Grandson number 2 turned 3 today and we took everyone to the Getty Museum for lunch and a visit to the gardens as well as the James Ensor exhibit for us.

A DAY AT THE ZOO WITH GRANDCHILDREN

Watching the animals at the zoo; we started to see patterns of behavior. The mothers watching over their babies and teaching them skills for life; while we watched how an older child handles an ice cream cone in the heat of Los Angeles.

WHO DEALS WITH MELTING ICE CREAM BETTER?

STREET OF BROKEN DREAMS

An afternoon walk along Hollywood Blvd is always revealing. Everyone is here; those full of hope and those with none left.

CALIFORNIA MISSIONS AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN

HARD TO POST WITH INTERMITTENT OR DESPERATELY SLOW INTERNET.

PORTRAIT OF LUTHER BURBANK BY FRIDA KALLO

If the highlighted words are true; this is a truly significant painting; beyond the association with Luther Burbank. Imagine if this was indeed a pivotal change in Frida Kallo’s style. Just the fact that these two met each other is remarkable by itself.

Portrait of
Luther Burbank

1931

Luther Burbank was a horticulturist best known for his unusual vegetable and fruit hybrids. In this portrait Frida shows Burbank himself as a hybrid: half man, half tree. When Burbank died in 1926, his body was buried under a tree on his California property.

In this painting her work has turned away for the first time from the straightforward representation of external reality. Since this portrait was painted in San Francisco, her contact with Surrealism in San Francisco could partly account for the change in style. Or, it could be straight from her Mexican culture, where the metamorphosis of humans into plants or animals is a common theme in art.

Burbank is shown holding an uprooted plant, no doubt one of his hybrids, but instead of planting it, he himself is planted. His lower legs are transformed into a tree trunk whose roots are fed by what Frida said was his own corpse. This painting is the first statement of a favorite Kahlo theme that would appear in many future paintings: “the fertilization of life by death“.

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Oil on masonite
34 ¼” x 24 ¼”
Dolores Olmedo Patiño Museum
Mexico City, Mexico

Óleo sobre fibra dura
87 x 62 cm.
Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño
Ciudad de México, México

ICE AND WIND

“Spindrift” ex “Banque Populaire” on standby for an Atlantic record.

Spindrift 2: All dressed up but no wind to go

The maxi-trimaran Spindrift 2 left La Trinité-sur-Mer, France on May 26, arriving on June 3 in Newport, Rhode Island where the team has remained on standby to break the crewed 2880 nm North Atlantic record from New York to Lizard Point.

Led by co-skippers Dona Bertarelli and Yann Guichard, they seek to better the record of 03:15:25:48 set by their 40m (131.23-feet) trimaran in August 2009, known then as Banque Populaire 5. To be successful, their average speed must be in excess of 32.94 knots over the distance.

But now, after seven weeks on standby in Newport, there has still been no suitable weather window for which to launch their assault. As Guichard explains, these accomplished sailors have no choice but to accept the wait, unusual as it may be for an elite sportsman.

“Despite enduring the standby at home, as opposed to on the quayside, we are fully alert and mentally ready to drop everything and jump on a plane as soon as possible,” explains Yann, who sends a message to his teammates every day to keep them informed about the latest conditions.

“Dona and I are obviously following the weather very closely. Together, with team navigator Erwan Israël, we check the two daily American and European forecast updates. The first come in before 5am and, whilst there is still not really a departure window on the horizon, we inevitably check each weather update religiously. We are as ready as we can be with a good technical and sporting potential, but the weather is out of our hands. That is what makes record attempts so frustrating…but also so special. When you are on standby, it can at times be stressful, as any athlete waiting for a big match can understand. In addition, we know that when the day of reckoning comes, once we get out on the ocean, conditions will be extreme.”

Among the obstacles blocking the route has been drift ice in the Labrador Current. A harsh winter has meant that icebergs are lasting longer than normal, and while they are slowly melting, the large ice sheets are only disappearing gradually from satellite photos.

The other obstacle has been the Azores High, an anticyclone centred over the Azores and spread like an insurmountable mountain across the entire North Atlantic.

“To make the crossing in record-breaking conditions you have to leave ahead of a depression on the American coast and ride it up to Newfoundland, where you pick up another and accelerate for the rest of the crossing. You then have to stay in front of the system, which must not catch you up or wane before you reach the finish line,” adds Erwan Israël. “With such a huge, powerful anticyclone at the moment, the depressions are not making any headway, and neither can we!”

The team is prepared to remain on standby through to mid-August if necessary to find a suitable departure window. Updates here: www.spindrift-racing.com/atlantic