To my students: Thanks for contacting me. The weather here is quite cool. The wind is blowing and it sleeted this morning. The high temps are around 40 degrees. The weather is to be like this till Wednesday when it calls for rain. It is suppose to rain more on Thursday before clearing off. The Gates are scheduled to open on Saturday the 12th and the weather that day should be partly sunny and around 40 degrees. I went to the Gates training yesterday. It took place in a warehouse in Queens. I had a hour and ten minute subway ride followed by a 45 min. bus ride.

Christo and Jeanne Claude were both there to greet everyone. I met Wolfgang, who has been their photographer for thirty five years. I also met people who are here to work on the project from Oregon, New Mexico, Alaska, and California.

I was impressed with the high quality of the materials that are being used and with the quality machining of those materials. Each crew had a small canvas bag of tools to work with. We practiced installing a leveling plate on top of the six-hundred pound bases. Then we assembled a gate and erected it upon the base.  We were observed for how well we were able to do this because they will assign duties the day we start, which is this Monday.

We will meet at 7am in the Central Park Boat House where we will be assigned to a crew and find out what area of the park we will be working in. I only had a chance to take two photos of the gate connection joint. I will send more photos when we begin installation. The fabric is pleated about every six inches and is made of a rip-stop, bright orange nylon designed by Jeanne Claude. The fabric is rolled up on a cardboard tube and enclosed in an orange-colored nylon cocoon that is sealed with Velcro. There is a dangling strip that will be pulled to release the fabric on the opening day. Just before we left training, Christo unfurled a gate that was erected in the warehouse. It was very inspiring. Email me any questions or comments. Later, Prof. Smith