I sat down this evening to finally write a post about the Big Trip we took to Big Bend for my Big Birthday in October. But before I did that, I just wanted to quickly get up a batch of photos of Donald Judd’s 15 untitled works in concrete that are at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas. And that ended up taking what felt like forever and so Big Bend will have to wait for another day.
I love minimalism and I love the desert, so making the trek to Marfa has been on my to do list for awhile. Judd’s concrete work is interesting to me in how it interacts with the landscape- framing views, revealing moments and denying others. The pieces are fun to be in and around- they are constantly changing your perceptions. His aluminum works- and the artillery sheds they are in- are also impressive– you can read more about Judd and the Chinati Foundation here.
Two friends, a mother and daughter, have been raising monarch caterpillars at home. Monarchs subsist solely on a diet of milkweed, and having run out of their homegrown supply, I recently received a SOS text (from my friend, not the caterpillars!). Where could they locate more milkweed to feed the VERY hungry caterpillars? The next evening we drove around until we found some, and now I can’t stop looking for it –and getting excited when I see it. Loss of habitat for milkweed is one of the main reasons the monarch butterfly is in decline.
I spotted these milkweeds on the side of the W&OD trail one recent day while riding my bike. I am charmed by the chartreuse leaf, the course texture, and of course the huge seed pods. When ripe, the pods open to cast their fluffy seeds to the wind.
A lot has been said about power lines and trees in the DC/MD/VA area since the derecho struck a few weeks ago. Brad McKee, the Editor of Landscape Architecture Magazine, has a particularly good piece here on why it makes sense to keep the trees whole and bury the power lines.
