serene

It is not up to the fisherman to decide how the fish will taste once prepared.
Roasted almonds, a hint of crushed fresh garlic, tarragon, the usual lemon-pepper, two table spoons of dry white wine, a pinch of dill to top it off.
So some of us will produce, while others prepare. It's called sharing.
My life is neither here nor there. Do I prepare ... or do a I catch fish?

The other pictures from Maine are up now, on a separate link (blog) on the left of this screen right under my profile.

bye, bye politics

I assume I need to clean my fingernails - and my mind, any volunteers?
For the next (at least) 72 hours I will tune out of this web-madness and also my blog.
I am going to meet a bunch of people on an island in Maine, off the beaten track - play music, jam, cook awesome food, be grateful and forget about bonehead politicians. Life must go on!
Ciao, hasta la vista - I'll be back, you'll bet ....

I deleted the last two posts 'cause I couldn't look at the faces of Bush and Saddam anymore

Let's see what is left of the backbone of this precious country tonight ...
Did you vote today and got a kick of a false sense of Democracy?
Ok, I hate the Dems and all of their political establishment. But just for fair game, the Repukes need to be defeated today. If evil comes to mind, Republicans presently trump the card.
All are soo, so irritated about homosexual incrustations into society while ignoring that the Dems and the Reps are a happy gay couple - a sickening copulation of "same gender jerks". Nevertheless, the Repubs must go, they screwed up on too many issues to count. We'll give them a hand to be silent for a while. Not that this outcome will be better or a staging point towards a "new world of understanding" - the old will remain, and Bush in his last two years will definitely exercise his lunatic program of foreign policy and interior inadequacy without major obstacles from any political party. That's how it goes - here in the USA. (though I thought it was a cute gesture of reconciliation of Bush to fire Rumsfled as a result of Democratic victory).
But even if the Dems win both houses (which they will not) the continuous story of feeding the hungry mouths of the cooperations that make this globe turn around will remain the same.
Ahh, politics deadly boring if you think of it.
So why do I care?
Basic interest in the evolution of human consciousness I suppose, and a curiosity if ever a plural political system will take hold here in the US during my lifetime, sort of the fundamental concept of democracy.

on the way home

... picture has been taken a few feet away from my house.
A little further up the road the trees are bare.
On my way home I thought of these songs of freedom,
the ones of redemption. Bob Marley came to mind.
Yes, the golden leaves are falling, mingling with the ground to transform themselves into earth, eventually.
The color and light unites with darkness of the earth while skeletons of naked trees are awaiting a covering mantle of snow to come.
Freedom? We are all conditioned and codependent to outer circumstances, like trees that follow seasons. But what sets us apart from trees is that we are not being put stationary. We actually have the liberty to move in space - and our minds are free to roam indefinitely.

Images

So OK, I forgot to take my cheap (outdated) peace of digital camera along to Switzerland. Bad me. What to do? Got an even cheaper throw away camera, one of those things you feel stupid about to bring back to a processing agent. Anyhow, here are some fuzzy pics to illustrate my stay and my home town.


this crossing I had to be at 7:00 to be picked up to go to school
a mile above you have the Schlosshof
a view of the neighborhood where my mom lives
the Goetheanum, a majestic site


Ah,I don't feel like to make the text right, arrange it properly under every picture. Use your imagination instead.

If you have questions about the "organic" designs of these buildings and why they were done this way, go ahead and ask me. I will try my best to give you an answer.
Other than that, I wish to everyone a splendid and terrific weekend!

(as with all pics on my blog, you just click on them to see them bigger if you are so inclined. Almost all pictures I took here are my own, there are a few exceptions. My pictures can be freely distributed, copied or whatever... )

just an other brick in the wall?

Do people actually realize that the majority of immigrants who enter the US come legally and then simply overstate their visa, hence by that action become illegal?!
Nevertheless, congress and the prez signed a bill that will give the green light to build a 700 mile fence on the Mexican border, with cameras, sensors, drones and all the technological schnick-schnack you could ever imagine. So what good does that do besides gobbling up billions of my tax dollars and destroying hundreds of acres of nature? Can you truthfully imagine that immigrants, and god forbid terrorists, will be kept away?
Besides the lack of a comprehensive plan on how to deal with seasonal workers and immigrants at the southern border, it disturbs me greatly that people here believe in building walls instead of building bridges ...
... same goes for Israel!

Pentagon gears up for new media war!

By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

The Pentagon's new effort to influence media coverage of the war in Iraq is an example of how governments react when a war is not going too well.
They begin to think it is not the war that is the problem, but the presentation of it.
The media, being the messengers, get the blame, not the message itself.

The plan, detailed in a memo seen by the Associated Press news agency, is for a rapid response unit that would "correct the record" in the 24/7 news cycle that exists today - including, crucially, on the internet. One aim, AP says, seems to be to deflect criticism of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld himself.
It is on the internet that blogs and other sites rapidly spread information, sometimes as fact and sometimes as rumour, and build up pressure points of opinion. These are then reflected in the mainstream media.
There would also be a list of favourite speakers or "surrogates" who would be offered to broadcast media, especially to the US talk shows, where fast appearances and faster opinions matter.
----------------------------------------

Full article at the BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6103056.stm

I just had to post this my friends, because it bothers me a lot ...

