HAPPY HOLIDAYS from THE INTREPID TOURIST

Holidays are a time for get-togethers with family and friends and for passing on family traditions. Every year when we get out the decorations for our tree we are reminded of the time that each one was added to the collection. The glass ornament above hung on Art's family tree when he was growing up and has now been passed on to our daughter Jennifer and her family. It is still being enjoyed three generations later!

With best wishes for a

 Happy Holiday

 from The Intrepid Tourist!

FOWLER MUSEUM, UCLA: Intersections

Intersections: World Arts/Local Lives. Fowler Museum of Cultural Arts.

One of my favorite museums in Los Angeles is the Fowler Museum of Cultural Arts, located on the UCLA campus just north of the Janss Steps. Housing more then 120,000 art and ethnographic objects and 600,000 archaeological objects it is a treasure house of ancient, traditional, and contemporary cultures of Africa, Native and Latin America, and Asia and the Pacific. It is also a space for a wide variety of wonderful temporary exhibits.

Cloth constructed from recycled metal tabs, from Africa. Intersections exhibit.

Inside the museum, surrounding a garden/atrium, are four galleries. Two are for temporary exhibits. In one of the other galleries is the permanent installation of the silver collection of the Fowler Family (after whom the museum is named.) Among my favorites in this room is the set of Apostle spoons and a painting depicting a royal banquet at which silver dishes like those in the collection were used. This blog post is devoted to a brief overview of some of the exhibits in the main gallery, Intersections, a sampling of objects from the Fowler collection..

Masks.

Intersections: World Arts/Local Lives, first opened to the public in 2006 and since then has showcased objects that inspire conversation and reflection. 

Wooden carvings.

The exhibits in the gallery explore how arts from Africa, Asia and the Pacific and the Americas conceptually intersect with each other. Major sections of the exhibition consider how these arts served as vehicles of action, knowledge, power and transformation.                                                      

Memories and Transcendence: Tree of Life and other objects.

An exceptional collection of more than 900 Mexican works was donated in 1997 by the Daniel Family and includes a magnificent ceramic Trees of Life, Day of the Dead figurines, and masks from Metepec, Oaxaca, Michoacan, Jalisco, Puebla, and Guanajuato.

Spirit's Walk, painting on bark from East Arnhem Land, Australia

Mexican Day of the Dead figures.

A small room within Intersections is for temporary exhibits. (See my earlier post on Armenian Lace.)

In addition to the two galleries for temporary exhibits, an exhibition space for photographs is on the walls of the hallway surrounding the atrium of the museum. (The most recent exhibit there was Remain in Light: Visions of Home and the Diaspora , striking black and white photos, often with dramatic skies, depicting contemporary life in Armenia.) I make regular trips to the Fowler as new exhibits are mounted, but I always return to the Intersections gallery. It is the heart of the museum.

PS And the Fowler Museum gift shop is a perfect place to find gifts for the holidays--or any other time of year!

ROAD TRIP: Alcantra, Spain, Guest Post by Susan Kean

My friend Susan Kean and her partner George recently went on a driving trip from Lisbon in Portugal, through Spain, to the Dordogne region in the South of France, where they visited friends and toured the countryside, including a visit to the famous painted caves of Lascaux (a replica). Susan has graciously agreed to share her photos with The Intrepid Tourist. The first three posts appeared several weeks ago. Here is a final post with Susan’s account of their visit to Alcantra, Spain. Susan writes:

Inside the beautiful Conventual de San Benito in Alcantra.

Conventual de San Benito, Alcantara

Here is one more post from our adventures last month. We took a two night trip to Alcantara, Spain… a short distance east of the Portuguese border. Our primary purpose was to see the beautiful Roman bridge that is built across the Tagus River, but as with much of Spain and Portugal, there is a lot more going on.

Hospederia Conventual de Alcantara. Hotel dining room with flour mills.

We stayed in a hotel that was a converted convent, with some time being a flour mill!

Four of the main Crusade groups.

This area was very involved with the Crusades and Order of the Alcantara still exists today. 

Rainy day view of Tagus Bridge

The Alcántara Bridge is a Roman bridge at Alcántara, in Extremadura, Spain. Alcántara is from the Arabic word al-Qantarah meaning "the arch". The stone arch bridge was built over the Tagus River between 104 and 106 AD by an order of the Roman emperor Trajan in 98.

