Rock On. And Zapped!

Long Live Rock!  That's me at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.  It was a major stop on our big road trip, along with the Cleveland Museum of Art.  On the right in the picture you can see the slanted roof of the museum, these words are in the front plaza.  It's fun to wander through this museum, looking at all the videos and displays.  

Our favorite thing to do is to find the screens where you can listen to the top 100 songs from any one year and see the videos or film clips that go with them.  There are also special booths where you can listen to songs by groups/individuals that were what we call "a one-trick pony".  In other words, there was one hit song and never anything else significant produced by that group/individual.  Our favorite example is this song, which did wind up being appropriated by several other artists and used in a movie. You can't listen to it without feeling like you are in the 50's. If you were a boy you had sideburns, if you were a girl you were wearing a poodle skirt.

Zapped!  All I was doing was riding my bike and I'd stopped to look at the graffiti (above) by the side of the road and I was attacked!  He flew right onto my chin and inflicted major damage.  In this picture he looks a little small but honestly, he was about 2 feet long with a huge wingspan and an enormous stinger.  Susan inspected my wound when I got home, listened to my sad saga, and just then just picked up her newspaper and kept right on reading. A cold, cold woman. See if I decorate her hard-boiled eggs again!

Did You Miss Me?

Did you miss me? I'm hoping my Blog Wrangler will post some more pictures but for the last hour she's been wrangling with the new computer and the old one and she said she's forgotten everything she learned before we left and Photoshop is refusing to cooperate and she doesn't want to talk about it any more. And I don't want to talk about the fact that my cellphone, for which I do not give out the number, has rung 4 times today with robocalls from Connecticut, Georgia and other places I don't know anyone.  I'm really tired of them leaving voice mail and even though I now know how to block call numbers they still get through, like cockroaches.

We've been on the road for 24 days, 3852 miles on the car and only 4, maybe 5, OK, 6 times did we scream at each other.  Briefly.  Justified.

That's me on the first day, at our favorite rest stop, Buc-ees. Buc-ees are only in Texas and I wish they were everywhere.  Susan loves Buc-ees because: 1) every Buc-ees women's bathroom has 30 stalls, 2) each stall has a door that shuts and you flip a lever and on the outside it changes from saying "vacant" to saying "occupied" so you don't have to peek under to check for feet, 3) each stall has a dispenser with 4 separate rolls of toilet paper so they never run out and 4) each stall has a Purell dispenser in it. And they are always clean!

One stop was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland where this quote by Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys caught my eye.

Shuttlecocks and a Train

A fellow artist told me she liked reading about places we traveled to because she didn't get to travel that much.  So that's why I'm backing up to show you more of stuff we've encountered on our recent trips.  Actually Susan does hours of research to determine the bestest and mostest good stuff to see, so much research that by the time we get ready to go she complains she doesn't need to go.

A 17-foot high shuttlecock on the grounds of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.  The good thing about this sculpture is that the bird poop doesn't show up. 

The sculptures were very controversial when first proposed, but, as usual, loud protests probably came from people who didn't bother to read the artist statement, here. 

Why were we in Kansas City? To see art, of course.  The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art had a special exhibit of 6 ceramic artists and the Nelson-Atkins had an exhibit of 24 different ceramic artists.  I saw so much inspiring stuff my head exploded. Both museums were within walking distance of each other and that made it nice.  Also nice was good weather so we got to enjoy the outdoor sculptures in a well-designed space.

At first it looked like a tree painted silver, but then we got closer to it.  Somebody did a lot of shopping at Home Depot.

We really liked Kansas City, easy to get around and the grounds at the Nelson-Atkins were a nice break from the heat..  A second reason to go to Kansas City was to see the World War I museum.  We'd been there once before when it just opened but only saw a small portion of the exhibits - we go slow and read all the signs. Hey, it's History!  This time around we still didn't see everything so we'll have an excuse to go back again. 

Watch the trains in your area.  There may not be many more carrying hitchhikers like this because they've quit stopping near where I live probably because of the nearby MoPac-olypse construction (2 years late, zillions over budget.) I'm under strict orders to avoid trying to put anything on a moving train

The Guys

Recognize us?  It's me and Seth Apter!  The famous Seth of The Altered Page.  We had coffee together last week and we were  happy to see each other because, after all, we are twins that were separated at birth.  Except that I think I have more hair than he does.  Not that there is much of that anyway.

We were in New York City last week, right after the big icy snowstorm and just before the crazy weather this week.  The timing was perfect because there wasn't even any snow on the ground while we were there.

