I've been doing beyond work and my new non-profit (more about that soon) was hosting Betty Rivard from West Virginia. She just finished editing this book on New Deal Photographers in her state and it includes some images by my dad, Arthur Siegel, when he was in the OWI. I am learning so much from Betty's book, not just about the time and some of the same issues about poverty as there are now in our country, but more about my dad's history as well. Because info on my dad is hard to come by, Betty came to Chicago to do research on Arthur. She is doing a small show in W VA for the 100th anniversary of my dad's birth. All the photos from this time are available through the Library of Congress.
Born in Detroit and having gone to Berkeley, Betty was intent on staring at Lake Michigan before she returned to her mountain home.
Animal Menorah courtesy of my friend, Deet, in Antigua, Guatemala.
Christmas cactus photographed by my friend, Liz, in Boston, MA.
Every year during the holidays, I get a kick out of this yard down the block from my office in SW Evanston. Each year, it is very American in being bigger; this year I saw a multi-generational family installing these totems and the people also looked like they were enjoying themselves. I feel very fortunate to have my work space in a residential neighborhood about a mile from my home. A bunch of us in a four block area have modern-day offices in what were formerly butcher, baker and perhaps candle-stick maker shops.
We had dense fog this morning so I did something rare and took my iPhone camera along while I walked. Interesting how the horizon being made invisible made the views more horizontal. Above you can see the boats gone and the snow fences in the process of being rolled out down at the beach. Below are the remaining leaves that have fallen from the trees along a lakefront park.
The moody landscape affected me and I couldn't help but reflect on how odd it will be tomorrow when we celebrate Thanksgiving at around 60 degrees...I hope Climate Change does not bring us such a trying weather year as this past one. I hope Climate Change becomes something in the coming year that Movers and Shakers take on as the Global Environmental Crisis it is.
As always, when I partake of Thanksgiving, I am so grateful for all the things we have here, those that most Americans don't even know are astonishing (except maybe if they were intimately effected by Hurricane Sandy or travel to developing countries), like functional infrastructure: water, heat, electricity, roads, public transportation, hospitals, schools, grocery stores and citizenship.
Wherever you are, whomever you're with, whatever you do and whatever you eat: I hope your holiday is joyful and inspires gratitude!
The up side of Climate Change is that we had some beautiful weather yesterday while installing these client containers. What I thought was interesting was that we used the same materials for two completely different clients with differing tastes and home settings.
In the two shots of the entering and exiting views of this pot, you can see how we have made it elegant for the exterior, but fun for the client view from her door. Two of these frame the entry to a lovely Victorian row house in the city. Since it was our last installation for the season, we shared a celebratory drink with the client and reflected that we had been working together 14 years! I am really incredibly blessed with clients and work that gives me joy...
Here is the nature I was imaging in my previous post...thank you for all your emails, especially far-flung Shay! Above was my one-minute of sunshine in the parking lot at the Red Rock Canyon visitor's center. This is in the direction of Vegas which is about a 45 minute drive. Lamentably, my plane was delayed so I only had the opportunity during my 22-hr trip for a half-hour hike. But, as always, being in this incredibly spiritual spot recharged me.
This time, I realized the trail I hike here is about the same elevation as the village where we stay in Guatemala, at 5000 feet, the lowest of the dozen or so villages AFOPADI serves in the Cuchumatanes. I wished I lived in Vegas so I could train and up my stamina and red blood cells. I was also jealous of the moderate grade and well-groomed steady trails in Red Rock, so different from the climbing paths of loose dirt on deforested slopes in the mountains of Guatemala.
Just Below: Can you find the Juniper?
Just Below That: You can't miss the fantasy trees. Palm trees of this sort don't even grow in the Mojave desert where Vegas is located. I really enjoyed these faux trees though, holding up the airport vault.
