Date with Calder's Flamingo

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Alexander Calder’s abstract stabile anchors the large rectangular plaza bordered by three Bauhaus style federal buildings designed by Mies van der Rohe. The sculpture’s vivid color and curvilinear form contrast dramatically with the angular steel and glass surroundings. However, Flamingo is constructed from similar materials and shares certain design principles with the architecture, thereby achieving successful integration within the plaza. Despite its monumental proportions, the open design allows the viewer to walk under and through the sculpture, leading one to perceive it in relation to human scale.

text by City of Chicago

weekend reflection - friends meet friends - scenic weekends - my sunday photo  

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My North - a walk between day and night 1

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... a walk between day and night - nothing better and more poetic then these grey hours at late February Sunday afternoons for a walk through the silence of this special month. I love "my North" so much!!

linked with: our world tuesday - watery wednesday 

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the glint of green is there

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Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;

To-day the glint of green is there;

Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;

I know no thing so wondrous fair,

No miracle so strangely rare.

I wonder what will next be there!

- L.H. Bailey

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my North - a Love Story

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“If I know what love is, it is because of you.”

— Herman Hesse

Our World Tuesday  

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Winter gardening

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"Nature has undoubtedly mastered the art of winter gardening and even the most experienced 
gardener can learn from the unrestrained beauty around them."



-  Vincent A. Simeone

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Die grüne Zitadelle von Magdeburg - 2. Teil

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DIE GRÜNE ZITADELLE VON MAGDEBURG ist ein ungewöhnliches Architekturprojekt. Eine Oase für Menschlichkeit und für die Natur in einem Meer von rationellen Häusern. Sie soll die Sehnsucht der Menschen nach Romantik verwirklichen. Es ist genau diese Romantik, die die rationelle Architektur mit tödlichem sterilen Eifer negiert und zu eliminieren versucht.  

DIE GRÜNE ZITADELLE VON MAGDEBURG ist ein Gebäude, das sich traditionsgebunden mit einer gewissen Strenge perfekt in die Umgebung des Domplatzes einfügt und dennoch revolutionär und innovativ ist, weil es in die Zukunft weist, in der die Natur und die Träume des Menschen wieder einen Stellenwert erhalten. Ein Haus, auf das Magdeburg stolz sein wird.

DIE GRÜNE ZITADELLE VON MAGDEBURG ist ein Ausgleich und gleichzeitig eine Brücke zwischen Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft.

DIE GRÜNE ZITADELLE VON MAGDEBURG ist eine Mehrung an Kulturgut, eine Bereicherung für Mensch und Natur.


Textauszüge aus dem Manifest für die GRÜNE ZITADELLE VON MAGDEBURG

An einem Regentag beginnen die Farben zu leuchten. Deshalb ist ein trüber Tag, ein Regentag, für mich der schönste Tag.

- Friedensreich Hundertwasser

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Witchhazel & Elfin Song

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Elfin Song 

Ouphe and goblin! imp and sprite!

Elf of eve! and starry Fay!

Ye that love the moon’s soft light,

Hither—hither wend your way;

Twine ye in a jocund ring,

Sing and trip it merrily,

Hand to hand, and wing to wing,

Round the wild witch-hazel tree.

Hail the wanderer again,

With dance and song, and lute and lyre.

Pure his wing and strong his chain,

And doubly bright his fairy fire.

Twine ye in an airy round,

Brush the dew and print the lea;

Skip and gambol, hop and bound,

Round the wild witch-hazel tree.

The beetle guards our holy ground,

He flies about the haunted place,

And if mortal there be found,

He hums in his ears and flaps his face;

The leaf-harp sounds our roundelay,

The owlet ’s eyes our lanterns be;

Thus we sing, and dance, and play,

Round the wild witch-hazel tree

by Joseph Rodman Drake, 1795 - 1820

our world tuesday - Floral Friday - Scenic Weekend - Image-in-Ing - MySundayPhoto

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Welcome February

February, bitter February,

Month of hope withheld and promise vain,

Drenching, under fickle smiles, the unwary

Earth with devastating rain.

Ere the limes with ruddy spear-points glimmer,

Ere the greenness leap from bush to bush,

While the starveling grass grows dim and dimmer,

And the folded snowdrops push;

Ah! be gracious, tenderly relenting,

Take not back thy gifts with churlish hand;

Let the breath of thy serene consenting

Falter through the weary land.

Rather thunder on in bleak resistance,

Swift to spoil and rigorous to deny,

Than as thus to veil the sullen distance

With thy bleared and tear-stained sky.

Arthur Christopher Benson

Floral Friday - Image-in-Ing

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