Summer Retrospective

Summer is certainly over now.  I shouldn't complain about it's passing.  Autumn days have been cool and sunny.  We haven't had rain for two weeks.  After grumbling about rain throughout the summer, why do I regret its passing now?  I need to keep a record of the flowers that flourished and the rejects.

 Don't you just love vinca?  They bloom in all weather, rain or drought.  They love the sun, and bear up well in heat. They are still blooming as of today.  What a joy!

More vinca.  Pink and white. I planted them on either side of the steps leading up to the door.

Another winner is ageratum.  They are in their element in cooler weather, although they manage to survive the heat of summer, too.

Cosmos.  Beautiful, right?  Wrong!  What a fraud!  I planted cosmos in the front garden, thinking they would replace the cone flowers when the cone flowers began to wane in August.  These plants grew to enormous heights (over 5 feet) and flopped over.  Yes, they had some blossoms as you see on the left, but mostly their feathery leaves turned brown, shaded the ageratum border and covered the lawn.  I finally cut them down with grim disgust and put them in the trash.




Spring Pansies

Fall Pansies




I filled planters with scads of pansies in the spring.  I rooted them out in July in favor of the moss rose which thrives in the hot sun and endures both drought and rain.

Now I am pulling out the same moss rose, grown spindly with reduced sunlight and warmth, in favor of the delightful pansies again that flourish in the cool fall. 

Zinnias are hearty summer survivors.  I still have a few that haven't surcomed to rust or fungi; these few are still visited by tardy butterflies.  This picture of zinnias, however, was taken in August, and have since been dispatched with clippers.

Finally, last spring my neighbor gave me two English aster plants.  I put them in the front garden between the cone flowers and the now destroyed cosmos. She advised me that they wouldn't bloom until fall.  They grew long stems and fell over, and I viewed them with suspicion.  They looked like weeds to me.  I looked in vain for flowers or even buds.  September came and went and they continued to look weedy.  This week I ventured outside to see how the ageratum and  zinnias were doing and walla!  There they were, English asters:  a brilliant deep blue, even violet, maybe. Hurray!






The Way Things Go - The Art and Archaeology Museum

Allyson and Blondie

Cathy Callaway of the Education Department at MAA held a family event Saturday afternoon, September 25, inspired by the art film about kinetic sculpture, The Way Things Go. A number of families, including fathers as well as mothers, and children from the very young to pre-teens, came. We assembled in Room 106 of Pickard Hall in an informal atmosphere. Since Blondie, the miniature horse arrived in the parking lot, everyone went out to meet her and Allyson, her handler from Stephens College.  (Click on any picture to enlarge it.)





Tentative hands reach out to pet Blondie.



 
 
 
 
 

Some clients weren't at all sure this was appropriate behavior.

 

Some clients were willing to give it a try.

MAA has a new gallery exhibition on Equine Art that focuses on the human fascination with horses. 
 
Once back inside Pickard Hall, we watch The Way Things Go. This approximately half hour film keeps your attention as you see one
happening leading to another with a cause/effort relationship.  The unwinding of the tie of a trash bag begins the action (similar to falling dominoes) and moves through a rolling tire, exploding fireworks, rivers of soapsuds and clouds of foaming dry ice.  This all take place in what appears to be a warehouse, and should never be tried at home.  One comment I heard overheard was something like, "I wonder how many times they had to film this to get this effect."  The film can also be observed on You Tube.



Birds fly from this mobile.

 


Choices take a lot of concentration.

 Making mobiles was the next activity.  Allisa, an  MU art student had cut out little Picasso figures and new moons and she and Cathy demonstrated how they tied  objects to a wire coat hanger to make the mobile. We had many versions of the mobile.   

Whee!  Look at mine! It matches my dress.



I can see you, too.



Family members work together.

An artist must focus on his work.

This is a serious job.

One can work anywhere - even on the 'stage.'

Even the youngest artist makes her own selections.





Really, this was easy.

Finished!



Even Dad's can do it! (We are an equal opportunity operation.)

 Everyone seemed to go home happy.  Then it was time to clean up.  Cathy and Allisa did most of it.  I hung around for a while. It was nothing but pleasure for me.

A Day in the Life...Arrow Rock

The Museum of Art and Archaeology organized a tour for docents to Arrow Rock (population 50) named one of America’s Dozen Distinctive Destination’s by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The famous 19th Century Missouri painter, George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879), lived in Arrow Rock, and we are celebrating his 200th birthday next year.

We met at a parking lot on the west side of town. We car-pooled, and although I had volunteered to drive that turned out not to be necessary. Arrow Rock is about 45 miles west of Columbia on Highway 70 and 41.   It is a nice drive through green hills and woods.



