Flower Power

Our final stop on the great odyssey is the DC area. Our first night was with Aunt Juanita and Uncle Carlton in Woodbridge, VA. We had a great time with them, catching up on family, politics, and travel. We also got to see Justine who is off to Oxford this month. The 2 final nights were in DC where we saw Adam, Maura and Tanith for dinner night one. Adam spent the next day with us doing the tourist thing and showing us his new home. We spent the entire day in the National Portrait Gallery and walking around the Tidal Basin. The NPG was fabulous. The current show featured Rose Frantzen, Jim Torok, and Rebecca Westcott. Take a look. You will be very impressed. Pay attention to the scale, too. The other show I enjoyed was the portrait competition. It was thrilling to see the variety and skill of these artists.

On our walk to the Tidal Basin, I saw a Luis Jimenez sculpture in front of the American Art Museum. What a serendipity! This is the same sculptor we saw and studied in Santa Fe. The walk around the Basin was warm with bright sun and peak cherry blooming. Tomorrow we head home, happy to be going there.

The Butler Opens the Door

We spent time in Richmond, VA today in order to see some Civil War sites. Wayne has an interest in aspects of the war: the pathos, the battles, personalities, and Lincoln to name a few. We started with the American Civil War Center at Tredegar. Tredegar was a gun foundry. We, first of all, had to share the Center with a group of Middle School students who ran, yelled and banged on everything. Yes, it was yet another focused, well-planned field trip where students were required to analyze, deduce, theorize and report back on the experience. But, beyond the chaos of the day was the astounding presentation of the war. No wonder many Southerners are still fighting this War. Without doubt, the Center presented slavery as a secondary (or tertiary) cause of the war. According to the Center, it seems that tariffs and Kansas along with states' rights were the primary cause. Whatever the chain of events truly were, they push the fact that slavery was not all that bad and the evil Union hell bent on taking away their God given right to own and sell people. Perhaps this continuous propaganda is what nurtures the vitriol that continues today.

Then we went to the Confederate White House. The tour guide taught us that Davis' "butler" would greet guests in the foyer and his "maids" took care of the household. Finally, someone asked if slaves were in the house. Her reply, "Both slaves and free servants. And even the slaves had their own house which was quite a perk for their job." Job? Really? Talk about denial. So glad I moved north.

"Savannah would be better for you. You'll just get in trouble in Atlanta." Mammy

Savannah, the most beautiful city in the south. Thank god they surrendered to Sherman and preserved all that beauty and charm. We spent Sunday morning enjoying the beauty and spring warmth before heading for Richmond, VA. The last, and only other time, we were in Savannah was in January 2005. It was cold, and the Pats were winning their first Super Bowl. Late March is a much better time to visit. All the trees were dressed in their finest blossoms, the Spanish Moss was swaying in the breeze to the tunes of sidewalk gospel singers, and we were chomping peanuts by the river. Savannah's downtown is one of the largest National Historic Districts in the US. It boasts 22 squares, each with a central park area holding prominent sculptures and surrounded by absolutely gorgeous, beautiful homes. Some of these homes are museums and restaurants as well as bed and breakfast joints. The downtown area outside the Historic District and adjacent to the Savannah River is one long, long shopping and dining delight. I highly recommend a visit. But not mid-summer when a belle could suffer from the vapors.

Miami Heat

We spent the day in Maimi on Lincoln Road and in the Bass Museum. Lincoln Road is a Ramblas type area consisting mostly of restaurants and commercial shops. There are one or two galleries and the Arts Center. The area teems with tattoos, cleavage, lots of skin, and electronic devices. We had a nice sushi lunch among the tanned. After lunch we walked about 1 mile to the Bass Museum. It is very small; one room of Renaissance art and a floor of contemporary pieces. It is more like a gallery than a museum. Question: Why is a mosaic penguin in front of a restaurant NOT art and a mounted stack of cardboard boxes in a museum IS art? Dinner at Chima was so nice. It is Brazilian in style and food, a beautifully appointed space.

The Family of Man

This morning we had normal business to take care of. Wayne needed to go to the Apple store and have his network connection fixed. He also decided to return the Lamborghini. It's too difficult having 2 cars on a trip. We also went to this huge Swap Shop on 88 acres that has everything from psychic readings to dime store items, XXXX videos, food, carnival and 14 drive-in movie screens.

We visited the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art today. It is a small museum and even had a section off limits. But there was an excellent exhibit of Edward Steichen's work from 1923 through 1937 consisting actors, writers, composers, models and dancers he photographed for Vogue and Vanity Fair. Most significantly for me were the models wearing designs by Channel because we had just seen the movie Coco Before Channel.


The Museum sits on the banks of New River next to Las Olas Blvd. After leaving the Museum, we went to the Riverwalk area for lunch and a stroll.

Let Me Tell You About the Rich.

They are very different from you and me. F Scott Fitzgerald
Look what being around them made Wayne go and buy!!! So, to explain all this silliness, we spent the day in Palm Beach, the winter playground for those who register their yachts in the Caymen Islands. We had lunch at a fabulous hotel, The Breakers, built by Henry Flagler who was responsible for bring the railroad (and, thus, the rich) to Florida. The pictures fail to illustrate the opulence of the place. It boasts multiple expansive halls and verandas, 3 ballrooms, outdoor spaces, and shops. One of the ballroom ceilings was covered in gold-leaf, the other with murals. The flower arrangements were yummy and the staff was pleasant.