The Tagus Bridge has had challenges during war times when armies would blow up an arch to prevent the enemy from crossing.

Alcantara Bridge

Road surface as it’s been for 2000 years. Maybe the Romans could teach us something. They are finally building another bridge nearby as heavy traffic is taking its toll.

View up the Tagus River, away from the bridge.

Hydro-electric plant near the bridge.

MEDITATION GARDEN, Encinitas, California: A Place to Immerse Yourself in the Beauty of Nature

Meditation Garden, Encinitas, CA

On a recent Sunday Art and I did a day trip from Los Angeles to visit the beautiful Meditation Garden in Encinitas, CA, at the top of a bluff overlooking the Pacific. As we walked up the steps from the entrance we found a network of paths—some through shaded bowers, one to the koi pond and waterfall, some to nooks with benches, another along the clifftop which leads past the former site of the Golden Lotus Temple and then on to a cactus lined walkway ending in an artistically arranged bed of cactus and succulents surrounded with black lava rocks.

Variety of cactus and succulents.

The garden is part of the Self-Realization Fellowship Encinitas Temple, located in Encinitas, California, a coastal community just north of San Diego. In 1938 the Golden Lotus Temple was built by Paramahansa Yogananda on a point of land at the top of the cliffs that is now part of the garden. 

Former site of the Golden Lotus Temple.

During the next four years, thousands attended the Thursday and Sunday services conducted by the Guru at this site. However, in 1942 the instability of the cliff required that the Temple be removed. A plaque now documents its location.

Bromeliads in a planter box, with variety of other plants.

The plants in the garden are all perfectly tended and vary from cactus and succulents to shade loving plants by the koi pond. For home gardeners, walking the garden paths is a place to get inspiration for new things to plant. For everyone, the garden is a place to appreciate the beauty of nature.

Sunny path through the garden, seen through agave plants.

It was a perfect California November day—sunny but not too hot and not a cloud in the sky. (Later in the week, rain was predicted.) In the ocean below, we watched surfers waiting for the next big wave. Although quite a few other people were also visiting the garden, it still felt peaceful and not too crowded.

Stairway to J Street viewpoint.

We had a picnic lunch afterward at J Street Viewpoint park nearby, climbing stairs from the street level to an overlook with several picnic tables and a spectacular view of the ocean.

Surfers on beach below the garden.

Entry to the Meditation Garden is free and near the entrance are restrooms and information about the Self-Realization Fellowship.
For more about the Self-Realization Fellowship and Paramahansa Yogananda, often referred to as the “Father of Yoga in the West”, go to the SRF website.
The Meditation Gardens are located at 215 W. K Street (between 2nd and 3rd Streets)
Open Tuesday – Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Closed Monday

Closure dates: 11/23, 12/16, 12/23, 12/25, 1/1, 1/5, 1/13

The Meditation Gardens are also closed when it rains.

Flowering Aloe, a succulent, overlooking the ocean.

For more information about visiting the Self-Realization Fellowship Encinitas Hermitage and Meditation Gardens: https://www.encinitastemple.org/visiting/

Quiet nook with seating, honoring St. Francis of Assisi.

For more photos of the Meditation  garden, taken on a previous visit, see my post from March 13, 2017, a report my first time in the garden.

“SO SMALL” MINIATURE ART AUCTION IN EUGENE, OREGON Guest Post by Caroline Hatton at The Intrepid Tourist

Stone and driftwood picture by Julie Walsh (2" x 3") 

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, showed miniatures she had handcrafted and took these photos at this event in September 2023.

As a lover of miniatures, I was thrilled to learn about So Small, the annual miniature art show, silent auction and fundraiser in Eugene, Oregon. Even better, the organizer (the OSLP Arts & Culture Center*) solicits donations of mini art and craft items from any and all artists, offering a welcome outlet for my creations! Item dimensions must not exceed 3” x 3” x 3”.

What could I make? Something quick and easy and likely to “sell” in September: a seasonal decoration or gift for the Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas!