The restaurant.  I am sitting at a table on the right (off camera)-
except when I took this picture.

Once there, around noon, we ate at a charming local restaurant that opens to serve mainly tour groups. 

Remi shows a book to Arthur (off camera)
Remember you can click on any picturre to enlarge it.

 
The proprietor, served the group with a choice of chicken salad and croissant sandwich or quiche accompanied by a lovely green salad, grapes and cantaloupe. Several desserts were offered, but I stopped listening after I heard peach cobbler with ice cream; that’s what everyone at our table took, except Arthur who absented himself from the table. I wondered if he was on a diet. But aren't we all.


Canopied bed with antique hand sewn quilt



From the restaurant we drove to the parking lot by the Visitor Center. There we saw a half hour movie on the history of Arrow Rock that before the Civil War was a town of up to 19,000 residents (25 % were slaves). Very crowded, loud (river town) and muddy. Another half hour or more was spent listening to our tour guide answer questions. We looked at the19th Century museum exhibits…

Side-saddle:  notice the vertical post that the lady was expected to hook her right leg over. (click to enlarge)

Many of the residents came from Virginia and the Southeast, and tried to bring as much of that ‘civilization’ with them as possile. Beside slaves, they brought a preference for Federalist architecture and some items of luxury.



Decorative arrangement - tavern



A solid block of tea.  Tea could be shaved off as needed, or broken into small blocks and sold.

We visited the Huston Tavern where we saw coffee containers that held coffee from Java, Rio and other places around the world. Tea from China came in solid blocks.


George Caleb Bingham’s family came from Virginia to Franklin, Missouri when he was very young. (Franklin was flooded so many times that the residents moved to higher ground, now called New Franklin.) Later the family moved to Arrow Rock, where his mother, now a widow, opened an academy for girls.

Academy for girls

One of his most famous paintings is Fur Traders Descending the Missouri at the Metropolitan. His bread and butter was portrait painting, but he also painted frontier life, The Jolly Flatboatmen and Order No. 11 showing the eviction of residents from Western Missouri after the Quantrill raid of Lawrence, Kansas in 1863.



Docents in front of the Bighanm house.

 We toured Bingham’s Federalist style house. The upper wooden story, as well as the wood frame kitchen wing was taken off in the 1930’s when the WPA was restoring it on the mistaken assumption that it wasn’t original.

Antique spinning and winding wheels in the Bingham house.

Much of the town was destroyed by two fires in the last two centuries, and other buildings were torn down in a successful attempt to make the town park like. An old church was remodeled to house the nationally known Lyceum Theater. This building has since been expanded to provide more seating.



The movie Tom Sawyer ( 1975) was filmed in Arrow Rock.
If you want to check out some paintings by Bingham, google George Caleb Bingham paintings.

Creative Bedmaking

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog praising men, in particular my husband. One of the things I mentioned was that my husband, Youssef, makes our bed. I admit that very occasionally the bed doesn’t get made before evening, occasionally not before noon. But usually he is quick to make it; sometimes he is so quick that the bed is made before I can remind him that it’s time to change the sheets.  Never mind, one less thing to do that day.

One of my friends wrote me that men didn’t understand the need for pillows, decorative pillows and lots of them. I agreed that Youssef makes the bed, but I usually come around later and arrange the decorative pillows the way I think they should look.

Lately, however, Youssef has gotten creative. He pulls the sheet up to the top corners of the bed, but folds the bedspread back so that it covers only the lower half. I think he feels this looks inviting, summery and cool. He sets two pillows each at the top of the bed and covers them with the sham pillows on either side. We have three large decorative pillows, but he only puts two pillows (one green, one burgundy) between the shams. I find the third large green decorative pillow on the cedar chest. The two smaller green decorative pillows are arranged at the foot of the bed.
Nothing wrong with being creative, I suppose!

Huntington Beach and Seal Beach

Photo by Matt S    To See and Be Seen!

Two of the nicest places in Orange County are Huntington Beach and Seal Beach. Even though they are both beaches with piers and a diner at the end of the pier, they are quite different communities.
I love Huntington Beach because of its diversity. My favorite place to eat breakfast there is the Sugar Shack.  Here you see tourists, of course, but also tanned white haired retirees with grandkids, grandparents with their kids and grandkids, surfers and volleyball players, young people, and youth in cut offs, halters and tattoos. You can sit outside on the street, if you want to be seen, which we don't, or inside, but why waste CA sunshine? Or on the patio behind, which is where we always go. The shops along Main Street are generally restaurants and clothing establishments. On the weekend a tent city of artists’ stalls clutters the promenade by the pier. It tends to be a crowded glitzy place, but isn’t that California?

