Beach Break

The weather in this part of the world continues to be miserable……so for all those dealing with it as I am, here is a beach break.

Sol Cayo Coco, Cuba photo source : M. Lindenberg

Quote – The Yongle Emperor

Yongle Emperor, Early Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) source : wiki

‘Whenever I can find the time, I read history books and the classics so as to avoid idle living. I constantly remind myself that the world is so vast and state affairs so important that I cannot succumb to laziness and complacency for even a moment. Once one has succumbed to laziness and complacency, everything will become stagnant.’

Over the next few months, I will be introducing museum visitors to some very interesting persons from Chinese history. Here is an important Emperor from the early Ming period….Zhu Di, the Yongle Emperor.

Yongle means Perpetual Happiness but this Emperor reign started with upheaval as he took the throne by force from his young nephew. It was he who decided to move the capital city from Nanjing to Beijing and have the Forbidden City built as an expression of heaven on earth. As the ‘Son of Heaven’, he felt this was his due.

 

Forbidden City

Time to start training in a new major museum exhibit. Within 2 weeks I will be touring public and school groups through the Forbidden City exhibit.

North Gate to Forbidden City, Beijing source : wiki

Up to 85 of the artifacts to be displayed have never left China before. From what I can tell, the substance of this exhibit will be in the details. Those bits of information gleaned from emperor-commissioned art works from silk screen paintings, to intricate vases to jeweled guards to protect the finger nails of the Dowager Empress.

Emperor’s ceremonial armour source : Palace Museum, Beijing

How to show it all and do the exhibit justice in a 45 minute tour, is my latest challenge.

sightings – Bird Watching

I’ve loved watching birds since I was a kid. My youth was filled with songbirds and my mother was able to warble to many of their tunes. Now I have found a new place to investigate these dinosaur descendents. Cuba.

Brown Pelican photo source : Lorie Pierce

The deft hovering of a pelican before it crashes headfirst into the ocean surf is a fascinating spectacle to watch. It was easier to snap a photo of the hovering, rather than the diving, although the beach breezes were carrying the bird at a fast pace even when it was not moving a feather. It is a wonder it could dive with such accuracy.

Easier to spot – the Greater Antillean Grackle. Several of these took observation posts in palm trees near restaurants. A discarded french fry was snapped up in the thin black beak to be transported to poolside. After dunking the fry in the water, the soggy bits became more manageable for the bird to pull apart and swallow.

However, unlike the grackles I know from Canada, these had a lovely singing voice with a wide range of tones.

Greater Antillean Grackle photo source : Lorie Pierce

Other species observed from a distance include flamingos, turkey vultures and swallows. The latter make their nests in holes dug out of the high beach sand dunes.

Next visit, I will take some binoculars.