High Desert Tour – early afternoon

After trudging through the sand from Kate’s Lazy Desert, next stop was Looney Dunes.  Aptly named as I soon discovered.  The owners, Phillip Maberry & Scott Walker, are artists.  Their creations are sculptures that appear to be colorful pool floats!

Moored in the desert sand dunes and caught in cactus gardens it is impossible not to smile at their juxtaposition. 

You may remember their previous home, immortalized by the B-52′s in their video for the band’s hit song, Love Shack.

Yup, it’s true.  And if you look closely that’s an afro-ed RuPaul in the white halter top dancing in the living room!

The Secret Prague

When I travel, one of my favorite activities is to escape from the well-trodden tourist paths and seek out the side streets and narrow lanes less taken to experience the essence a city.

The following pics were taken on one such diversion in Prague on a beautiful spring day while searching for a laundromat.

A narrow lane zig-zagging up to the castle lined with blooming pots of geraniums.prague, czech republic side street to castle lined with geraniums

A grandmother anxiously awaiting the arrival of her grandchildren.grandmother in prague, czech republic peering out from her window

A baroque church spire poking through the newly-leafed trees.prague, czech republic baroque church spire

A stout Communist farm labouress confronted me when the back street I was exploring deposited me smack in the middle of Wenceslas Square.communist propaganda sculpture on building in wenceslas square, prague, czech republic

Crossing through the Jewish Quarter I stumbled upon a thought-provoking statue of Franz Kafka by Jaroslav Rona.franz kaftka sculpture in jewish quarter of prague, czech republic by jaroslav rona.

Discovering a city in a very personal way, is the way I like to travel.

Easy Being Green

I’m fascinated with the chameleon quality of bronze statuary.  They begin life strong and bronze standing starkly defiant against sky and foliage alike.

Soon, their defiance gently begins to soften.  With each season, they gradually melt into their surroundings with the creeping patina of almost every conceivable shade of green – blue green, brown green gray green.  As time marches on, so do their hues down the color chart.

This archer silhouetted against the stormy Dresden sky is a grey as the impending storm.

Known as “David of the North”, this is not the ripped and flexed Michelangelo’s David that we have all come to love.

Kings and conquerors are a great choice for patinated bronze.  For some reason the military always look good in olive drab.

Joan Miro’s  modern sculpture at the Louisiana Museum has the patina of time, but the polish of decades of vigorous rubbing!