Photo from the Bay Cinema Website

Seal Beach still has that 1950's atmosphere. Right at Main and Pacific Coast Highway 1 (PCH1) is an old cinema with its fancy marquee. You feel that born Californians live in Seal Beach and they stroll the through the shaded parks. Once we met a group of middle-aged people all walking their sleek miniature hounds (that’s what they appeared to be to me – I didn’t ask).

Youssef and I always eat breakfast at the Old Town Cafe, which has a distinctive blue Dutch door (top/bottom halves open separately). It is owned by a Mexican-American who worked in the café 20 years before he bought it in 2003. Besides the usual Euro-American fare they also have breakfast versions of burritos, huevos, refried beans, etc. On this last trip to California, I suggested to Wade that we eat there. They had plenty of patrons, Latino and Anglo. I ordered 'to die for' waffles with bananas, walnuts and syrup. I had so many walnuts I couldn't eat them all. And how I hate waste, especially walnuts! Wade had one of the Mexican breakfasts and liked it.

After breakfast we browsed passed little dress shops, a used book store, a floral nursery smelliing of fresh flowers, restaurants, coffee and ice cream parlors and walked out on the pier. Looking northwest we could just barely glimpse the Long Beach Pier.

If you want to know more about the Old Town Cafe with photos go to http://www.presstelegram.com/lifestyle/dining/ci_7781578

Antique Clock

Back in the late 1970’s or so, Youssef, Sharif and I were driving around in the West End of St. Louis when we came across an estate sale in Portland Place. There the houses are large and majestic, but had seen better days…at least in the 1970’s and early 80’s. The owner of this house was an antique collector/dealer, a man in his late 30’s, not my idea of a collector.

The collector had a number of clocks, and out of the blue Youssef asked how much he wanted for one in particular. The guy said $500. Youssef offered him, I think, half of what the man was asking -  $250. The man, being no fool, jumped at the offer and the deal was done. I was speechless with astonishment. The collector said it was an Ansonia Clock, and that only about 20 of them were made around 1887.  Yeah, I thought, says who?

Although I was in a state of denial, we took it to our home in University City and hung it above our couch. It tended to run slow, but it had a charming chime striking the hours and dinging once for the half hour.

When we moved to Egypt in 1991, we put it in storage. Returning ten years later, we got it out, but didn’t do much with it in our new home in Columbia. First, I hung it in the den, but fearing it might fall on someone’s head took it down. It lay around long enough for its chains to come to pieces and after a while I threw them away. Then I set the body of the clock on the mantel of the fireplace downstairs for atmosphere.

This summer, we took it to Bob, a clock repairman here in Columbia. He was reassuringly impressed. Bob confirmed that it was an Ansonia (whatever that means), and the copy write date (1887) is stamped inside the clock. He thought that the cabinet, the pendulum and the weights were all original. I thought, “Too bad I was so cavalier with the chains.”  He oiled the innards and installed new chains. It is now hanging on our wall again, charming us with its chimes and losing about five minutes every 24 hours.

Sights in St. Louis

Monday of last week (July 26th) docents from the Art and Archaeology Museum and friends took a bus to St. Louis to see "Treasures of the Vatican," at the Missouri Historical Museum.  My sister, Mary Sue and friend, Trudie, also made the trip.  I don't know what I was expecting, Michelangelo maybe, but I was pretty disappointed with the exhibition.  I couldn't get excited about a brick from Peter's tomb or an early Christian relief of the Visit of the Magi.  There was an interesting reliquary holding almost invisible bone chips. There was a plaster cast of the Pieta.  It was noted that 9 bronze Pieta's were made in the 1930"s and served the restorers well when they had to repair the Pieta after it was attack by a mad man with a hammer. 

  At 2:00 we returned to the bus after taking pictures in front of the fountain.

Then we went to the St. Louis Cathedral which has more mosaics than San Marcus in Venice. It was spectacular.
Our guide was great with an accent I last heard in  the Godfather movie.  He told us many stories, and gave us a great appreciation for the intricate workmanship involved.  As we wandered through the church a young man came and began to play the organ.  The music of the Doxology filled the sanctuary.

Some mosaics were made to look like paintings.  Some mosaics reminded me of Byzantine icons I had seen in Coptic churches in Egypt.

This bronze Pieta is one of the nine Pieta casts made in the 1930's and is touring the States.

The Cathedral garden was quiet.

And the lilly pond was tranquil.  This was good, because we left St. Louis at rush hour and arrived back in Columbia around 8:00.  Lovely trip.