Reading Goethe in China

I never guessed that I would be reading Goethe in China. The image on this attached book cover portrays the Modern Library Publishing House's representation of the plot. Sublime, romantic, angst-filled content awaits readers living on every continent. My students selected a novella that speaks to the heart of hopelessly romantic young men and women in Chinese society in 2012 just as passionately as it spoke to the youth living in Germany in the eighteenth century.

Inside Joke

No explanation is needed.

just a personal memory of some chairs

Globalization Zebra

Friday, October 7, 2011

Are we all material girls and boys in a material world? That's a barcode on her shoulder. If I titled this painting, its title would be: Globalization Zebra.

I took this photo at the Shanghai Art Museum on Friday, October 7 with my iPad2. I took all the photos in Shanghai with my iPad2. because I wanted to see what it was capable of visually. Here are several of the results.

The movement of these two water buffalo in the painting/calligraphy scroll was fluid and in synch with the flow of my life.

We discussed this painting in my AP English class today. The discussion centered around how the social, cultural and historical context is critical for understanding art and literature. This was my favorite painting at the Shanghai Art Museum, even though I know nothing about it because the information card under the painting was written in Chinese. I have no context, so I used my imagination to appreciate the work.

iPad2 shot at the Shanghai Art Museum

Nelly and the Cardinal

I rescued two cranesbill geraniums (sanguineum) and one Cardinal Wyszynski clematis from outside of the the Hy-Vee grocery store in Fort Dodge, Iowa last week. The Cardinal was so dry that I rushed him to the women's restroom inside the store for a drink from the faucet. I planted the clematis today and hope it will intertwine and make love to Nelly Moser, blood red and demure pink copulating silently in my garden.

A visit from the cardinal...

3:49 p.m. Friday, July 22, 2011

I bought a Cardinal Wyszynski clematis for one dollar late in the season. Any advice from fellow gardeners on keeping it happy? Photos to follow later this afternoon.

Clematis Cardinal Wyszynski link:

http://www.perennialresource.com/plants/vine/961_clematis-cardinal-wyszynski.aspx

Kitty In My Hand

I came home late tonight, switched on the radio to Hearts of Space- a program that musically melted my cat's fear of the unofficial run-up to the July 4th fireworks display- and the furry man fell asleep in my hand while I was trying to read the day's news online.

The radio program describes itself as looking for a sound and experience, not a genre. If restful kitty snores are any indication, Hearts of Space is making the world a more weightless and dreamy place.

Chubby Nike

This chubby bearded iris bloom in my garden is Nike the winged goddess of victory in flower form: fast runner, swift flyer and able charioteer!