The Guys above were at the Peter Fischli/David Weiss exhibit at the Guggenheim.  This is my opinion about the art in that exhibit:

Just because a cat has kittens 

in the oven 

 doesn't make them biscuits

We also went to the MOMA and saw this great mask by Joan Miro:

And the MOMA has an exhibit by Marcel Broodthaers.  This is my opinion about the art in that exhibit:

Just because a cat has kittens 

in the oven 

 doesn't make them biscuits

My Blog Wrangler just told me to get over it, there were plenty of other things we saw that were just fine.  And we got to have lunch with another New York friend who has great stuff here. She thinks it's very amusing that one of the highlights of our visit was a First -- seeing a rat in the subway!  He was more frightened of all of the passengers getting off the subway than we were of him.  Most people were checking him out to see if he had pizza. What are we talking about?  Go here to see.

Sad Rabbit

This little rabbit is named "Fear No Beauty" by Kari Rives.  He's sad about the Rabbit Hash General Store that burned down this week.

Yes, we've been to Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, and we've seen the store (but we didn't go in).  How do you get there? You drive south from Cincinnati, Ohio, and pass through Sugartit, Kentucky.  Keep driving until you get to Beaverlick.  It's very famous for having all its signs stolen.  Turn to the west and make a rest stop at Big Bone Lick State Park.  Then back on Beaver Road toward Lower River Road where you'll eventually find Rabbit Hash.

No, I'm not making any of that up.

Going in a different direction (I'm sure you're thankful for that), here is another give-away.

I've used this glaze before and each time it is slightly different.

My Blog Wrangler is busy cursing just one more change in her life -- Picasa Web Albums are going to be closed out.  Every single picture in this blog is from Picasa Web Album on our desktop computer. Will Google find a way to preserve the pictures? Will Google find a way to make it simple for her to post pictures in the future?  We'll see.

Growing Old Gracefully

This little Birdie came to Susan for Christmas, as did the one below (two views).

We live in a retirement community that is a CCRC, which stands for Continuing Care Retirement Community. That means in our complex of 3 connected buildings we have independent living apartments (that's us), an Assisted Living floor, a Memory Care floor (dementia and Alzheimer's) and a Health Care floor (nursing home/care).  

Often people say they'll "age" into an Assisted Living facility but what they don't understand is that it never includes the nursing care part unless it's part of a designated CCRC. For example, if Susan had a bad fall and broke her hip, after a few days in a hospital she would come back to our Health Care floor until she was fully recovered. I would be able to take an elevator down to her floor to see her every day and she would have therapy right there on that floor. Very convenient. If we were in an independent  Assisted Living facility she would go from the hospital to a hospital-like rehabilitation facility and I'd have to drive over to see her every day.

As we all age here we like to party hearty and I'm part of the volunteer Bartenders' Guild.  We have a Social Hour every Wednesday - free snacks, beer and wine - and about 30-40 residents take advantage of it.  A few weeks ago I had an interesting conversation with Lucy, who came up to the table where I was pouring wine:

Don:  Lucy, can I pour you a glass of wine?

Lucy:  That would be great. 

Don:  Red or white?

Lucy: I really like white but my doctor said I should drink red.

Don:  Lucy, how old are you?

Lucy: 97.

Don:...........Lucy, drink what you want!

We were in Washington DC over Thanksgiving and once again we timed it perfectly to see the ginko leaves drop.

High Line and Calder

You previously saw Frank Stella's Black Star (below the shadow area of this picture), here's the other star on one of the open roof areas of the Whitney. That's the High Line below it, and looking up toward the north is another view of it (below).  We had good weather when we were there (Thanksgiving time) and the trees were just beginning to drop their leaves.

Nothing like a huge Calder mobile to make me feel really small (East Wing, National Gallery, Washington DC):

Washington DC and Yes, We Are Dry

We fly JetBlue into New York City but take Amtrak to Washington DC, then fly home Southwest from there. That's us getting on the train in the picture above, 3rd car from the left. Seriously, when we get to Penn Station we ask for Red Cap service. That gives us a separate quiet waiting area but best of all, a Red Cap who gathers up our luggage for us and escorts us early down to the correct train track, waits with us until the train arrives and then directs us onto the Quiet Car, where we leisurely pick a seat and wait about 10 minutes before the horde comes racing down to the track to board. All for a tip of $20. Little do they know that we would pay double for the privilege of not having to queue up in a huge mass, wondering which was the Quiet Car and then fighting to get a seat on it. There are some pleasures in life that are worth every penny.

In DC we always go to the Smithsonian Craft Show on the first day. We talk to a lot of artists and just enjoy seeing incredible artwork. Yes, craft and art are the same thing. Here are just two examples.

