New York City

I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days in Manhattan with Zoë this weekend. Surprisingly it was about the same cost (bus wise) to go to NYC then home as straight from Hartwick. 

I suppose Barnard, or Columbia, or both, have this tradition called Orgo. On the eve of the organic chemistry final students gather outside the library and yell with a marching band or something like that. The tradition includes throwing papers out your window and marching with the band through the library blasting music. Below is the marching band or what was left at one in the morning. After there is a midnight breakfast where professors serve students pancakes.

Zoë by the lights at Columbia

Ice

Winter has begun, the lake has started to freeze over. Today (Tuesday) is the first day I have seen the lake freeze over almost entirely except for a few holes. With such a reflective material I had a lot of fun playing with the light.

 

 

The water is about six inches deep with half an inch of ice frozen over. It looks like a martin landscape. I forget about the cold rot in late December, the smell is distinctive, even this cold.

 

Cinder Block and Lilly Pad in Ice

 

These two are extremely low light mistakes.

 

 

The sound is wicked low, but Jenna and Kyrie we're throwing rocks across the ice into 8 foot wide holes way out in the middle of the ice. As they bounced across the ice they made noise of a high tension cable twanging, it was really awesome. 

The Artistic Folk of Pine Lake

Out at Pine Lake I am in the midst of several artist. Remember this thermos from a few post back? Well, a friend of mine made a clay version.

I have been pressured into glass blowing, I think I will start second half of next semester.

This is Vanessa grinding a bronze project. I love the retro spaces at Anderson Center for the Arts.

Winter at Pine Lake

I have been enjoying the sauna twice a week. Next semester I will have the sauna caretaker work study which means lighting the fire and sweeping out the building after.

Yesterday, I walked around and took some photos until I could no longer feel my hands. The temperature was supposedly 27ºF but that did not include wind chill.  I am currently living in the lodge which you can see up to the right in the photo below. Next semester I'll be in a cabin.

 

 

  

All deer footprints.

I like how clear the water gets when it is about to freeze.

  


Cob House


 

I know each month by its light. December certainly has the most red fire like. Two nights ago the ice crystals high in the atmosphere formed refracted the moonlight into perfect halo. I attempted a photo but the light was way too low.

 

First snow in December

I just want to share how incredibly beautiful Pine Lake and Hartwick College is after a good snow. 

 

 

Pine Lake Holiday Potluck

The halloween tree went down and the christmas tree went up. This is our highly accurate Challenge Education christmas ornament. It includes a studebaker harness tied correctly on the bearded belayer.


Below is Justin and Markee laughing at elf yourself. This is just after the holiday potluck we had. There was tons of food with enough left overs to live on until break.

It snowed a few inches that evening which compromised some of the crowd that was due to come out for the potluck. The roads were pretty terrible.

First Wheel Thrown Pottery

These are my very first wheel thrown pottery. I found it yesterday smashed up in the clay recycling bin. It's my fault for leaving them to dry in the wrong place. I didn't know any better since I had never worked in that studio previously.

As it finally gets colder and we begin to get some real snow, I keep thinking about the deer. This is just last week and they look pretty fat.

Eggnog & Pugs

I have been drinking a lot of this:

And thinking a lot about this: 

Finding the Self

To sum up my Understand Religions class I made a comic about finding the self. I feel like I have coved 0.05% of how to find the self considering it is the second largest question in Religion. The largest question of course is: "What is this? WHAT IS THIS?!"