Fairfield Sweet Sixteenth

My trip to Fairfield in March 2018 was the sixteenth now documented in this blog. Yes, it's taken a while for me get started on this entry. I promise to keep it brief, so let's jump in:

I stayed at the Men's Peace Palace, as last time. Given the time of year, I saw lots of sunrises, and some were photo-worthy.

The entryway looked familiar, including the reminders on the floor to remove one's shoes.

I finally noticed that the coat hangers in the entryway bore duck heads.

It was the same room I had back in November.

In the middle of one thunderstorm-wracked night the power went out on parts of the campus, including the Peace Palace. My battery-powered clock woke me at the correct time, but I couldn't turn on any lights. I was able to navigate with my camping headlamp, and the building's hot water was still comfortably warm when I turned it all the way to "H," so no harm done. The power came back later in the morning.

My two-week visit included five days of Ayurvedic treatments at The Raj, which were welcome and very settling. One evening I took this photo combining the entry and the moon.

The shirodhara treatment, oil poured slowly on the forehead, was especially calming.

Between the extended group meditations in the Golden Dome, my Raj treatments, and iffy weather I had only a few opportunities to wander. On one of my walks I discovered that the old railroad depot had undergone another reincarnation.

The expansion of the North Campus Village was continuing.

Is that a giant spider up there?

Concrete was being poured.

This zoom shows some of the tubing and mechanisms of a long-distance pour. Click on the image to enlarge.

Sure it's not injecting alien eggs into the ground?

On one of my walks uptown -- or is it downtown? -- near the square, anyway, this juxtaposition caught my eye.

That's Fairfield!

Now for my campus-area photos; first, an engaging trio of trees near the student union.

A Chevy Volt was charging up near the Sustainable Living Center.

On the other side of the green battery shed, a student project had been installed next to the photovoltaic panels.

EVSE is an acronym for Electric Vehicle Service Equipment. The charging equipment within the car and the EVSE negotiate a power level for charging that's acceptable to both parties.

OpenEVSE is an outfit that will either sell you a completed EVSE, an EVSE kit that you assemble, or parts to build an EVSE to your own specifications.

Here's a view of the central hallway of the Sustainable Living Center. The whole trunks are much stronger than sawn boards.

I had the opportunity to walk another segment of the Jefferson County Loop Trail, which I have explored over the years. A schedule conflict, however, prevented me from collecting the final mile needed to claim the entire trail.

On the afternoon of March 25th there was to be a Global Group Meditation, where TM practitioners everywhere would gather in groups and meditate at the same time, 5:05 pm in Fairfield. This effort, it was anticipated, would tweak the global level of consciousness for the better. Of particular interest, Maharaja Adhiraj Rajaraam -- also known as Dr. Tony Nader -- would be addressing those of us in Fairfield (via audio link) and answering questions before the meditation start.

Although tempted to complete my walk I cut it short. This was wise, because the treatments at the Raj had calmed my metabolism a lot, and I was getting accustomed to a new prescription. I knew I shouldn't stress myself with an extra two miles.

At the Dome the gathered souls were first addressed by Dr./Raja John Hagelin, and a video of him was played, explaining the mechanics of how group practice could affect the greater population. His background as a physicist was put to good use in the video. John also wished another TM notable, Raj Rajeshwari Candace, a happy birthday.

The program then moved to Dr. Nader, who also spent time noting Candace's birthday and praising her works, followed by Candace's thanks, which quickly transformed into lengthy admiration of Dr. Nader's insights and leadership. After a final return expression of thanks to Candace, Dr. Nader unfortunately had time to answer only one question. Then it was the start time for the global meditation.

A look back at the Dome when it was all over, and I was on my way to the Golden Dome Market Cafe for a light dinner.

After a rejuvenating visit to Fairfield I returned home. As for the loop trail -- maybe next time!

Fairfield 13: Sprucing Things Up

In November 2016 I embarked on yet another two-week visit to Fairfield, Iowa, and the campus of Maharishi University of Management (MUM), where I participated in extended group meditation sessions. It was also a chance to catch up with several friends.

My usual place to rent a room wasn't available, so I did some online searching and found a great alternative. Here are two panoramas which together take in the whole room. Note the separate sink/toilet nook and shower; the shower is entered from the room itself. It works!

Lots of light.

If you need more space, the adjacent living room and kitchen can be rented at additional cost. I just needed a place with the basics. 

The view from that front bay window.

My traveling companions, Pork Chop and George, loved the scene.

Looking back from the street. It was a delightfully quiet place to stay.

For several days I saw this praying mantis hanging around the gate in the fence.

It was a mild November, and getting up early to head to the Men's Dome, the Maharishi Patanjali Golden Dome, I admired many sunrises.

At first I thought I faced an indirect route to reach the Men's Dome, but my host let me know that there were communal paths through the intervening neighborhood. (This playback has been accelerated by 2.8 times.)



Seven months had flown by since my March visit, and a lot had been going on, the results easily spotted.

Just in front of the Argiro Student Union a miniature Vedic Observatory had been constructed. These come in all sizes, from tabletop to 1½ acres in Vedic City.

Here's a view of the center structure. The innermost ring denotes the visible planets, plus the rising and descending nodes of the moon. (The moon's orbit around the earth is somewhat tilted with regard to the earth's orbit around the sun -- otherwise there would be a total eclipse of the sun every month!)

The second ring lists the signs, such as Capricorn, etc., and the third demarcates the 27 or 28 nakshatras, or lunar mansions, one for each day in the lunar month. Lunar mansions appear in many systems of astrology, although I'd never heard of them until recently and they do not seem to be emphasized.

The campus road leading to Argiro from the north now has so much pedestrian traffic that it's been blocked off to vehicles.

