Category Archives: Wandering

Two December Days in Abu Dhabi

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Surprised to see snow already in Kurdistan, and the Tigris river on the flight out from JFK.

Flew over Baghdad and saw the first flares of oil wells at Basra, Iraq.  Over the Arabian Gulf much bigger flares showed that we still want oil so much more than gas that it is not economically viable to bother gathering it.

Abu Dhabi has oil, that buys big buildings, gold, and toys for boys.

The 40 th anniversary of the formation of UAE (United Arab Emirates) was celebrated with a very low level fly-past along the Corniche. Hopefully the You Tube link will play an Android phone video for you:

Down at sea level it is equally dangerous to try to capture images of the incredible high heeled shoes worn by the mysterious ladies loosely draped in black.

But the desert is never far away. This development (including premises for a Sorbonne remote university) is temporarily on hold.

I ran out of easy reading for the long flight home so went to the website market on my Android phone for a book. It offered latest Salm’n Rushd’e and Richa’d Dawki’s works, but when I tried to purchase both them were “Not available”.

Return flight over Tehran, Moscow and Greenland where there is still no sign of life. At that high latitude we outraced the setting sun and it appeared to rise as we flew westward.

Airport Art

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So many people with so much time to spare, at least while awaiting their planes, gives airports an unrivaled audience. I think Calgary started it with exquisite native artifacts.  Some of my favorite NA airport art today follows:

This huge bronze Haida canoe, speaking to all travelers (especially those tall people squeezed into ever smaller seats on ever longer flights), catches my imagination every time I pass  through Vancouver.

More sailors are in Amsterdam’s excellent small sampling of their Reijksmuseum (sp?) where I found these youngsters.

A little South, in Seattle, the suspended flocks of birds is an oft repeated idea (Remember large flock of geese in the Eaton Center, Toronto 35 years ago? Was that the first?) which I’ve yet to see done to perfection.

Seattle  has other excellent pieces, some a little hidden

Last week, in Philadelphia, these ornate shoes by Sharon Taffet  raised the spirits of jaded travelers delayed by fog and bad weather from off-shore tropical storm “Sean”.

And in Minneapolis there is a great dynamic image of an insurance company’s umbrella which shatters into myriad small umbrellas as you walk by, and then reassembles. A good future project to photograph and link to YouTube – Any volunteers going to MN soon?

Away from the airport, in a New Jersey glass fabrication shop, I stumbled on this just approved mock-up section for the 185 ft. tall facade of the base of the nearly completed (2013 est.) World Trade Center tower, NYC, replacing those so sadly lost on 9-11.  Interesting to see this grey evening image and try to imagine how dramatic it will surely appear when installed with lights, etc.  Architects must have great imagination.

Indiana Images Last Weekend

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The Indianapolis Art Museum has a travelling treasure show of 700 year old exquisite Ife copper cast heads found only 70 years ago in the grounds of a Nigerian royal palace. They left no written record at all – not to be missed if they come to your local museum:

Ife Copper Casting

Dashing out to get to the Norville wedding we passed an eyecatching sculpture and I neglected to note the artist’s name.No problem – back in Ohio my free “Google Goggles” ap for my phone scanned my photo and in no time at all told me it’s “Mobius Ship” by Tim Hawkinson from CA. A good play on “Moby Dick” and “Mobius Strip”.  Technology gets better all the time.

And then back by night on US highway 24 just in time for deer hunting season. They suddenly appear out of the dark. I’m still recovering from the shock. This one was worth $3000 damage to our insurance company. Quick braking and a small swerve right probably brought the impact speed down to around 55 mph and perhaps prevented it coming in the window.  Everyone in Ohio and Michigan has their similar story. Worst is when it comes in the window and is still kicking!Even though the road was wide open with no trees it was very hard to see until a large head appears trotting across front of you. The only answer I can imagine is to restrict our driving to daylight hours, or at night at least use high beam lights as much as possible.