"Baby in April"

That was the text that Nathanael sent the family at 7:37 AM on Monday, August 3rd.  Before I'd heard the news, I'd been sharing with Dr. Jackie Miller on the bus to SPU, that the arrival of more grandkids might strongly influence my retirement date.  The number "six" has been on my mind but more would be more than welcome.  Jonathan and his new sibling will be about as far apart in age as Annie and Nathanael are.

Soon, we'll answer the gender question.  But at least for now, an exam on the 29th set an early April due date.

It dawns on me how politically incorrect this verse is.  "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." — Psalm 127:4-5  Daughters, too, are awfully nice!

SBGE Staff Visits
The Museum of Flight

Again this year, the staff took my suggestion and chose to take our annual summer staff outing to the Museum of Flight in Renton.

Admission was $25 each, and the dean paid the additional $10 for each of us to see the Destination Moon (Apollo 11) exhibit.

I had seen so many Apollo 11 documentaries on KCTS 9 (PBS) last month (the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing), that I was not too excited about the display.  That is, until I got to stand next to the actual Apollo 11 Command Module "Columbia" (right).  Pictured below it is just one of five giant Rocketdyne F1 rocket engines what would have lifted the Saturn V rocket skyward.

I especially enjoyed the Personal Courage Wing of the museum.  I only managed to get through part of its first floor (World War II).  I missed the second floor (World War I) exhibit and all of the West Campus exhibits.

The picture lower left, shows three Rosie the Riveters. The one upper right looks so much like Laurie, I imagined it might have been Mom.

After three hours at the museum, we reconvened for a late lunch at Fonda La Catrina, a Mexican restaurant in Georgetown.

Earlier Days
with Jonathan

On Saturday the 17th, I got to spend the whole day with Jonathan.  Then Nathanael and Cynthia brought me Bullet to drive this week and I got pictures of Jonathan on the 18th. 

I realized that my general rule for children applies to grandchildren too.  Which grandchild do I love the most?  The one I am with.  It's my way of saying I always want them around.

I was trying to get Jonathan to smile and, at least this time, it wasn't working.  Then I thought of the one joke I use all the time with adults.  "Why does the new French Navy have glass bottomed ships?  So they can  see the old French Navy of course!" 
I suddenly got the grin at the left.  That joke really does work EVERY time!

Jonathan is walking much better in this his second month as a walker.  And he's also an avid climber.  On the 17th, Bob and Kim Disher and I took Charis and Jonathan to the big play area at the Bellevue Downtown Park.  Charis kept Bob and Kim hopping.  Jonathan was all I could handle.

On the ladder (left) up in Annie and Thomas' new room, Jonathan was eager to leap off, assuming someone nearby would catch him.

Construction Means More Time with My Other Favorite Model

On the 11th, Charis went on vacation with her mom and dad  and his parents Bob and Kim. They went to Neah Bay and then across the north side of the Olympic Peninsula.

She is inquisitive. 
So I showed her the "secret" room in the kitchen.  When we pull out the baking center, it leaves a little room under the counter with swinging doors which is just her size.  Similarly, I showed her how to sneak around through the dining room when the door between the kitchen and the living room keeps her out of wherever she wants to go.  She delights in knowing how to solve her own problems.

Nancy and Annie began painting Nathanael's old bedroom.  Dark green with white trim seems odd at first but will be elegant with dark wood flooring.  Annie tossed some paint-water over the second floor balcony railing, not expecting that Charis wanted me to pick more blackberries for her.  Of course, Charis managed to find the spot where she could get the green on her shirt and pants. 

‘Discovering Haida Art’ with Robert Davidson
By Amy Fletcher / JUNEAU EMPIRE / Wednesday, November 25, 2015

When renowned Haida artist Robert Davidson was a kid, he used to root for the cowboys while watching old Westerns, cheering with his friends when the “bad guys” — the Indians — were killed. Then his uncle took him aside and explained that he and his family were “Indians” themselves.

“When he told me, I cried,” Davidson recalled last week during a Native American Heritage Month talk hosted by Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau.  (Davidson's Haida name is Guud San Glans, meaning “Eagle of the Dawn.”)

The process of discovering his identity as a Haida man went forward from there, quickly picking up speed as he began immersing himself in Northwest Coast art. It’s a trajectory that is still moving forward, one that has placed him among the most celebrated and influential Northwest Coast artists working today.

Davidson’s exploration of Haida art and culture as a young man came at a time when the art had nearly disappeared from his hometown of Masset, British Columbia. Somewhat ironically, he was first introduced to old pieces from his region while visiting museums as a teenager in Vancouver, where art from Haida Gwaii was prominently displayed.

“When I went to the city, people knew more about us than I did,” Davidson, now 69, recalled.

Curious about where the art had gone in Masset, and driven to study as much of it as he could, Davidson said he returned to his village to look for examples.

“I knocked on every door to ask if there was any art left,” Davidson said. “I found one box.”

Though concrete examples were scarce in Masset, Davidson was able to draw on the knowledge and support of his family, many of whom were artists themselves, including his father, Claude Davidson, and his grandfather, Robert Davidson Sr. (whom he referred to in last week’s talk as “tsinii,” the Haida word for grandfather). Davidson’s great grandfather was the celebrated Haida artist Charles Edenshaw.

Davidson himself began learning to carve argillite from his father when he was 13.

“I feel my success (as an artist) came from my grandfather, my uncles, my parents,” Davidson said.

