Viola labridorica and Lamiastrum galeobdolon

Viola labradorica

It’s that time of year when we start noticing plants again that have waited out the dreary winter. One of them is Viola labradorica, commonly called the Labrador violet, which is a hardly little plant that is in bloom now. The picture of the one shown here has survived temperatures and conditions (this is Seattle, so not that severe!) that have wiped out seemingly more hardly plants in the Travelmarx front garden. We guess being from cold places, this plant is on vacation in Seattle? Pull out a labradorica and you will see it has a quite a long tap root which is probably part of the secret of its success.

The other plant that is in bloom now is Lamiastrum galeobdolon, commonly called the Yellow Archangel. Galeobdolon is no friend of the King County Noxious Weeds folks; they describe it as a non-designated Class C noxious weed. Before learning about its noxious behavior we did have some in our yard but have since removed all traces except for the display here which is in a pot with a yucca. It can’t spread by stem fragments in the current situation, but theoretically could by seed.

Lamiastrum galeobdolon

Clark County Museum – Henderson

Clark County Museum

If you are in Henderson Nevada, outside of Las Vegas, and you want to pass a few hours looking at something historical, then check out the Clark County Museum located at 1830 S. Boulder Highway. The obvious place to start is - right after purchasing a ticket - in the main exhibit hall. Here you will find a “timeline of Southern Nevada from prehistoric times through the 20th century.” In the exhibit you can learn a few things but the one that stuck out in our minds is that the Paiute played stick-dice games in Las Vegas long before the legalization of gambling in 1931, so gambling must be in the water, right? Speaking of water, the origin of the name Las Vegas comes from the Spanish terms vegas or meadows referring to the artesian wells (not artisan!) that supported large meadows at one time.

You wouldn’t miss too much if you left the cramped (and slightly kitschy) exhibit hall for later and headed to the outdoor exhibits first. The Heritage Street of Historic Homes, followed by the Boulder City Depot and the Ghost Trail proved to vastly more interesting – in our opinion. They literally have moved houses from around the area to this mocked up Heritage street so that if you are fan or just have a passing interest in architecture this will be interesting. Nearby there is the popular structure called the Candlelight Wedding Chapel that was built in 1966 and moved to the museum site in 2007. There are some real dummies waiting to get married in there! Beyond the Heritage Street of Historic Homes there is a lot to poke around and see in the Ghost Town Trail. The museum closed on us as we got there late and spent only about 1.5 hours. We could have used 2-3 hours easily.

The Goumond House


Some Real Dummies Waiting To Get Married at the Candlelight Wedding Chapel


Clark County Museum Map

Atomic Testing Museum – Las Vegas

Atomic Testing Museum Brochure

Visiting the Atomic Testing Museum is probably not the first thing on the mind of the average visitor to Las Vegas. But there it is, this interesting little museum, just off the strip on the edge of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus at 755 East Flamingo Road. The brochure (attached) reads Atomic Testing Museum – Experience Science and History by the Megaton! Learn how America’s Cold War Warriors unlocked the secrets of the Atom in the Las Vegas desert. This sort of gives you a hint for what’s in store: an unapologetic (or maybe unabashed?) look at atomic testing.

The key to understanding the museum and why it is located in Las Vegas is to understand what the Nevada Test Site (NTS) is. The Nevada test site, located 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is an area first established in 1951 as a testing site for nuclear devices. Prior to the establishment of the NTS, nuclear testing was mostly conducted in the Pacific Ocean which was problematic for many reasons including cost, logistics and time. The museum does a good job of setting the stage for the establishment of the Nevada Test in 1951, the site’s active years through the stopping of testing in 1992, and the site’s use today. (The NTS can be visited today.)

While the museum does a good job outlining the reasons why America pursued the atomic bomb and a nuclear program after World War II, it never really considers a the bigger picture adequately. It doesn’t broach the subjects of the cost of the nuclear testing financially (an example estimate) and health-wise (e.g. downwinders1 and downwinders2 and downwinders3) – at least not in an substantial way that we saw. The museum does talk a little about the challenges of nuclear waste, but does so toward the end of the exhibits where it might be easily glossed over. Look at the accompanying map of the museum. What would it be like if you put the “Stewards of the Land” exhibit which talks about nuclear waste as the first exhibit, what would be the final impression of the average visitor?

Despite the pro-atomic testing stance of the presentation (what would one expect?), the museum is worth a visit if not to learn a little about the science and get you thinking about atomic testing. The multimedia displays (each theme is called a gallery) are generally interesting and you just may learn some History by the Megaton!

Note: the demonym for someone from Las Vegas is Vegan. In the Atomic Testing Museum we saw a poster that said “Vegans against Nukes” - or something to that effect - and we kept thinking of it as vegan as someone who practices veganism. A little cognitive dissonance on our part.

