Relevant details:

From Mackinaw City; taken while chewing a stick a’ Blackjack licorice gum.

K’atepan is a second ruin site in close proximity to San Mateo Ixtata; it is directly across the valey from Wajxaklajunh, and in fact is visible from the top! When we arrived, around mid-day, an elementary school had just let out nearby, and about 100 kids streamed into the small courtyard of the ruin to play! Each kid had a little cup filled with a corn drink; Elias told us the that the mothers of the students take turns preparing it during the week. It was really funny watching these kids run around the ancient site: they were particularly fond of bouncing soccer balls off the stone walls of K’atepan.

Thursdays and Sundays are market days in San Mateo. Hundreds of Guatemalans come to the narrow streets of this small community to buy and sell food, textiles and essentials.

Click through either image to see my new set of images.

My first big set of images is finally up at my Flickr site, click the image above to visit!

I hope to send up a new big set every weekend or so. Since returning from Guatemala, I’ve been inundated with work: I have hit the ground running in my new role as videographer for the exhibition media department. Things in the new role have been great so far, but extremely busy. This week I’m working at the National Museum of the American Indian, on the National Mall (my office is still at the Cultural Resources Center in Maryland, however.) I love being able to step outside into the throngs of visitors and Washingtonians strolling along ‘America’s Back Yard.’

So I have returned safely home from Guatemala, to find myself up to my ears in work. I am trying desperately to find time to sort through my photos, and will have a nice set of images up soon.

In the meantime, here is a nice picture from Tikal, of Temple III taken along the Tozzer Causeway.

Here we are doing laundry at Elias and Beth Alonzo’s house (on Sunday.) In San Mateo, everyone uses these concrete wash basins, and does it by hand. When you finish washing an item, it goes up onto the roof. Everywhere you look in San Mateo you see colorful laundry drying on lines, roofs, and hilltops. Personally, I could think of no nicer way to spend my Sunday…

After 30 minutes in the internet cafe, I have one photo online! Never fear, I have taken hundreds, and will be sorting and uploading them when I get home (which will be a huge job, as I already have taken so many, and I still have a few weeks to go…)

This is the view down the valley here, it’s a long way to the bottom. The streets in San Mateo are precipitously steep, yet children play soccer on them: that is a high-stakes game for sure! I can imagine many lost balls have come to rest far down this beautiful canyon.

Somewhere in an industrial maze near Bladensburg Maryland, there is a huge warehouse home to mad-scientist model makers who churn out 3D printed copies of human skulls, and eerie Abraham Lincoln ghost hands. I visited this place: a non-descript warehouse where Smithsonian Central employees design and create brilliantly crafted models and displays that give life to museum exhibits. They craft amazing things here using traditional sculpture and craft techniques; and also do some really amazing things with high-tech CNC milling machines and 3D printers (also called Rapid Prototype Machines.) They are currently using data from laser scanners and medical CAT scan machines to quickly make perfect copies of objects from the Smithsonian collection.

Here is an incredible example of some close-up detail on a human skull printed one a new generation 3D printer:

Here is a print of Abraham Lincoln’s hand taken from a plaster cast impression:

There are more pictures in my Flickr set too, it was a great tour!

My former boss, who is a multimedia guru, and I are hoping to get a digital imaging working group going at the museum which would include things like laser scanning and close-range photogrammetry. One of the things we’d love to use 3D imaging for is documenting Incan stonework for the upcoming ‘Inca Road’ exhibit…

After all the response to my previous photo, I thought I’d put this one up. These amazing violet crocus(es?) popped up a few days later about three feet away from the others!

I’ve noticed these little yellow flowers emerging in a tight patch in my yard. One of my neighbors told me they are a local variety and grow readily around the neighborhood; they are early sprouters for sure! This weekend we had amazing weather in Del Ray: 72 degrees and overcast. To celebrate, we spent Sunday outside working: spreading sheet mulch around the margins, and establishing a garden patch on the western side of the house. Hopefully I can show you some plants that we’ll grow there!

New beginnings all around: this is the first of what will hopefully be many posts, perhaps somewhat regularly here.

Come back again soon for more pictures and news!