All posts tagged: mali

Mali Wins Global Tree Competition !!

Published by

I am thrilled to announce that Mali is this year’s winner (country division) of the 4th Centennial Global Tree Competition! It’s been a rousing century of cutbranch…er, cutthroat competition since the last Deciding Votes were cast (September 1914, GTC Society Phuket Conference). Voting took ages (and I mean ages) as four generations of Contributing Judges reviewed and scored over a thousand entries. Every 25 years, competitors are ranked according to various qualifying criteria in their respective categories. In the 100th, Voting (or Deciding) Year, winners are selected by a team of Deciding Judges based on a century’s worth of careful deliberation. (The 100-year cycle allows for the full development of interested candidates). The categories are many, reflecting the global diversity of Trees: Best Single Deciduous, Best Tropical Ensemble, Best Forest (rainforest reps continue to lobby for a unique category), Most Significant Shade, Best Fruit-Bearing, Most Character, etc. Additional categories are geographic, by country, municipality, or region. And this year, Mali took the Country category by storm! Just look at what Mali has to offer, in breadth …

on fences

Published by

Been considering opposing forces, and how to navigate between them. When to embrace, when to guard against, and how to do each purposefully. Vigilance, for example, versus rest. We require both, and they require equal enthusiasm. What keeps those opposites apart? The fences that we build. And fences are tricky, tricky things. We build fences to make sense of things, to protect, and to facilitate focus. Some schools of thought say fences are healthy, even necessary; you’ve got to know where to draw lines to navigate a chaotic world. Other schools of thought say fences are but an illusion, that boundaries are crutches for coping, an alternative to digging deeper and realizing the essential–and maybe intimidating–interconnectedness of things. Another pair of opposites. I’d say fences are tools, and are at their best when acknowledged and used as such. Perhaps most important is that fences are impermanent, try as we might to make them ever-lasting. And we don’t build them–or tear them down–alone, though we might imagine otherwise. Fences are a collaboration, and none stay upright forever. they shift and are …

what’s to eat

Published by

Tomato tartes, tagliatelle with zucchini and shaved parmesan, gazpacho… goat cheese and pesto ravioli, beef filets with frîtes… and on and on… Nary a complaint heard… in fact, not much heard at all, as mouths were already working overtime, and forks flying. Le Comme Chez Soi Hippodrome, Bamako, Mali +223 74 44 22 22

on escapes

Published by

Maybe the heat gets to you. Or maybe it’s the dust, or the endless work, or that nagging sensation of being a fish out of water. Sometimes, you just need An Escape, even momentary. Maybe down a narrow alley, maybe behind a high wall. Someplace comfortable, above the fray, and preferably in good company. The greener, the quieter, the better. The farther away from “the usual,” the easier it is to breathe. You may stay a while, or longer than you expected. Escapes have a way of ingratiating themselves. My question: Can you maintain an Escape state of mind in the day-to-day? Can you carry it with you? Can you escape, permanently? . . Photos from l’Auberge Djamila Badalabougou Sema 1 – Gamal Nasser Rue 108 Porte 19 – BP 3043 – Bamako – Mali http://www.aubergedjamilla.com/

on growth

Published by

Sometimes it’s wild. Sometimes it’s orderly. Sometimes robust. Other times, painstaking. It happens, though–whether we’re looking or not, whether we’re trying or not, whether we’re ready or not. Growth happens. Or so I hope. Test field, Magnambougou Bamako, Mali