Atomic Testing Museum Brochure (Inside)

Atomic Testing Museum Map of Exhibits

Meet Me at the Center of the Earth

We stopped in a few days ago to immerse ourselves in the alternative world of artist Nick Cave in the Seattle Art Museum’s exhibit Meet Me at the Center of the Earth, March 10 – June 5, 2011 and we were not disappointed. It’s a fun and thoughtful show. Nick Cave (the performance artist, sculptor, and dancer) is different than Nick Cave (the musician and author). The former Nick Cave is the subject of SAM’s show. In the show you we see many of Cave’s “soundsuits”.

Here’s the promo video for the show. What’s interesting is that, according to Cave, he was inspired to make his first soundsuit after the Rodney King incident as he was trying to find meaning of the portrayal of King in the media. Cave’s first suit was made by collecting twigs from the park and making a suit out of them. For more information, check out the museums interactive page for Nick Cave.

The Doric Lodge Mural in Fremont

Doric Lodge 92 Mural in Fremont

The Doric Lodge Freemasonry Mural in Fremont is located (here) on the north side of the Doric Lodge No 92 building. We’ve passed this mural hundreds and perhaps thousands of times but never once stopped to contemplate it. In our experience freemasonry invokes one of two responses: “freemasons are secretive and they control the world” or “freemasons, I’ve heard of them, but I’m not into masonry so I don’t know much about them”. Most people have the second response.

Freemasonry is an organization with origins that date back hundreds of years. The formation of the First Grand Lodge in London in 1717 seems to be a key year that before which, not much is known (i.e. theories and conspiracies), and after which, much is known about freemasonry (i.e. well-documented). Freemasonry uses the symbols of the stonemasonry tools not in the operative sense but in the speculative sense of what they mean metaphorically for the development of members. In this mural we see some of these symbols: the square and compass and the letter G at first glance. The square and compass are generally accepted to refer to pursuing right and virtuous action (the square) and circumscribing one’s behavior accordingly (the compass). The letter G has a meaning that is not precisely specified. It could mean “God” or “Geometry” or the “Generative Principle” to name just a few possibilities. In the text The Symbolism of Freemasonry: Illustrating and Explaining Its Science and Philosophy, Its Legends, Myths, and Symbols (1896) the author Albert Gallatin Mackey says G is “really a corruption of, or perhaps rather a substitution for, the Hebrew letter [omitted] (yod), which is the initial of the ineffable name. As such, it is a symbol of the life-giving and life-sustaining power of God.” How appropriate to be in Fremont, the self-proclaimed center of the universe!

On closer inspection of the mural, at the top of the compass one can see a circle with two parallel lines. Again, from The Symbolism of Freemasonry: Illustrating and Explaining Its Science and Philosophy, Its Legends, Myths, and Symbols (1896) it could “represent St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist: but they really refer to the solstitial points of Cancer and Capricorn, in the zodiac” (page 352). Below the circle are what look to be stylized, lowercase letter Gs.

Why is the word “Doric” in the lodge's name? The best explanation we could find came from a lodge in Michigan which connects the architectural sense of Doric – a Doric order, one of the ancient orders of architecture – with the character of the lodge.

Beyond the symbolism and whether you like or dislike freemasonry, you can’t help but notice the quaintness of the mural outside of the circle. A trolley is running over the Fremont Bridge, and the building on the corner of Fremont Ave N and Fremont Place N. looks innocent and shy. What’s interesting is that Lodge 92 has been in Fremont since 1892. Just a few things have changed since then.

The mural is signed by David Hose, The American Light Studio.

Artist Mark

The Mural Color Tweaked

Mural on the West Side of the Building

The Still Life Coffee House in Fremont Mural

The Mural

The title The Still Life Coffee House in Fremont Mural is not an official title that we know of but it is written on the wall so we’ll go with that. The mural is signed Parris, 1994 and is located here near the corner of Fremont and N 35th Street. On the web site Master of Street Art / Examples of Seattle Kitsch, the artist Parris is described as “the dean of Seattle street artists. His ‘primitive,’ linear designs appear everywhere in the city’s funkier districts…”.

The Still Life Coffee House has been gone for years now, but this mural remains. (The 35th Street Bistro is now in the old Still Life Coffee House space adjacent to the mural.) The mural is sort of jazzy-modern-cubist in an early 20th century way. (How’s that for artsy language?) We think of the following artists when looking at the mural: Fernand Léger (1881-1955), Paul Klee (1879 - 1940), Wassily Kandinsky (1866 - 1944), Thomas Hart Benson (1889 - 1975), and Jacob Lawrence (1917 - 2000). The more we stared at the picture before creating this blog post, the more remarkable the mural seemed.

Various Color Tweaks of the Mural