Evan Chambers.

Irina Okula.

We saw a great exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery -- Elaine de Kooning: Portraits.  The interesting thing about this portrait of Kennedy was the information she provided that said his posture in this portrait (and another one also) was unusual because he was favoring his injured, aching low back.  Susan sometimes has low back pain and she immediately recognized the posture, the way the pain can sometimes be eased by leaning on one arm.

Of course we had to go to the Torpedo Factory to see Susan Finsen.  As you can see, I am carefully advising her on her painting technique. As if.

Susan does great work and is always a pleasure to talk to.

Thanks to all of you who have asked if we have stayed dry during the recent storms and flooding. Yes, we are fine and so are all the people we know that live near the flooded areas.  You might think Texas is dry, like you see in western movies. Not!  Here is what the low-water crossing alert map of our area looked like the day after the heaviest rain.

Red is road closed due to high water. Green is OK to cross. There are 1029 low-water crossings in our immediate area. 

This is what high water looks like in the San Marcos area. In the background is IH 35, the main interstate that goes north-south through Texas. In a nearby area it was closed for over 5 hours at one point because it was flooded. 

This is what high water flooding over a river bank does to a home.

Wrapping Up New York City

This is an old watercolor I glued on the cover of the sketchbook I took to New York. Didn't do too much sketching in it because we were too busy:

1. Neue Galerie (see previous post)
2. Cooper Hewitt
3. Museum of Arts and Design
4. Metropolitan Museum
5. Center for Book Arts

That's right - 5 museums in 3 and a half days. No pain, no gain!

The Cooper Hewitt has recently re-opened and they have a great thing going - The Pen. When you come in you get The Pen to carry around - it's just a fat pen on a cord - and you touch it to the labels of the items you are looking at.  When you leave the museum you return the pen and get a receipt that tells you your personal website that includes the images and data about everything you marked. No need to photo stuff, all saved for you.  Way cool!

Susan did take a picture of me in the middle of the Tools exhibit. It was definitely a Guy moment.

One afternoon we were staggering back to our hotel and had to stop and take a break in a pocket park.  This big macho guy was sitting there knitting. Susan told me she wanted to go over and ask him about it and of course I told her not to talk to New Yorkers, they don't want to be bothered by tourists. Naturally she ignored me and went over to his table and had a 10-minute conversation with him about knitting, yarns, patterns and whatever that stuff is. I just hate it when she comes back and says "I told you it would be fine."

Sometimes it seems like people just don't choose the right shoes for city streets. I'd love to know the story behind these abandoned ones.

Happy Mother's Day!

OK, All you Moms, it's not a rose, it's a cabbage. Looks pretty anyway and is definitely not ordinary, and I'm sure you aren't ordinary either. And I least I sent you a flower!

These were at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC last November. I've seen plenty of blooming cabbages before but they've usually been flat on the ground, not on tall stems like this. Strange.

This little birdie could have fit right in with the cabbages.

Remember this:

MOMS!

Not all Superheroes wear capes.

Spiderman 2 and Egon

Another little test piece, about 4 inches high. Again, I probably won't be able to recreate the glaze again but hey, if was easy everyone would be doing it.

Do you see us there? It was in April, we were on our way to New York City. Wait! We aren't in that picture! We spent the $170 to get TSA PreCheck and ta-dah! ... I don't have to take off my belt or my shoes or, best of all, stand in a long line.  Best money we've spent in years.

This was a quick and short trip this time as hotels are really expensive in April. We used to go in late January-early February when rates are really cheap but just didn't get it together this year.  Turned out to be a good decision as nearly every weekend in January and February had flight problems as the Northeast was slammed with bad weather.

We were scrambling to get everything seen in three days, especially the Egon Schiele show at the Neue Galerie.  He had a mostly strange and sad life and died when he was only 28.  Some of the works in the show were things he had done as a 17-year old and his drawing skill was incredible even at that early age.  He made some really weird stuff and some beautiful stuff too.  This is a painting of his wife, Edith, and he's painted her as what I call a "gentle soul". She looks like someone you just want to give a hug to.   She was pregnant with their first child when she died just 3 days before he died, both from the Spanish Flu.

When we go to New York City we always stay at the same hotel - I know exactly where to get giant breakfast biscuits (Donna Bell's), liquor (mandatory), snacks (Food Emporium) and food (Pret A Manger).  At Pret A Manger we always see Tanya, who is an aspiring actress. We've been teaching her how to talk Texan:  "Y'all come back real soon now."