Within walking distance of my room the expansion of North Campus Village continued. There's a waiting list for the townhomes being built here.

What about goings-on downtown? Well, the sushi joint Shokai now occupies the corner that had been Mohan's.

Mohan Delights was in the process of moving into a south-facing storefront on the square. They will have a west-facing entrance from the alley.

There's now a donut shop in the renovated but closed movie theater, where the lobby and concessions had been.

Repair and facelifting appeared to be the order of the day.

All around the square, and adjacent to it.

Back on campus, the bridge over nothing in particular, which had been in such bad shape that it was blocked off in my last visit, was undergoing renovation. I had to check it each day to see what the elves had done next.

New posts and railing, but no finials, and the little seats at either end have no top.

 Now we have a top to sit on.

 Finials going up.

These globes date from the original bridge.

It is good to be able to see the bridge at night.

The nearby bridge over Crow Creek has warning tape along the flanks of the entrance. Dead brush and trees are being removed, and until new plantings are made, yellow tape mitigates the risk of someone stumbling over the edge.

Saplings of several species had already been installed around the Women's (Bagambhrini) Golden Dome.

The stairway from the north parking area to Argiro was also bustling.

Storm water flowing down the steep hillside was undercutting the poured-concrete stairs. Plastic barrier sheets were put in place and well-anchored with stones.

The interior of the student union held some surprises and revelations. This is a view of the lobby.

This student-initiative poster in the lobby surprised me. Twenty years ago, even fifteen years ago, MUM administration was rather strait-laced, but now the University is moving into the same era as its students. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

Some things, however, will never change. This is an example from the food services feedback board.

There was one more surprise.

I'll wrap up this report with some odds and ends.

An electric car charging station next to the Sustainable Living Center.

A campus electrical map showing the two points to disconnect the Men's Dome solar panels from the grid.

A pig in the garden. Yay!

Moon and clouds, taken from the entrance to the Men's Dome.

There, I got through the entire post without talking about a particular election that occurred while I was in Fairfield. (I voted by absentee ballot.)

Fairfield 9 & 10

This post combines two visits to Fairfield, in November 2014 and March 2015.

November 2014
Usually I arrive in Fairfield in early November, but this time I decided to stay at home until after my birthday, so I was a good week later than usual -- just in time for the first "polar vortex" cold snap of the winter. Here, snow lingers on the men's dome.

Two days later parts of the snow had given way. If you're inside the dome when this happens, there's a whooshing sound.

What's changed since November 2013?!

Last summer, downtown, the roof collapsed into the printing shop at the corner of Main and Briggs, and that end of the building had to be torn down. The adjacent restaurant, Ila, had closed for a few days until structural inspections could be made, but opened again soon.

The tea house now offers wine as well. Haven't made it back in yet.

Walker's office supply store was having a going out of business sale.

The Top of the Rock grill and the tavern on the first floor were for sale.

A new Italian restaurant had opened.

The newly renovated theater, the Orpheum, was having SF special events, including our favorite classic that barely was, Firefly.

A new arts and crafts store, to me at least, was also on the edge of downtown.

New grain elevators are being built on the east side of town. Just on the other side of the road from the city limits, it turns out, very convenient for avoiding all sorts of regulations. Behind the trees in the center of this photo is the house of the Leahy family, which owns Overland Sheepskin Co, located just outside the photo. Despite opposition, lawsuits, and the loss of some tax incentives, the construction goes on.

Back on campus, there were signs discouraging the parking of bicycles in the patios of the Argiro student center. The number of bikes has been reduced but they still persist.

Among the bikes properly parked, outside the vastu fence, is an electric-assist model. The black boxes are batteries.

Here is a glimpse of the open interior of the student center, facing east from the second floor.

Towards the end of my visit the weather relented enough for me to take a short walk to Pleasant Lake, which was crowded with geese.

Some of the geese are swimming in water, and some are standing on ice.

March 2015
In March I returned, and one of the first events was a visit to Steve Nolle's new house just outside town. It's a sthapatya vedic house built by Vessey Vastu Builders on a 36'x36' square plan. (I first met Steve over a decade ago in Fairfield and discovered that we both had worked for Bell Labs, he in the Chicago area and me in Columbus.)

I took this panoramic shot, facing west and encompassing both the south windows of the dining area (left) and the north door (right). The open space can hold lots of folks at once without feeling crowded.

The home was built with a full basement, mostly finished, with lots of available space. Steve is standing in front of the door to the walled-off equipment area.

Back on campus, another somewhat futile exercise in signage.

I was spending a lot of time at the Raj, taking seven days of Ayurvedic treatments, an experience I've described before. This limited my roaming-about opportunities, but one day Cary Davis and I visited several spots. First, we swung by an art exhibit in the arts building (old student center). These objects are all made with cardboard, except for Cary, who is standing next to the telescope.

In the Unity Gallery, a room in the library, was a collection of Lovey Town displays (click on the image to enlarge).

People send in small artworks, or photos of themselves in artwork-admiring positions.

I took a picture of the sustainable living building from the north side of the library. Look at all those solar panels!

Next we visited downtown, where I didn't take any photos. Sad to say, the newly reopened Orpheum theater closed after only a couple months of operation. Either the audience wasn't there, or the financial reserves to buttress the startup period were insufficient, or ??

A meditation hall has been opened downtown to supplement the activities of the men's and women's domes on campus.

One night I saw the moon and Venus side by side.

As I left Fairfield, I took another picture of the grain elevators mentioned earlier. There are now eight metal silos looming over the Leahy family residence, in addition to the central concrete towers.

That makes ten visits documented. Perhaps this November I'll make pilgrimage #11.