Our 2013 Road Trip, days 4 and 5

The Glacial Drumlin rail-to-trail is well maintained "toll" rail-to-trail pathway is described in the TrailLink website:

"It is common on a rail-trail to be reminded of railroading history; it is quite another experience to be taken back thousands of years and witness the effects of ancient ice flows on the landscape. This is the case with the 52-mile Glacial Drumlin State Trail, particularly at its western end. As gigantic sheets of ice bore down on this area, they created wetlands, ponds and rivers, as well as hundreds of low, cigar-shaped hills called drumlins." 

http://www.traillink.com/trail/glacial-drumlin-state-trail.aspx

What a glorious day to ride on this peaceful, well maintained trail. We did less than half of the trail before turning back to the trailhead in Cottage Grove, just east of Madison, Wisconsin.

                                                 The Glacial Drumlin Trail, Wisconsin

Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studios at Spring Green, Wisconsin. Architecture critic Robert Campbell says that Taliesin is "the greatest single building in America."

http://www.taliesinpreservation.org

Our Second Long Road and Bicycle Trip

Days 1 to 3: our drive took us from Cambridge through Pittsfield, MA, Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo and today to DeKalb, Il. We have made visits along the way to son Brendan, to old friends and friends newly made. We entered a heat wave today and drove through cornfields which will produce ethanol (we pray this product does not get shipped by rail behind our condo as has been proposed). We do not think growing corn for ethanol is the way this land should be used. Please see the recent article, “More Corn Ethanol In 2013 Means Environment, Consumers Lose Out” at this link:

http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2013/08/more-corn-ethanol-2013-means-environment-consumers-lose-out

Cornfields in Ohio

Indiana University article about Janet and Intercultural Dimensions

Please click on article to read it

Come join us for our 23rd Intercultural Dimensions program in Senegal January 4-20, 2014.

Hawaii 2013

Hanalei is a favorite area of Hawaii for us:

 Beach near Hanalei

 Just relaxing

 The Best Mai Tai around - at the Hanalei Gourmet

Looking inland from near Hanalei, Kauai

A Road and Bike Trip is Fun.

Riding some Rails-to-Trails is a fun way to do a holiday and an interesting way to get some exercise. 

Garden at the Thiaroye Lycée

This beautiful, productive garden at the high school in Thiaroye, Senegal, was empty space behind the school, when my late, close friend Bill Griff decided to collaborate with the former principal of the school, Abdou Salam Deme to create a school garden.  Now, a couple of years later, with the hard work of the students and staff and the support of the municipality, the new school principal El Hadji Sao and Peace Corps Volunteers David Vaughn and Danny White, the garden is flourishing and greatly productive.

A Panama Hat

Here is how to put it on:

In Hawaii

At the Wedding:

After the wedding:

 a beach at Hanalei, Kauai

our favorite for Mai Tai - Hanalei Gourmet 

 Hanalei pasture, north coast

for a nice hat: NEWT at the Royal

Darrow and Subhana's Wedding, June 8, 2013

Another study that leaves me questioning our war policies...

http://www.livingunderdrones.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Stanford-NYU-LIVING-UNDER-DRONES.pdf

The Constitution's Project's Report on Detainee Treatment

I urge people to read this report which demonstrates that:

"U.S. forces, in many instances, used interrogation techniques on detainees that constitute torture. American personnel conducted an even larger number of interrogations that involved “cruel, inhuman, or degrading” treatment. Both categories of actions violate U.S. laws and international treaties. Such conduct was directly counter to values of the Constitution and our nation."

http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/684407/constitution-project-report-on-detainee-treatment.pdf

A Memory of camping at Sawyer Pond, New Hampshire, with Bill Griff

Silently slips the loon
Tranquilly, without a ripple
Under a silver moon.

Sawyer Pond

Our Precarious Future

Here is an interesting essay on our world's future, near-term anyway. The first part lays out a lot of problems, the second part is as optimistic a take on our possibilities as I have seen. 

First Part:    http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-limits-of-the-earth-part-1-problems?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Weekly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=3e797b98a3-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email

Second Part   http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-limits-of-the-earth-part-2-expanding-the-limits?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Weekly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=3e797b98a3-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email

what do you think?

Cambridge-Boston and surrounding communities in "Lockdown."

This is pretty weird - sitting on our patio while less than a ten minute walk from here the police prepare to set off a precautionary explosion to clear their way into the premises previously occupied by the older of the two madmen who killed and maimed so many at the Boston Marathon and killed a policeman during the night. It's sunny and warm. I would like to be walking to downtown Boston to do some work at the library but that is no longer on my agenda as we are all - something like a million of us - supposed to stay at home. All of the public transportation in the area has been shut down. All I can hear and see are helicopters going this way and that. No traffic on our usually busy street. A strange feeling, indeed.

I would like at least like to take a walk but I am stuck here as if under house arrest for who knows how long. The crazies who did this horror are from my neighborhood, which brings their crimes close to me personally. I may well have walked past these people on my way to my favorite coffee shop on Cambridge Street last week.

Markets in Senegal

                                                         Traditional Weaving at Kaolack

Dancing in Senegal

Sobo Badé-l'Engouement continued

Above: Courtyard, Sobo Badé, a drawing by Michael Pease of Eugene, Oregon
Below: Alioune Diedhiou and Fatou Dièmé

 Batik Lesson at Sobo Badé

 Drumming lesson at Sobo Badé