Devil and Angel

There are, according to my younger daughter, two types of ballerinas in all of us: devil and angel. See your yourself:

Faces

Last weekend at the Washington State vs. Arizona football game my younger daughter got a hold of the camera and took a series of self-portraits. Enjoy!

2009 Haunted Garage (Haunted Pirate Ship)

I'm still trying to get the video converted of this year's haunted garage (Haunted Pirate Ship theme), so until then, I've posted a series of 58 photos in my image gallery, and a half-dozen images below:

The underwater room; the first room you enter.

Next: the headhunters island.

Then, the witch doctor's cupboard.

And across the aisle is the galleys.

From both: the view of the captain's quarters.

The captain's quarters, with treasure chest, desk, and the skeletal captain himself!

Finally, the ship's deck, where the pirate ship is steered by the first mate.

View the full gallery at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/haunted_garage.

Halloween Party 2009

Last night we hosted Civano's Spooktacular Halloween Party and Haunted Garage (Haunted Pirate Ship Theme), and we had about 150 friends and neighbors stop by for tricks and treats. I didn't take very many photos, and I hope to post a video of the haunted garage a bit later, but wanted to throw a few party photos up until then:

Arrgh! It's Cap'n Simmons and his daughters, one a lady bug, the other an Eskimo.

A couple early party scene shots here.

These are kids from my older daughter's theater group.

My neighbor Paul Tumarkin. Scary Paul. Very scary!

My neighbor Micha and her new baby boy.

Avast! It's rare we find a lady bug on the high seas!

My younger daughter with her best friend. Her friend's mother LaDawn made these beautiful costumes.

The lady bug and the bumblebee.

Our neighbor Gina Corteza won the costume contest.

She's dressed as a Day of the Dead sugar skull-type thingy(?).

Ahoy all ye scurvy dogs, I can snarl with the best of them!

Look for the video and perhaps photos from this evening soon!

Autumn Camping with My Daughters

Last week I gathered my daughters up for a camping trip to kick off their fall break. We drove from Tucson east to the Guadalupe Mountain National Park of west Texas (where I went last November to photograph fall foliage), then up to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, over the Sacramento Mountains to White Sands National Monument, and back home. A whirlwind tour in four days, for sure, and it was great fun.

Below are a sampling of photos, and all of them are available in large format over at my gallery: http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/gallery.

Guadalupe Mountains National Monument

Relaxing in the tent on our first evening at the Guadalupes.

My daughters on the Pine Springs trail.

So far only a little fall color on the big tooth maples that line the white canyon floors.

One of the open, grassy portions of the trail, which is just great for kids.

View all 100 of the Guadalupes photos at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/guadalupes/.

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Carlsbad Caverns National Monument

Getting ready to bat watch outside the natural entrance to Carlsbad Cavern.

Deep within the cave, which is gigantic. We hiked in via the natural entrance trail.

Dad and daughters on a trail atop the Sacramento Mountains outside Cloudcroft, New Mexico.

Viewing the large valley west of the Sacramentos, wherein the White Sands lie.

View all 79 of the Carlsbad Caverns photos at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/carlsbad/.

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White Sands National Monument

Along the White Sands nature trail, where if not for the heat it would be easy to confuse the pure gypsum sands for snow.

All along the trip we saw loads of beautiful autumn wildflowers like these.

Grass growing near an "interdune" area at White Sands, where it's both astonishing and inspiring that plants grow at all.

Triumph at the top of a steep dune: they made it!

View all 65 photos of White Sands National Monument at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/whitesands/.

Terrain.org's Borders & Bridges Issue Now Live!

Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments (www.terrain.org) is pleased to announce the launch of Issue No. 24: Borders & Bridges.

Our largest issue yet, interactive contributions include a guest editorial by U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Agritopia as the UnSprawl case study, a long lost interview with poet A. R. Ammons, new poetry features (translations and our first online chapbook, with audio), essays by Christopher Cokinos and Mark Tredinnick, articles on the silence of owls and severing the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, plus new fiction, poetry, nonfiction, reviews, and more.

Check it out now at www.terrain.org — and be sure to add to the conversation with Terrain.org’s new commenting tool for contributions. And then join us at 8 p.m. on September 24^th at the University of Arizona Poetry Center in Tucson for the Issue Launch & Reading, featuring David Rothenberg, Pamela Uschuk, Christopher Cokinos, and Deborah Fries.

