Catching Up

Spring was definitely not in the air this past weekend, when we work up to this scene.

Outside our living room window early Saturday, April 12

As lovely as this scene might have been a couple of months ago, it was neither expected nor welcomed in mid-April. The parking lot in the top photo is from the Lofts 34 apartments across the river from Clocktower Place, where we live and park underground, lucky us.

But, it was over within a couple of hours and then the melting began as a light rain followed. 

Now, a followup to a fellow blogger's question. Last week's Friday Funnies post about a chair sculpture brought a question from Nick who queried: Is the sculpture meant to relate to the chairs in some way?

The answer is that I didn't know the how and why about the sculpture and the high and low seating relationship. On a recent river walk, along which this sculpture is placed, I checked if the piece had an identifying name. Nashua hosts an annual sculpture symposium. This most likely was a prior year's sculpture.

Success, sort of, about the sculpture, which is titled Between. It was created by sculptor Vasilis Vasili in 2016, a Greek contemporary sculptor whose work has been characterized by concepts like entrapment, restriction, escape, gateway, separation and partition. 

Vasilis Vasili

Vasili's sculptures are displayed in various cities in Europe, USA, Canada, China, India, Taiwan and Turkey. However, despite several online searches nothing was located about the sculpture, other than the artist information.

This year's 18th annual Symposium will take place May 8 to May 31 with the theme of In the Making and the four participating sculptors are all women: Casey Schachner (U.S.), Valerie Funk (Germany), Danaë LeBlond-Joris (France), Yunmi Lee (South Korea/Italy).

Top Row: Casey Schachner, Valerie Funk,
Bottom Row: Danaë LeBlond-Joris, Yunmi Lee

The artists work outdoors at the Picker Artist Studios which are within walking distance of the mill apartments where they will be working for three weeks from May 12 to May 28. The public is invited to observe and interact with the visiting sculptors. We will be walking there a few times to watch the works being created. And, future blog posts will highlight the progress of the sculptures.

Nashua is unique in being the only U.S. city to host an annual sculpture symposium. Since 2008, guest artists from around the world have created 52 sculptures which have been gifted to the city of Nashua as part of its permanent collection. These large, stone or metal outdoor sculptures have been permanently installed in various public spaces in downtown Nashua, schools, parks, neighborhoods, walking trails and riverfront paths. 

Top: Getty Images; Bottom: Atlantic Productions/Magellan

Today, marks as a sad anniversary. I was 113 years ago when the RMS Titanic sank with the loss of an estimated 1,500 lives in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. The 46,328 ton pride of the White Star Line sank on its maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic about 400 miles off the coast of Canada. 

A new National Graphic documentary, Titanic: The Digital Resurrection, presents the most detailed digital reconstruction of the wreckage ever created allowing researchers to challenge long-held theories about the disaster and that the ship didn’t split in half, but was torn into two pieces. The project took some two years to finish using cutting-edge underwater scanning technology capturing 715,000 digital images of the wreckage which were then transformed into a full-scale digital image of the Titanic.

Bloggers who have the National Geographic channel, Hulu or Disney+ will be able to stream the documentary. Since we do not subscribe to any of these, I'm hoping it will be released to other channels later. I've watched online previews, it's a fascinating documentary.

And, for those of us in the U.S., this is the day the tax man cometh. There will be longer than usual lines at the local post office. And, the USPS has filed notice with the PRC (Postal Regulatory Commission) for a postage increase, effective July 13, 2025, new rates include  increase for a First-Class Mail Forever stamp, from 73¢ to 78¢ — stock up now 😲.

Finally, the knee pain is lessening with abstinence from the elliptical, steps and vigorous walking plus the use of prescribed anti-inflammatory meds (ibuprofen). In speaking with others who have had similar muscle strain, it can take up to a few weeks for complete healing. Thanks to all asked how I was healing.

Just wondering 🤔 — Does the city you live in host any unique events?