Despite all this, nevertheless VOTE Democrats if you can vote!

americana and my european heritage

Space, yes space is the only true asset the United States has left. After returning from Switzerland, where everything is over-organized due to space limitations, it makes me breathe "freer" to walk the grounds on the west side of the Atlantic ocean. Since I am "tuned into" space issues (sculpture and such) this might not come as a surprise. Old wooden bridges, patios created by my son, Indian sacred waterfalls ... all contributes to the fact that this country, the USA, is still a virgin ground despite globalization and space-stations. There is potential ... untapped.

The paths I walk in the US are still mysterious and plentiful. Europe on the other hand is set in it's ways, determined, old fashioned,regulated and stiff like starched white shirts hanging in a closet. Moths abound...
No, I do not wish to criticize only, I am actually drawn to the systematic order on European fields - perhaps a phase in my life, a phase to "bring order into things."
Coming back to the US after my brief visit to Europe created no less than a cultural shock though, and I had to adjust to what I found to be the most developed "Third World Country" - agony towards the ignorance of "our" political entities" set in immediately, the nonsense of "mid term november elections", the folly of the two party system that has melted into a masturbation unity for the sake of capital and industry. Behold, where is Democracy??? ... where is the true political stuff, who develops whom, who is actually working for the people like you and me? Ah ....
But whilst arriving, and being in a somewhat sober mood, observing the reality of the status quo, the assessment was that the US leaps behind in technological achievements that could potentially benefit citizens and society at large. The leap behind here amounts to at least the time span of two decades. Take for example my experience at the Zurich airport. I was "shuttled" to the underground train station within minutes by an unmanned automated connection ... for free. Then I boarded the two story train going to Basel (a one hour ride) in a train that starts to move - and you don't even notice it, until the "pictures start to change at your window" ... there is hardly any noise whatsoever!
On the other hand, I landed in JFK on my return, took a malfunctioning and stinking diesel bus to Grand Central, Manhattan - boarded Metro North to Wassaic and rode on a train that resembles 50's retro movie pains, uncomfortable and anally abusive, noisy and a peace of shit ... outdated technology, third world country jive in public transportation, while the gas gobbling SUV's from Ford and GM run into record deficits. A nation out of control with big prick issues to follow the Freudian dreams of cock existence. Bahhhh! Do you actually realize how retro the US is on the field of innovating new technologies? All that stuff is happening in India and Asia...
No,bottom line, I wish not material perfection, it's redundant and not the goal of our lifetime, but I still are acute to observe the tendencies in nations around the globe who are intent to make a difference.
What I hence wish for is, the cooperation of the "old" and the "new" - technology and wisdom combined, a dialog, a final statement that this earth actually needs attention and care and not more wars.
Is that soooooooo hard to understand, America?
Happy Halloween.
Yours, Zeeart.

Halloween, or the season of the witch

The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine. At that time, the favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates.

The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven.



















The best version of "Season of the Witch" is found on Mike Bloomfield's "Super Session" (released 1968 or so..). Steven Stills plays on there as well and an other dude who's name escaped my mind ... Cooper or something ...

my friends: "oink-oink, nöff, groin-groin, grunz"

Here you see lokal farm animals being fed leftover organic veggies, bread and rolls from the Coop-Farmstore.
Why are pigs my friends? Because political swine's ... they are not!
Politicians on the other hand are dirty and stinky - true swines.
Pigs are a clean bunch if allowed to dwell like that and smell, well just like pigs.
Politicians raise red flags and scream nonsense - true traitors to us piglets.
Pigs only show their pink butt instead, real charming indeed.
Politicians make a lot of noise, and achieve nothing.
And pigs will only grunt, and make no fuss.
I'd rather be a common pig than a political-swine. Sure, there are always exceptions to a rule, there are a few true pigs living as politicians who refuse to become swines ... but those, I can count on three fingers.
List your favorite leaders if you wish, those who have declined to throw swinish mud; Mandela perhaps?

I'm back

Before we know the climate turns cold,
it's about to snow, still leaves abound
on trees - my soul has no mold,
and I'll stick around
for a while
assembling scattered peaces,
crumbs arranged in petite style
for you my dear, and not my nieces.

(photo "chickenshak" or "loveshack" for Vidar in progress, tomorrow cement floor pouring ...)