Specifically, Issue No. 24 includes:

Columns

• Guest editorial by Gabrielle Giffords, U.S. Representative, Arizona’s 8^th Congressional District : Solar is the Bridge to Our Future
• Columns by regular contributors Simmons Buntin, Deborah Fries, David Rothenberg (with image gallery), and Lauret Savoy

Interview

• Philip Fried interviews poet A. R. Ammons (1926-2001); an interview dating back to 1980 yet as timely today as it was 29 years ago

UnSprawl Case Study

• Agritopia in Gilbert, Arizona — Crafted with a sort of evangelical "New Ruralism," the 166-acre Agritopia neighborhood east of Phoenix mixes gardens, pastures, orchards, restaurants, lush trails, and more with historically inspired homes designed to bring neighbors together.

Essays

• “Night at the World’s Largest Atomic Cannon” by Christopher Cokinos, with audio
• “Body Exposed in the Golden Wind” by Florence Caplow
• “Positioning” by J. David Bell
• “Lee’s Ferry” by Ben Quick
• “Mustering the Sky” by Mark Tredinnick

Articles

• “To Wit, to Woo: The Silence of Owls” by Kathryn Miles
• “Ken Wu and the Fight for Canada’s Remaining Pacific Coast Old-Growth,” with online slideshow, by Joan Maloof and Rick Maloof
• “A Hole in Time” by John Lane
• “A Region of Wounds: Severing the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands” by Tom Leskiw

ARTerrain Gallery

• Four series of impromptu sculptures-in-the-wild and studio sculptures by R. L. Croft

Poetry

• Borderland Translations: Tedi Lopéz Mills, translated by Wendy Burk — poems in English and Spanish with audio
• God, Seed: Online chapbook of poetry and images by Rebecca Foust and Lorna Stevens, with audio
• Other poetry (and audio, too) by Pamela Uschuk, Jessica Weintraub, Polly Brown, Linda Parsons Marion, Jenn Blair, Laura Sobbot Ross, J. P. Dancing Bear, Beth Winegarner, Peter Huggins, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, George Moore, Eva Hooker, Scott Edward Anderson, Alison Hawthorne Deming, William Keener, Brett Foster, Thorpe Moeckel, Joe Wilkins, and Sue Swartz

Fiction

• “The Hank Williams Dialogues” by Andrew Wingfield
• “The Garden” by Jaren Watson
• “Stones” by Jeffrey Stevenson

Reviews of…

• A Conservationist Manifesto by Scott Russell Sanders
• The Trouble with Black Boys and Other Reflections on Race, Equity, and the Future of Public Education by Pedro A. Noguera
• Unexpected Light, poems by C. E. Chaffin
• Crazy Love: New Poems by Pamela Uschuk

Terrain.org Issue Launch & Reading : Sept. 24 in Tucson

Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments, a Tucson-based online journal that examines the interface between the built and natural environments, is holding its first-ever issue launch and reading.

This celebration of the “Borders & Bridges” issue (No. 24) features readings by contributors Christopher Cokinos (Hope is the Thing with Feathers and The Fallen Sky), Pamela Uschuk (Crazy Love), Deborah Fries (Various Modes of Departure), and headlining artist David Rothenberg. It will take place on September 24, at 8 p.m., at the University of Arizona Poetry Center in Tucson.

David Rothenberg is a philosopher, musician, and the author of Why Birds Sing, Sudden Music, Blue Cliff Record, Hand’s End, and Always the Mountains. His articles have appeared in Parabola, Orion, The Nation, Wired, Dwell, Kyoto Journal, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, and Sierra. Rothenberg is also a composer and jazz clarinetist, and he has seven CDs out under his own name, including On the Cliffs of the Heart, named one of the top ten CDs by Jazziz Magazine in 1995. His latest book is Thousand Mile Song, about making music with whales. Rothenberg is professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Agenda

• Welcome, Issue Overview, Contributor and Editor/Board Callouts (in audience), and First Reader Introductions - Simmons Buntin
  
  
• Pamela Uschuk (poetry) - 8 minutes
• Christopher Cokinos (nonfiction) - 8 minutes
• Deborah Fries (poetry) - 8 minutes
  
  
• Introduction of David Rothenberg - Kieran Suckling, Center for Biological Diversity
• David Rothenberg (music and prose) - 20-25 minutes
  
  
• Refreshments and book signings (UA Bookstore will sell books)
  
  

Mark your calendars and please join us for this free and fun event! For more information, view www.terrain.org or contact Terrain.org editor Simmons Buntin at contact1@terrain.org.

The Buntin Clan Lives in...

... which is full of wildlife, in case anyone was wondering.

Illustration on-the-fly by my younger daughter.

