Shall We Dance ? Stanford Arboretum Cactus Friends

Alluring Stag Horn Cholla dancing withBeavertail Pkicklypear 

Shall we Dance?

On a bright cloud of music, shall we fly?

Shall we then say goodnight, and mean goodbye?

OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II;RICHARD RODGERS, The King and I

Field Trip: Hoover Tower Hovers Above Stanford University

Hoover Tower Hovers above The Quad at Stanford University

We must study war,

And revolution to show,

That peace can work out

Completed in 1941, Hoover Tower is a research facility and library to study war, revolution and peace. You can climb up the tower, as I did this last week, to take  in fantastic ariel  views of Stanford Campus and the surrounding peninsula, for a few dollars. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Tower

Hiking the Dish (Stanford University, Field Trip)

Hiking at The Dish

Radio waves measure stars,

Space commands and chat. 

The Dish, a giant radio telescope above Stanford University, can be counted on as a time travel portal that takes me back to a time when we *knew* our short-term future lay beyond the stars.
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Web Resources

About The Dish at Stanford University http://dish.stanford.edu

Wikipedia on The Dish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dish_(landmark)

Fairy House, Toad's Stool, or Simply Spoors End? (Haiku)

Fairy houses or merely seats for a toad
Fungi dwell on the path I often walk, along the railroad tracks
towards San Francisquito Creek.

Thread-like hyphae spread,

Find food decomposing here.

Your spoors drop and fly.

Autumnal Drama Queen - Pistache Fall Foliage

A Pistache Tree in full Autumn Dress

Walking along the in-town path that leads to one of the bike bridges that crosses San Francisquito Creek (the middle bridge, closest to El Camino) I met up with this Pistache tree. She's full of airs in her fall dress.

You know how those Pistache sisters are, don't you? They are such drama queens!

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Locale

Start out at Burgess Park, Ravenswood and Alma

Walking Path runs along the railroad tracks on Alma Street, Menlo Park. The bike bridge will take you into Palo Alto (if you turn left) or Stanford Shopping Center (turn right)

Weeping Flowers (California Historical Scene)

Weeping Flowers in California

View from the Choral Terrace: Kettle Drums on the Move (Bing Concert Hall, Stanford)

A View from the Choral Terrace
Where all we have to heft is our music

The new year sparked an increase in campus musical activity, playing and singing in the new Bing Concert Hall at Stanford University. As a community member of the Stanford Symphonic Chorus, I was quite pleased to be included.

The instrumentalists who play timpani have their work cut out for them shifting the great big kettle drums into place.

Rehearsal at The Bing