Christmas gift by Caroline Hatton 

Christmas gift by Caroline Hatton

To craft mini, fake Christmas gifts, I split a Post-It-Note-pad in two halves and wrapped them in salvaged holiday-card-envelope paper. On the green gift, I glued rescued ribbon, holly leaves previously cut from a fabric remnant, alder cones previously collected on nature walks and sterilized by baking, fake berries previously cannibalized from a damaged decoration, and used acrylic paint for snow. For the red gift’s ribbon, I cut strips from envelopes. After I dropped my contribution one hour before the submission deadline, I couldn’t wait for the show, to see what other people made.

"So Small" art auction and fundraiser in Eugene, Oregon

On the late-September Saturday evening when the 8^th annual show was scheduled, parking in downtown Eugene was easy and free. At the event entrance, I provided my contact info and was assigned an anonymous bidder number, such as, for example, 177. Then I was ready to bid simply by writing down 177 and my bid ($2 or more in $1 increments) on the form next to any wee wonder I wanted.  

Mini Halloween decoration by Charlotte Pearce (1" cubic box)

Mini adobe abode by Ms. Hirsch (about 1" tall)

Artworks donated by miniature making students

Mini ceramics by Carolyn Craig (about 2" diameter)

Needle-felted mini pumpkins

Over 600 tiny treasures were up for auction! Paintings, drawings, mixed media sculptures, jewelry, dioramas, 1:12 and smaller-scale miniatures, hand-painted gift enclosure cards, laminated bookmarks, painted rocks…

Mini snacks from event sponsors Killer Burger and Community Cup Coffee

A mere 20 minutes into the two-hour event, the line at the check-in table stretched out the door and down the sidewalk, and the interior space no longer had elbow room.

"Black Red & Gold" handmade blank book by Deb Ingebretsen

I won a beautiful blank book, “Black Red & Gold,” handmade by Deb Ingebretsen. My little Christmas gifts were sold. The event raised some $4,000 for the Scholarship Fund, a huge success, given that an 8-week class including instruction and materials costs about $100 per person. To nurture an inclusive creative community, the Center offers some classes that facilitate participation in local events. For example, students who took a lantern-making class walked in the parade that is a highlight of BEAM, an annual celebration of illumination arts in downtown Eugene.

So Small was sponsored or supported by a number of local businesses and non-profits, including MECCA (the Materials Exchange Center for Community Arts), a thrift shop for arts and crafts supplies, where teachers never have to pay and mere mortals pay what they can. It’s next on my list of places to visit, to donate salvaged and surplus craft supplies, and to browse and dream up what to make for… next year’s So Small!

*“OSLP (the Oregon Supported Living Program) was founded in 1978 under the auspices of the University of Oregon to serve adults with mild developmental disabilities who lived independently. In 2012, in response to the limited and segregated artistic opportunities available to people with disabilities, OSLP created its Arts & Culture Center. Through classes, workshops, and exhibitions, the Center is inclusive, open to adults with and without disabilities, one of only a few programs of its kind in the United States.”

 All text and photos, copyright Caroline Arnold. www.theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com

 

THE BIRDS OF NYANDUNGU, RWANDA, AFRICA, Guest Post by Karen Minkowski

Black-headed Heron, Nyandungu Urban Wetlands Eco-Tourism Park, Kigala, Rwanda

My friend Karen Minkowski, a frequent contributor to The Intrepid Tourist and definitely an intrepid traveler, is currently in Africa, a place that she has visited often. Karen is a keen birdwatcher and I thank her for sharing her wonderful photos of the birds of Nyandungu with The Intrepid Tourist.

While visiting Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city, in early 2023, I took my camera to NyandunguUrban Wetlands Eco-Tourism Park, in one of Kigali’s many valleys. The Park comprises 120 hectares (297 acres) of a restored wetland complex -grasslands, ponds and a small fig forest. It was created to reestablish some of Kigali’s lost biodiversity and to provide the community with social and economic benefits (lots of jobs!). Somewhere between one and two hundred species of birds reside in or use the Park’s habitats. The Park is buffered from the surrounding suburbs by agricultural fields. In the photo above a Black-headed Heron flies across the grassy wetland.

I’ve recently returned to Rwanda for a longer stay, and I visit Nyandungu frequently. My photos are annotated with a few facts I gleaned from Google and Google Scholar. Cornell University’s online Birds of the World is a favorite source. Here are some of the birds I’ve seen:

African Openbill

The African Openbill is a stork that feeds primarily on mollusks. Within seconds, it can pry open and extract a snail from its shell, using the tip of its lower mandible. It cuts the muscle that keeps the shell closed, rather than crunching it.  Greater effort is needed to open mussel shells, so Openbills may deposit captured mussels on the shore, leaving the sun to kill them.  As the mussels die, they release their hold on their shells. In this photo the Openbill is likely probing for insects in the dead wood.