Zebra Question

Zebra Question

by Shel Silverstein

I asked the zebra,
Are you black with white stripes?
Or white with black stripes?
And the zebra asked me,
Are you good with bad habits?
Or are you bad with good habits?
Are you noisy with quiet times?
Or are you quiet with noisy times?
Are you happy with some sad days?
Or are you sad with some happy days?
Are you neat with some sloppy ways?
Or are you sloppy with some neat ways?
And on and on and on and on
And on and on he went.
I'll never ask a zebra
About stripes
Again.

~~~

To which my older daughter replies:

I am bad with good habits.
I am noisy with quiet times.
I am happy with sad days.
I am sloppy with neat ways.

Paprika Red Pearl

A few photos, at Saguaro National Park, of the new Subaru Forester I picked up last week. Ever since selling the 2006 Outback, I've regretted that decision. And while the Honda Fit was a good little car, with great gas mileage, it was never comfortable for a tall drink of water such as myself, nor of course capable of off-road travels like the Outback, which I (apparently) can't help but seek out. But I didn't want or need the turbo power of the Outback again, and after test driving a Forester, came to really like its utility -- inside and out -- and so present my new paprika red pearl 2010 Forester X Premium.

Victoria and Vancouver Island, British Columbia

I just got back from the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment biennial conference in Victoria, British Columbia. It was a great conference in a stunning location!

Below is a sampling of the 137 photos available in my site's photo gallery. You may also wish to view the ASLE blog entries I posted over on the Terrain.org Blog while at the conference.

The Empress Hotel on Victoria's Inner Harbour.

Nightfall on the harbour, with British Columbia's Government Provincial Buildings in the background.

The University of Victoria has a rabbit problem, but they sure are cute!

View of boats in a small Victoria inlet off the Strait of Georgia, with the Olympic Mountains behind.

Victoria is BC's capital.

Rigging from the Pacific Grace, a ship on the Inner Harbour.

I spent an afternoon sea kayaking, which was great fun.

While paddling we saw bald eagles, seals, and some pretty big waves.

Driftwood along the beach at Cadboro Gyro Park, which is close to UVic.

Old growth forest in Walbran Valley in southwest Vancouver Island.

Self-portrait in forest campsite mirror. Thanks to photographer Rick Maloof for the idea!

Columbine before bloom.

A close look at the totem pole outside the BC Government Provincial Buildings.

Check out the full gallery at:

http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/victoria/index.html

Blogging Victoria/ASLE

I'll be over at the Terrain.org Blog for the next week blogging my trip up to Victoria, British Columbia for the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment conference.

Check out the first post at:

http://terrainorg.blogspot.com/2009/06/asle-conference-review-day-0.html

And follow all the entries at http://terrainorg.blogspot.com/.

Hope to see you there!

The Beagle Project Blog and Darwin Poems

I recently stumbled upon the Beagle Project Blog at http://thebeagleproject.blogspot.com/, which is the blog portion of The Beagle Project at http://www.thebeagleproject.com/. The folks behind the project say:

We aim to rebuild the ship that carried Charles Darwin around the world, starting in Darwin's bicentenary year of 2009. The new Beagle will sail the world in Darwin's wake, and will inspire global audiences through unique public engagement and learning programmes, and original scientific research in evolutionary biology, biodiversity and climate change.

When I discovered the project, I immediately thought of my series of three poems that are imagined letters from Charles Darwin to his sister, Catherine. The blog is posting those poems one each over the next three weeks, and the first one is now live:

http://thebeagleproject.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-dearest-catherine-part-i.html

Enjoy!

Virtual Sense of Place

Check out my new hypertext essay:

Virtual Sense of Place: Terrain.org and the Online Nexus of Literature and Place

The premise: Whether virtual or actual, what drives strong community and a sustainable nexus between the built and natural environments is sense of place. The purpose of this interactive position statement is to explore sense of place in the context of ecological media — for e-zines like Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments that work at the nexus of literature and environment, and otherwise.

The essay was developed for the Ecological Media seminar which precedes the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) biennial conference this June in Victoria, B.C. Terrain.org will have a table at the conference. I am participating in the seminar and also reading my essay "Songbird," appearing in the current issue of Hawk & Handsaw: The Journal of Creative Sustainability, as part of the Wildbranch Writing Workshop Essays panel.

Simmons is God's middle finger*

So here's the story:

This morning at my daughter's school a mother told me that she had a conversation about God with her daughter, age 5. The mother said that if God took human shape, she imagined He'd be really big; just imagine the size of his hand!

"Oh," said her daughter, "like Simmons would be his middle finger." You know, because I'm tall.

Made my day!

Besieged by Bees

About ten days ago, when the girls and I were on our Colorado trip, Billie mentioned some bee activity in the backyard, near the door to the garage. When I came home I noticed that bees were flying in and out of a small gap where the back porch roof meets the flat garage wall. At the time, I didn't imagine how many bees could possibly be in that small space, and I considered trying to plug the hole and nuke the bees, or spray water up there, or something else equally as foolish. Fortunately, I never tried anything like that.

