Purcell Mountains, British Columbia

Just confirmed—in a little over seven months I’ll be back in one of my favorite alpine places, The Bugaboos—on a week-long climbing trip with a dozen or so long-time friends from our local chapter of the Alpine Club of Canada. We’ll be using the Conrad Kain hut as a luxurious base camp (after a 3.5 km slog [700 m vertical gain] from the trail-head) offering propane powered lamps and stove-top, and as of late, hydro-electric power (from continual glacial run-off) for lights, heating and even hot water.

The Bugaboos’ awe-inspiring mountain and glacier terrain draws climbers from around the world to its airy, glacier-sculpted granite spires (many of them over 3,000 meters in elevation). On three previous trips there I’ve met enthusiastic alpinists from Europe, Asia, South America, and Oceania… along with lots of Canucks and Yanks of course.

It’s time for me to get back into shape…

(photos above are all from Wikipedia)

(think of this as your “fortune cookie” for today)

Nothing ventured, nothing gained…

50° Fahrenheit (10° C)

New Yorkers try to turn on the heat.

Canadians plant gardens.

40° Fahrenheit (4.4° C)

Californians shiver uncontrollably.

Canadians sunbathe.

35° Fahrenheit (1.6° C)

Italian cars won’t start.

Canadians drive with the windows down.

32° Fahrenheit (0° C)

Distilled water freezes.

Canadian water get thicker.

0° Fahrenheit (-17.9° C)

New York City landlords finally turn on the heat.

Canadians have the last cookout of the season.

-40° Fahrenheit (-40° C)

Hollywood disintegrates.

Canadians rent some videos.

-60° Fahrenheit (-51° C)

Mt. St. Helens freezes.

Canadian Girl Guides sell cookies door-to-door.

-100° Fahrenheit (-73° C)

Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.

Canadians pull down their ear flaps.

-173° Fahrenheit (-114° C)

Ethyl alcohol Freezes.

Canadians get frustrated when they can’t thaw the keg.

-460° Fahrenheit (-273° C)

Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops.

Canadians start saying “cold, eh?”

-500° Fahrenheit (-295° C)

Hell freezes over.

The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup.

(all one really needs to know, actually… and more)

Hot vs. cold, advancing vs. retiring… find lengthy prose along with explanations aplenty in Chromatography; or, A treatise on colours and pigments: and of their powers in painting by George Field, London, 1841.

Read it for yourself if you’re so inclined… here.

Ningi, Queensland, Australia

James Corbett used to work in an auto recycling business in Brisbane. Access to vintage car parts (he especially likes 50s and 60s British and French marques, apparently) and a knack for assemblage led him to full-time art-making in 1999. His unique “car part sculptures” can now be found around the world. James does OK by his art as well (the ram above, featuring a body of spark-plugs, reportedly sold for $23,000 lately). Read more about James and his work here.

Thanks to my CIRCLE colleague Carisa Romans for introducing me to Corbett’s remarkable work.

Toronto, Canada

By fauxreel…

.

A lovely Messerschmitt conversion… dashing through the snow.

Chanced across this on Facebook, original source unknown.

New York, New York

Thirty years ago today, John Lennon was taken from us at the young age of forty. The campaign for peace that he devoted so much of his talent and energy to continues…

Methinks John would have liked these compelling cartoons by Mr. Fish—many more to be found here.

Solace House, Manitoba

One of the rescued posters (thankfully) from the lower level of my recently-flooded home is the beautifully illustrated piece above, by Paul Davis. The few added water stains and wrinkles don’t detract from the compelling portrait of the stalwart Leonard Crowdog…

(from ‘New at Pentagram’)

Privately commissioned to create a gift for an architect, Daniel Weil created a one-of-a-kind clock that is both simple and complex. Reducing objects to their component parts has long fascinated Weil… this clock is the latest demonstration of his interest in investigating not just how objects look, but how they work.

Constructed in ash and nickel-plated brass and silver, the clock is built of five separate elements. The numbers, both hours and minutes, are inscribed on the face and interior of a 9 3/4-inches diameter ring. The mechanism for setting the time connects with the central mechanism with visible rubber belts. A single AA battery provides power to the clock through visible power strips that are recessed in the assembly’s base. And, befitting the object’s recipient, the housing for the central mechanism takes the form of, literally, a house.

“Objects like clocks are both prosaic and profound,” says Weil. “Prosaic because of their ubiquity in everyday life, profound because of the mysterious nature of time itself. Time can be reduced to hours, minutes and seconds, just as a clock can be reduced to its component parts. This doesn’t explain time, but in a way simply exposes its mysterious essence.”

[ I like clocks. ]