Goodbye friend
Posted: 2012/02/27 Filed under: Eating, Farm Leave a comment »Ruby, one of our sheep, has moved on to her next state of being–sustaining a Navajo family for the next months. We delivered her for slaughter on Saturday, and, the report has come back today that they found her to be fat and healthy, with a wide band of fat on her back. The family that we gave her to was equally pleased with her fleece.
Ruby’s son Weiner is seen in the background of this picture taken a year ago, her daughter Cleo is barely visible behind her. They will meet their end as lamb this year, Cleo after she gives birth. 
Before we left that morning, I saged Ruby off. I can say I rarely saw her as calm as she was when we delivered her: she was generally a nervous sheep. The brief moment of sadness has been replaced by sheer joy knowing that the food and wool she provides is so meaningful to Clara and her family–the people we gave her to. And, there is the joy in knowing that our little farm is in fact a working concern. Fair well Ruby, and thank you for the life you gave us, and will give others.
Congratulations Wang Shu and Lu Wen Yu: voices for a Chinese Architecture
Posted: 2012/02/27 Filed under: Architecture, China, Wang Shu Leave a comment »
It is a grand day indeed for those of us who believe in a regional vision of architecture. Wang Shu has been awarded the Pritzker Prize. A man with an appetite for life–If you have stumbled on this blog, I invite you to read an insiders view from my time teaching at the CAA in Hang Zhou–simply click on the Wang Shu category at right, or you can experience the entire teaching journey via the 2009 Hang Zhou tag.
Best regards to all, I can think of nobody more deserving. I am grinning ear to ear.
Congratulations friends!
Peter Stempel
More:
It has been several hours since I learned of Wang Shu and Lu Wen Yu’s success. As I have been corresponding with friends and colleagues, the gravity of the prize has begun to set in. What Wang Shu has accomplished has required him to walk a perilous tight rope–to champion language, food and landscape in a nation defined by continual transformation, with less than universal political support. I am hopeful that his approach to architecture and culture will be buoyed by this award.