The visit to Switzerland was intense, no - not only my mother agenda. A painter friend is dying of cancer there (lymph), and I said goodbye.
Saw him many times during my stay, a bag of skin and bones not able to talk anymore. Used to be an energetic fireball ... and not a fainting translucent being.- He is burning up by the fire cancer creates, doped by morphine drugs - sleeping hours on end.
We talked about karma and the life after death, the journey to the spiritual world ... and what it means. For the lack of his vocal cords, it ended up mostly to be a monologue ... of mine ...
But his smiles and his tears confirmed participation.
Life on earth is so fragile - if you really think about it.

bye - bye ... I'll have to fly

Take good care my friends, it's a crazy world out there, beware! And I in the meantime will cross the ocean to tend to my crazy and needy mom, who all the time is so much too serious.
I need to work on smiles and laughter, cheer her up, and stay content myself.
See you when I come back,
cheers - Zee

space junk

you don't have to be embedded in a sheet of ice-crystals to feel the present chill - Refrigerators are so ignorant, especially after they have seen better days. Politicians are the same and they lame me to a high degree. If it were up to the them I might as well turn into a can of olives, frozen into the back-shelf corner while the ice builds up and then wait for the "big thaw" - that supposedly lurks around the corner. The left is schussing around with no aim, the right feels rightful, and the center doesn't exist: IN NO COUNTRY! The US for example has a right wing party and a right wing party with distinction. What's up with that? It's all just one big bloody party. There is no such thing as Democrats and Republicans, they are just using a labeling technique to keep the public entertained, keep the nation in a fog and create artificial divisions.
You might as well drop this whole nationalistic notion of belonging to a state or a party, forget the politicians who want to make you believe that being a "citizen" is important - . Find instead local opportunities to make your voice heard, as a caring human ... forget citizenship, act locally and "screw globally". What I mean, let's deport all politicians to the moon, it's nice and chilly there, so let them freeze for a change ... and we will start anew. We can't trust those people anymore. Let's get rid of all of them and let us switch roles and take charge for once. We have been living in a cold climate for too long now and deserve a change, a change that doesn't subscribe to global warming but instead embraces life with warmth and compassion.

not usually

Not usually I post pictures of my own family and also posed like this. Those pictures are quite boring, it is almost as bad as putting up pics of your pets. So why make this exception? Simple, my brother in law is leaving tomorrow and there are some blogger friends out there who actually know each of us in person- so it's for them. Marco is leaving tomorrow and it was a full-filled time, so there ..
Talking about leaving, I will leave next Saturday to tend to my mom in Switzerland. No blog updates during those following ten days.
I'll bring back a bunch of photos and stories though .... don't worry, not from my mom, the family picture book is closed for now.

lost bird

... somehow a bird got into my studio.
Then the black cat came and tried to "assist" in freeing the bird right at the moment when I almost had the bird in my hands to carry it out.
The cat got a sharp kick with my foot and fled, the bird fluttered and hid thereafter in a woodpile.
I opened the doors wide and left - twenty minutes later the bird was gone and free.
Can someone tell me what this bird was, a woodpecker perhaps?
Can we open the doors freely,
can wee accept the stranger
walking in without hesitation?
And give shelter or rescue
if so needed?

Red October Day

Thanksgiving Day in Canada, thanks to what - red an yellow maple leaves in the fall? Columbus Day in the US, thanks to the remembrance of shedding red Indian blood? Red "chicken shack" in progress in my yard. Red North Korea blasting a nuclear test. Red clad life companion drying hair with a black cat watching.
All red today. Tuesday (Mars-day) is supposed to be red, not Monday. What's going on in this world, is life a bit confused?
Whatever, but the North Korean Phenomena does spark some interest. So yes, it is regrettable that nukes nowadays are being considered or even tested, by any country for that matter. This can't and shouldn't happen anymore. But it is also astonishing to watch the so called "world community" bark at North Korea - and the ones who bark loudest have the greatest arsenal of nuclear weapons, with the exception of Japan (no nukes there) who solely shouts out loud because of it's close vicinity to North Korea.
I am not going to post my immediate perspective on this "red herring" ... that's up to you!
Have a blue Tuesday I guess, though that aint the right color either for that day ...

more stonedust

I started to coach an ambitious student who is interested to do a sculpture project in the spirit of Rodin. Today the chiseling started. This is going to be part of her senior project, a tradition the Waldorf or Rudolf Steiner schools maintain. Some do their project in the arts, others in the sciences. Whatever direction you choose, it needs a lot of self-motivation.
The philosophy behind this curriculum is, that these young people take responsibility of a research project that also includes a practical side - and will go more into depth than just a three week exercise and a cut and pasted paper.
This is the third time I mentor a student for their senior project. Rodin ... hmmm, ambitious, but perhaps possible.

fine afternoon carving

First session with seniors today, carving alabaster and marble. The weather was gorgeous, just the right kind... for banging on stones.

the opening

Before darkness there was light,
it was our source of being
Now that we have grown, pulsating alive and bright
why not catch the gem and honor what we are seeing?

Open the door an let the air flow
through your congestion's
and you will find below
all unanswered questions.
Deep, but within reach.

the project

A former chicken shack and tool-shed in transition to become a hide away for my son and his girlfriend.
Let's see if we can button this one down before the first snowflakes. Pictures (of regress or progress upcoming...)

the door

The door is open
illumination inside
as the days turn gray
and people can't let go
of their entrenchment and dark side
that lingers continously, watching the flicker
of the glare and the pixels on television screens
reflecting some warped truth, or so it seems.

It's time to close that door,
to the gate which leads to deceptions
let's start a revolution, and overthrow
misconceptions and delusions, let me see your soul glow!

Let's open that door again
and passionately kiss
the one who enters
and you are the one
I never wished to miss,
yes you, who has never been here before.