But the bee activity had been increasing, so today finally I called in AAA Africanized Bee Removal Specialists (520.743.8000), and this evening a duo of bee removal specialists arrived. Four hours later, the bee colony and related honeycombs are gone. In just ten days, the bees had built six honeycombs in a wall cavity about 28" high x 13" wide by 6" deep. How many bees? By measuring the mass, a fairly accurate estimate is 40,000 to 50,000 bees! How good is it now that I didn't try something by myself?!

Below are some photos of tonight's events:

Four of the honeycombs in the cavity, which was accessed (after the Africanized bees were exterminated, sorry) by cutting a hole in the interior wall of the garage.

Closer view of stacked honeycombs once removed from the cavity: dark spots are pollen, golden spots are honey, lighter spots are empty cells, and white masses at broken edges are bee larvae.

Closer view of honeycomb with pollen and honey (and a couple doomed bees). Billie kept a large honeycomb to show her class, and my daughters each took a part of the empty honeycomb to share in school, as well.

A bee removal specialist holds a honey-saturated honeycomb from our garage wall.

Taking a closer look at the honeycombs once removed from the cavity. On the floor behind the bag is the cavity-side of the piece of drywall cut to access the colony.

Measuring the cavity's dimensions once all the honeycombs and dead bees have been removed. There is a small gap at the lower left corner of the diagonal piece of wood. That's where the bees came in.

Southwest Excursion : Part 3

Continuing our journey, after Aztec Ruins National Monument we spent the night in Flagstaff, Arizona. The next morning, we made the loop through the sister monuments of Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki Ruins, then on to the Grand Canyon.

Photos from the third and final leg are now available. Below are ten of my favorites, and all 62 are available here.

My daughters at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.

Sunset Crater: so named because of the deep red volcanic rock at its summit; the rock is black below.

Taking the National Park Service Junior Rangers pledge at Wupatki Ruins National Monument.

The Wupatki Ruins, carved from the red rock of the area, with volcanic hills in the background.

The ruins are visually (not to mention culturally) stunning.

My daughters in the ball court area of Wupatki.

In the Lookout Tower of the Grand Canyon's south rim.

Contemplating the vista as they complete their Junior Ranger workbooks.

Late afternoon at the Grand Canyon.

Later afternoon at the Grand Canyon.

View all 62 of these photos in my gallery at:
http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/sw3/index.html

Southwest Excursion : Part 2

Continuing our journey, after Great Sand Dunes we drove west through the lovely San Juan Valley into southwestern Colorado, where we visited Mesa Verde National Park. From there we drove south into New Mexico, and then -- after Aztec Ruins National Monument -- west to Arizona.

Photos from the second leg are now available. Below are ten of my favorites, and all 80 are available here.

My daughters at an overlook near Chimney Rock in southcentral Colorado.

My younger daughter near Spruce Tree House at Mesa Verde National Park.

Great view of Balcony House from an overlook.

Closer view of one of the towers and windows at Balcony House.

Far View ruins on top of the mesa at Mesa Verde.

The morning trail down to Spruce Tree House.

Exploring a rebuilt kiva at Spruce Tree House.

The Ancestral Puebloan ruins at Aztec Ruins National Monument in northwestern New Mexico.

Detailed view of wall stones and timbers at Aztec Ruins.

A doorway made for those a bit shorter stature than us Buntins, dating to about 1100 A.D.

View all 80 of these photos in my gallery at:

http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/sw2/index.html

Southwest Excursion : Part 1

Over spring break, my daughters and I took a road trip from Tucson to Denver and back, putting 2,700 miles on the Honda Fit and visiting seven national parks and monuments (and many great friends) along the way.

Photos and narratives from the first leg of the trip -- Tucson to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, by way of Denver and Rocky Mountain National Park -- are now available.

Below are ten of my favorites, and all 83 are available here.

My daughters and me atop Raton Pass, a fun snowstorm at the summit.

My younger daughter at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado.

My older daughter at Rocky Mountain National Park.

My daughters and the daughter of our good friends Jason and Shannan, at Rocky Mountain National Park.

Mount Blanca in south-central Colorado, on the way to the sand dunes.

My daughters at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.

Lofty sand dunes and loftier mountain peaks.

My older daughter atop a dune.

Walking the dunes: not as easy at it looks.

Sunset at Great Sand Dunes, an amazing place.

View the full gallery of larger images at:

http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/sw1/index.html

Introducing Rojo

My older daughter has a new pet: an albino Nelson's milk snake, which we purchased here at Tucson's Reptile Specialists. She has named him Rojo, the Spanish word for red--the color of his eyes as well as the (diminishing) stripes along its otherwise white-and-yellow body. The snake is about 10 months old, probably 18 inches long, and should grow to about three or four feet and live for 15 or more years. That's a commitment!

A few photos, with some larger versions available here:

Check out the full gallery (5 larger images) at http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2009/mar_snake/.