His forward momentum reached its first dramatic peak in August 1969, at the age of 22, when he carved and raised the first totem pole in Masset in nearly 90 years, with the help of his brother Reg and others. The raising of Davidson’s “Bear Mother” pole proved to be a watershed event for Masset, invigorating the town, and spurring elders to remember parts of ceremonial dances and songs. In a previous interview, Davidson compared each person to a thin thread that united to form a strong rope, pulling the knowledge back from the brink of a void into which it might have disappeared forever.

“People had never experienced anything like (the totem raising), myself included,” Davidson said.

Davidson’s grandfather, then in his late 80s, was one of the leaders of the raising. Three weeks later he died peacefully, telling his daughter, “My job is done.”

After the raising, Davidson devoted himself to studying Haida art and culture, learning from experts including Bill Reid and Bill Holm. Now known for his contemporary interpretations of traditional formline, Davidson said creativity within the art form has to happen in the context of traditional knowledge.

“Creating was key in the culture but it had to be with the foundation of knowledge,” Davidson said. “The real key is to learn the foundation from the old masters and to expand on that.”

Davidson said such expansion is also a part of Haida tradition.

“The art was always moving forward,” he said. “There was always a progression.”

One of the important things an artist learns from studying old pieces is a sense of intuition about qualities such as balance and proportion, which are key to understanding Northwest Coast design. We all know what is beautiful, Davidson said, even if we don’t understand why. Study allows creative decision-making to become more automatic.

“Intuitive creativity happens after 10,000 hours of practice,” he said.

Davidson works in many different media, and is known for his carvings, sculpture and paintings. His work has been exhibited at museums including Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, and the Vancouver Art Gallery, and he is widely recognized as one of the most accomplished artists in Canada.

Juneau residents will recognize him as the artist behind one of the most prominent pieces of public art in the city, the huge red metal panels on the Water Soboleff Building. Davidson is one of three artists who created major art pieces for the building, along with Tlingit artist Preston Singletary and Tsimshian artist David Boxley.

Rosita Worl, president of Sealaska Heritage Institute, said Davidson’s widespread influence on the region goes far beyond his physical artwork. Davidson inspired SHI to create its art department years ago, she said, after telling her that traditional art was deteriorating due to a lack of knowledge about formline.

“It was from that teaching, from those words, that we began our art department,” Worl said after Davidson’s presentation. “He was the impetus for us to really concentrate on our art.”

SHI’s art department now includes outreach to villages around the region, as well as to schools and Lemon Creek Correctional Center.

Worl said in a previous Empire interview that Northwest Coast art can be understood as a “very overt manifestation of our culture.”
________________________________

Notes:  I teared up a few times while reading this online newspaper article.  I have always considered Robert Davidson to be the premier artist in this genre of my generation.  He is my mentor in absentia.

The picture above showing Robert Davidson describing a variety of "Salmon-Trout Head" ovoids, is reminiscent of the same type of lecture I heard from Marvin Oliver over forty years ago.  In Professor Oliver's course, learning the rules of formlines was the key recognizing authentic art.

Davidson's "Eagle" (top right) reminds me of my own Tenas Chak Chak (Young Eagle) drawing (left).  But I like the Salmon-Trout Head ovoids in mine over the plain ovoids in his.  It just reminds me how much I want to return to making this art when I retire. 

Home Construction Continues in August

With Annie and Thomas on vacation with his parents, and Jean off in Massachusetts with Joel, Nancy continued with construction.  She's been working on the entry air lock window and door, and on Nathanael's old bedroom.  Annie and Thomas chose Perennial Green with a bit of white trim for the wall of their new room.

I went back to one day off each week, Thursdays in August, and without a grandchild to dote on, Nancy got some work out of me. The dark green needs two coats.

When Annie got home from vacation, she finished the painting, and installed the flooring herself.

This month has been very productive: the second floor landing flooring finished, the new "green" bedroom nearly finished, the entry "air lock" door acquired and the window between the entry and the living room well underway, progress on some needed tree removal, and repairs begun on the northwest fence.

The northwest fence and car gate has become increasingly necessary.  A snowplow, neighbors, and at least two of us (including me) have weakened it. Sections we saved from the newish yet recently dismantled east fence are being reinstalled at our northwest corner. 

Bits and Pieces

I was disappointed with my own lack of discipline as my Type 2 diabetes A1c number went up from 7.6 to 8.3 in the end-of-July measurement.  But the reminder of WHEN to take my pills (one before meals and one with meals) will help.  I'd lazily been taking all my pills at bedtime.

Just west of us, 1234 99th was sold for $3.4 million in about a week.  We have yet to meet the new neighbors who have not arrived.  

Just after I finished preparing my course for autumn quarter, I learned that the MOS 77-727 (Excel 2016) exam was being replaced by the MO-200 (Excel 2019) exam.  Updating the syllabus was easy.  Updating twelve hour-long lectures, not so much.

Nancy has been my only barber since the bad "professional" haircut I got before our wedding.  Nathanael's self-inflicted back-to-school haircut needed some repair by his regular barber too.  Nancy does a great job at so many things.

YouTube this month.  I do enjoy watching YouTube videos.  Here are three from August.  
  
Inspirational  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgQkh1_cACE

Song  The Traveling Wilburys End of the line https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMVjToYOjbM
Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty. The voice of group member Roy Orbison was included in this version
— note the empty rocking chair.

Product  Can a successful diet kick off with a YouTube video?  On the last day of the month I watched an advertisement from Organifi.  There are so many important milestones coming up for which to lose weight.  Christmas, 65th birthday, anniversary, birth of a 3rd grandchild, maybe even another wedding.  My basic goal is 165 by my birthday.  My aspirational goal is 150 by our anniversary.  Either way, that's just five pounds per month. (Testimonial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKNibQmS-Gw ) (Product link.)  I end August at 189 lbs.

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