Brussels

 

Bad news as soon as I got out of bed. Terrorist attack in Brussels, Belgium this morning!?!? What do these terrorists think? Do they really think these kind of attacks are helping their cause? 
   This one hit a little too close to home. My cousin Maija is working for EU in Brussels. I knew that cell phones were not working in Brussels so I had to call her mom (my aunt) in Finland to find out that Maija was ok. She is fine, even though that Maelbeek subway station is near her apartment. 
   The attack brought back some memories. I have been to Brussels airport  a few times. The first time was 1989. I had  a fifteen hour layover there. Those steel benches in the terminal are really uncomfortable if you want to sleep. The second time was maybe a year later. I had another long layover. This time the police moved everyone to the other end of the terminal, because they had found a suspicious package. That situation was over pretty soon though, and I got to go back to my really uncomfortable bench. 

Snow day

The phone rang this morning around 5:30 am. School was canceled today because of snowy conditions. About twenty minutes later my wife received a similar call from her school. This was the first snow day of the year. We went back to sleep.  Today is February 5th, and that happens to be Runeberg's Day in Finland. Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804 - 1877) is the national poet of Finland.
   Having a day off gave me an opportunity to commemorate Runeberg's Day by baking some Runeberg's Pastries (Runebergin Torttu). Luckily I had all the ingredients in the house. Mixing the ingredients took about half and hour. Traditionally Runeberg's Torttus are cylinder shaped, but I have always made them in a cupcake forms. 

 The torttus are in the oven.

Here is the first patch. I took some artistic liberties while decorating them. Mr. Runeberg was said to have a sweet tooth so I decided to celebrate his legacy by overdoing the raspberry jam and sugar.

Empty Nest

My youngest daughter has gone to college. I guess we are empty nesters now.

Sculptures in Easthampton

The third biennial "Art in the Orchard" started its run on August 13th. It will run until October 31st. The apple orchards up the street from my house have been filled with sculpture. This year there are 28 pieces of sculpture made of a wide and wild variety of materials. Here are some of them:

This is called "Truth #1" by Peter Dellert

"Orchard Pig" by Susan Halls

A detail of a piece called "Empty" by Katie Richardson. I have seen some of her other pieces made out of steel and glass. She makes some very cool stuff.

Don't be alarmed! UFOs have not landed in Easthampton. It is a piece of sculpture called

"Cosmic Gypsy". I guess they are coming in peace.... 

This was created by Chris Woodman. The piece spins in the wind.

BUT WAIT!!! ......THERE IS MORE!!!!!

In addition to the "Art in the Orchard", which is a special event, there are a couple of other new  permanent pieces of sculpture in the downtown area. Recently a huge Gibson Explorer appeared between the Senior Center and an Indian restaurant. It is steel. It looks solid. 

Why next to  Senior Center? I don't know nor care. It looks really cool. Maybe it is there to remind us that the first generation of rock and rollers are now senior citizens.

I have not been able to find out the artist's name yet.

Here is a detail of the Explorer. 

If you want to find out what a real Gibson Explorer sounds like, you can check out Pete Willis on first three Def Leppard albums. You could also check out Allen Collins of Lynyrd Skynyrd. 

On Main Street there is also a new bicycle stand. 01027 - that is the Easthampton zip code. For what I have seen, people are actually using the bicycle stand for its intended purpose. And above all: it looks cool.

College for Kids at Westfield State University

During the last week of July my wife and I taught a sculpture class for kids at Westfield State University. This was part of their "College for Kids" program. Our class was called "Skulpture with K". (It was taught by Mr. And Mrs. K.)

In five days we did 7 different sculpture projects with our students. It was a blast! We did the same thing in July two years ago. Here we have a couple of the sculptures that the students did.

This is an abstract sock sculpture. It is called a "sock sculpture" because it is made of a piece of wood, a twisted coat hanger, a nylon sock and some acrylic paint. 

Here is a wall sculpture made out of an old picture frame, a piece of plywood and some scrap wood. Yes,.... it is clearly inspired by Louise Nevelson's work. The skills of these students were way above their grade level. Below you can see the materials that were used in making it. There were more great pieces, but during the hectic last day I didn't have a chance to take as many photos as I wanted.

I am looking forward to next July.

More Turtles

As I was driving down to Madison, Ct. I spotted a turtle trying to cross the busy Route 81 in a  blind curve.  I had to drive a little further down the road to turn my car around. I then rushed to aid that turtle. By the time I got back to the curve the turtle had created a traffic jam. Cars going both directions had stopped. I saw a guy with work gloves grab that turtle by the tail and swiftly move it on the other side of the guard rail. The situation was over, the turtle was safe and the traffic jam cleared. I wanted to take a picture of the turtle before continuing my journey. I reached for my iPad and it wasn't there!?!? Darn! I still had my aging cellphone so I took  couple of pictures with it. The turtle was very muddy.

   I returned to my car and drove up the road to turn around. When I got back to that curve that turtle was trying to cross the road again. I stopped the car, took my work gloves from my trunk and went to help the turtle. I grabbed it with two hands on both sides and it started to bristle violently. Her movements were surprisingly powerful. For a moment I thought this might be one of those Ninja Turtles. I tried again and she jumped, bristled and tried to claw me. She could actually reach on the back of the shell and I saw white claws come out of her legs. Now I was sure she was a crazy Ninja Turtle.

It started to look like I am not a man enough to  move this turtle. Maybe I should try to grab the tail. Another car stopped by and a guy came to see what was going on. We tried to figure out what to do because this turtle was determined to cross the road.  He got a cooler from his car and pushed the turtle in the cooler. The turtle got moved safely across the road.

 A day later I found this website http://www.turtlerescueleague.com/index.html that tells you how to help turtles. I wish the guy who grabbed the turtle by the tail had read this warning on the website:

NEVER EVER PICK UP ANY TURTLE BY THE TAIL, IT CAN INJURE THEM VERY BADLY.

Bruises, Deviled Eggs and Rainbows

School is over and I have the scars to prove it. On Monday June 22nd we had a volleyball game: teachers vs. the 6th and 7th graders. The teachers lost. That is kind of strange, because in February we easily defeated the 8th graders. Now, a week and half later I don't limp anymore, but my knees are still black and blue and bruised. 
   After the game we had a little luncheon. Once again I had some deviled eggs. This time I only got three. I did much better last year, but any amount of deviled eggs is a great start to summer.

It has been rainy for a couple of days, but now as we are heading for the 4th of July weekend the weather is getting better. Today (July 1st) we spotted a nice rainbow and I had to go out to see if I could get a good picture of it.

Unfortunately the rainbow had started to fade by the time I got to Park Hill Road. Notice Mount Tom on the background. It also appears that my bad luck with digital cameras is starting to be a thing in the past. My iPad has been taking semi-decent pictures for almost a year now. My daughter also knew that you can zoom with the iPad and she showed me how to do it. The result can be seen below.