Water and rock oil do not mix well

 

In an address to the European Parliament, Pope Francis said, "...Our earth needs constant concern and attention.  Each of us has a personal responsibility to care for creation, this precious gift which God has entrusted to us.  This means, on the one hand, that nature is at our disposal, to enjoy and use properly.  Yet it also means that we are not its masters.  Stewards, but not masters.  We need to love and respect nature, but “instead we are often guided by the pride of dominating, possessing, manipulating, exploiting; we do not ‘preserve’ the earth, we do not respect it, we do not consider it as a freely-given gift to look after”. Respect for the environment, however, means more than not destroying it; it also means using it for good purposes...."
 
Here in America, this is contested. At the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, the Lakota Sioux and their friends are standing for water; economic interests are trying to force in an oil pipeline. Here in Cleveland, people are standing in prayerful solidarity Sundays at 11am, at the Native American Garden on MLKJr. Blvd. To-day, my nephew and me attended, this is similar to when we attended the prayer vigils at nearby St. Casimir.

swords into ploughshares

From the first reading for Advent Sunday:

And he shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people: and they shall turn their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they be exercised any more to war. — Isaias ii. 4. (DRC)

scene from a quadruple lancet window 1949. Church of the Covenant [Presby] Cleveland.

November in the gardens

Thursday afternoon the temperature was in the 60s Fahrenheit and sunny. Such a day in the second half of November near the southern shore of the Great Lakes are somewhat rare. The meteorological polling has forecasted Saturday to be a blustery, snowy day. This season the trees have retained many of their leaves, and some in good color.  More than one teevee weatherman suggests such a day is an opportunity to walk your hound. So we did in Rockefeller Park.

The Cultural Gardens are a great place. The city had workmen taking care of the grounds. Crossing MLK Blvd., even at the signaling crosswalks, is not safe. People speed, and  many give no thought of pedestrians. I am surprised that reports of people run over have not been made. Not too many people enjoy walking the gardens. The few times i go, i see few people.

The years around 1970 saw much vandalism and theft. Bronze busts were not safe. Here in the Slovene Garden is a painted plaster bust of the poet Ivan Zorman. The cracking pattern is interesting.

The Latvian Garden has some abstract cut rock. One has a man sized opening, which gives chances to foto.

The Croat Garden has an important statue, by a local sculptor, Joseph Turkaly. It is of an Immigrant Mother with children.

supermoon

Yesterday at Edgewater Park Cleveland before sunset

Well, sunset they were not interested; it was for moonrise. Full moon rise at 5:44 pm. A long line of photographers, many with tripods wait on the ridge over the shore, and below them a few more on a lower ridge.

This Cleveland sign has been very poplar with people and cameras. For a couple of hours, they turned their backs on it.

It was cloudy, and the most visible the moon was about 5:56. It was blocked by Cleveland's tallest building. All the people were like the cartoon Linus Van Pelt waiting for the Great Pumpkin. The people may not have been sincere enough, beyond this moment it was even less visible as the clouds were a wall thick enough to obscure.

beyond sad

Democracy died. It should be given a funeral before the mourners are rounded up.

I wonder if Don McLean has another song in him.

2016 Miscellany #6

On occasion, i sift through fotos i have taken and throw up a few in a miscellany. Supra is a portrait, yes a portrait, of a gorilla residing at the Cleveland Zoo. For morning meal, leaves were slowly plucked from these branches. Animals have faces, and expressions on those faces, and the eyes capture and comprehend. There is a mental, sensual, emotional life going on behind those eyes.

Earlier this year in Cincinnati, a gorilla, Harambe was killed by staff. In Cleveland's zoo, a chalkboard for public use was placed by the Cat and Ape Building. Someone had written 'Harambe'. Harambe became a mocking item on the internet. Cincinnati Zoo is very defensive about the incident, since a three year old boy was involved.

This is a shot i like to take, there is both a diagonal and a reflection. The former St. Mary Romanian Orthodox church dome is seen in a new set of windows in the parish hall. The campus is part of Cleveland Public Theater.

 

On the side of an art gallery, next to a Carnegie Library, is a Cleveland sports town version of Andy Warhol's use of a most common soup can.

This is a very active dog, i have seen before, he can pose for a moment, but is generally very mobile when i have seen him. Yesterday, he was running the length of the porch and jumping to the roof, and back to the porch. As i heard the shutter click, he was moving.

some Indian summer color

Sixty years ago (for a period of less than three weeks) Hungary had a national uprising. The symbol was the national flag with the communist seal cut out. On Cleveland's Lakeside and East 12th there are two statues, one of a rebel with such a flag (newly redone colors for the anniversary), and one of Cardinal Mindszenty.

This lawn acted as storage of the plastic animals of Cracking Art Collective, it is down to these five various colored wolves. It was planned that the three hundred plus animals would be collected and melted down.

 Rockefeller Greenhouse has many colored chrysanthemums on display.