Spur-winged Goose

The Spur-winged Goose derives its name from a small spur, or spike, at the bending point of each wing and is used in fighting during the breeding season. Spur-winged geese that eat the poisonous Blister Beetle store the toxin in their tissues, which may kill whatever subsequently eats the geese.

African Stonechat

The African Stonechat is an Old-World flycatcher that feeds almost exclusively on insects, their larvae, and other invertebrates. It occupies a wide range of habitats on the continent.

Common Bulbul

A very common bird throughout much of Africa south of the Sahel, the Common Bulbul is primarily a fruit-eater, but also takes a few insects and small vertebrates.

White-browed Coucal

The elegant White-browed Coucal has a lovely call, a kind of soft, warbling sound. Its body pulses to the rhythm of the call, a bit like bellows. Male White-browed Coucals spend more time than females incubating the eggs, but both sexes share the task of feeding their young. They eat mostly insects, spiders, and small invertebrates.

Fork-tailed Drongo

Fork-tailed Drongos are known to give false alarm calls to scare other bird species into abandoning their food to a thieving drongo. They also mimic the alarm calls of other species for the same purpose. Why hunt when there are easier ways to get a good meal?

Black-lored Babblers

Black-lored Babblers are highly sociable birds. The one on the left had been grooming the bird in in the middle, then moved a short distance away and returned a few seconds later. It is tempting – if hopeless - to imagine what they are communicating with these postures and expressions! These birds literally babble when grouped together, as if they cannot contain their excitement. The authors of a bird guide describe the sound as having a “slightly insane and hilarious laughing quality”.

LASCAUX CAVES, DORDOGNE, FRANCE: A Treasure House of Prehistoric Art, Guest Post by Susan Kean

Lascaux Caves, Dordogne, France.

My friend Susan Kean and her partner George recently went on a driving trip from Lisbon in Portugal, through Spain, to the Dordogne region in the South of France, where they visited friends and toured the countryside, including a visit to the famous painted caves of Lascaux (a replica). Susan has graciously agreed to share her photos with The Intrepid Tourist. I have divided them into three sections, starting with the first leg of the trip, Lisbon to the Pyrenees; the second, sightseeing in the Dordogne; the third, a visit to the Lascaux Caves. Susan writes:

Area of the original cave.

We visited the Lascaux caves on the 3rd day of our visit to Dordogne. We were early for the English language tour so walked around the area of the original cave

Using candlelight to see the paintings on the ceiling.

Four teenagers discovered the caves in 1940. They are full of ancient wall paintings (600 or more) that are over 20,000 years old. 

Diagram of Lascaux Caves.

The paintings are primarily of horses, aurochs (an extinct type of large ox) and various other animals. As there are virtually no pictures of humans (except one horse with a human head) it is thought that the paintings were of religious significance. They are are also thought to be the combined painting efforts of several generations.

Exiting the reconstructed cave.

The original cave was closed in 1963 because the visitor traffic caused enormous deterioration of the bright colors of the paintings. Two amazing replicas have been built and are well worth a visit. Lascaux 2 is on the original site. Lascaux 4 is very recent recreation with a large museum, large gift shop and restaurant. I’m glad we saw both. However, I liked Lascaux 2 best as it is the location of the original cave.

Painted auroch.

The tour guide explained how they got the primitive colors. They used Magnesium for black which is different than the usual charcoal. If they had used charcoal the paintings would be have been easier to date. Apparently the diet of the people was primarily reindeer. No reindeer appear in the paintings.

Lastly we visited Thot park where more recent versions of the animals from the area can be seen.

Thot Park reindeer.

The Thot park recent ox are much smaller than the extinct wild ox (auroch) as displayed in the cave paintings.

Thot Park ox.

Previous posts about Susan's trip:

    ROAD TRIP: LISBON TO THE PYRENNEES, October 30, 2023

    ROAD TRIP: THE BEAUTIFUL DORDOGNE REGION OF FRANCE, November 6, 2023