We also strolled down Worthen Ave when the very rich shop. The funny thing is the windows are full of tiny little sundresses and the patrons' average age is close to 60.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

We had a fun day at City of Palms Park watching the Red Sox get trounced by the Tampa Bay Rays. All the big stars were playing: Pedroia, Drew, Youk, Ellsbury, Ortiz. And, they STILL lost. But we were in the bleachers with a bunch of very funny people and enjoyed the sun, beer and jokes.

Art and Music

The Fort Lauderdale neighborhood we are staying in had its annual Art and Jazz in the Park festival. We won a 5 bottle basket of Greek wine donated by Trata, the Greek restaurant we so enjoyed the night before. The musical stylings of Billy Bones was center stage. Here is another very poor attempt at a Woody Allen hand held camera style video.

The 3 R's

Relaxed on Fort Lauderdale beach. Read more Anne Tyler. Red was the color of my true love's skin.

They Call Him Flipper, Flipper

We spent the day driving down Alligator Alley to the Thousand Islands area of the Everglades. Once there, we decided to take a boat tour of the 1000 Islands area. The boat ride was not all that they advertised, which was to include dolphins jumping across the stern, eagles, alligators and manatees. Sounded like a naturalist's paradise. We did see a few dolphin. But mostly we motored at high speeds from one island to another. These islands are situated at the western tip of Florida and are mangroves. If you look really, really closely you an see a few dolphin and then get the feeling for our Indy 500 boat ride.



But the funniest part of the day was earlier when we paid the toll for Alligator Alley. The booth was surrounded by crazy birds that were staring into all the cars and not the least bit intimidated. The booth attendant said they were waiting to be fed.



Since we were practically on the gulf coast, we drove on into Naples for dinner at Verginia's. What a town. Of course, we then had a LONG drive home.

Roji-en

We spent the afternoon at the Morikami Japanese Gardens. They are are ranked 8th among more than 300 Japanese Gardens outside Japan. Please enjoy the pictures.

You Say It's Your Birthday

Happy Birthday to you, Wayne.

It's a rainy Wednesday and we've decided to go to the IMAX and see Alice in Wonderland. The past 2 days we enjoyed sunshine and beaches. It seems there are still colleges on spring break. 3 guys were roaming Fort Lauderdale Beach with a snake and convincing girls to strip their tops and pose with the snake draped over strategic spots. We thought one of these "ladies" needed a much larger snake.

Yesterday we toured Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens in Coral Gables. One of their focuses is to conserve endangered species. I was impressed with the type and amount of sculpture complementing the plantings. On the way home we stopped at Miami Beach's South Beach just to walk among the masses. Dinner was at Billy's Strone Crab Restaurant. The view was beautiful in the sunset, but we still vote for Maine's lobsters over the crabs.

Alas, Olas.

Daylight savings time took us by surprise. What we thought was a late morning sleep in and breakfast turned out to be an early afternoon. Just kidding. But we did not do much today. We explored in the car to see where we might like to take a walk; returned the car and walked for an hour over to the canal and back.


Tonight we ate at St. Tropez, a French bistro, on Las Olas Blvd. Surprisingly, everyone there spoke French. But the entire staff was taken with the 1956 Citroen parked outside. Much oohing and aahing took place. Also, the chow was tres bien.

Florida Bound

We said goodbye to my mom and headed out for Florida. We took 3 days to make Fort Lauderdale. Nothing exciting to write home about; just driving and sleeping. The more we drove east and south the more evidence of spring appeared. We stopped for lunch in Vicksburg, MS along the Big Muddy. It was fun to see giant magnolia trees in the woods of Mississippi and huge live oaks there and Alabama, too. The storms stayed ahead of us and left flooding in its wake. Our night in Ocala was warm and gave proof of what was to come in Fort Lauderdale. We arrived there on the 3rd day and went to Las Olas Blvd for a late lunch. There was a parade for Wayne's birthday. But most people were confused and thought it was a St. Patrick's Day parade. We checked into our home for the next 2 weeks; a very nice place that speaks of Florida.

Come on, everybody to the storm cellar!

Dear loyal blogees,
I haven't posted in a few days because we've been in Magnolia, Arkansas without nternet access. It's not that Arkansas doesn't have Internet access. It does. Honest! It's just that my mother doesn't. We had a nice time despite being cut off from Facebook and Youtube. We went to the Barbeque Pit in Stamps (where Maya Angelou was raised and the setting for I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) to buy beef jerky. Wayne goes there each visit (about every 2 years) for the jerky, and the woman behind the counter always remembers him. He talks funny to them. That night my mother's friend Dorothy came down from Little Rock and brought supper: purple hull peas and fried okra. We added fried corn bread and smoked ribs to the menu. Last night was wild with storms. We kept watch for tornedoes. The alarms were sounding all night; there were funnels all around, but nothing touched down. Tonight we are in Mobile, AL on the Mobile Bay. The spring trees are blooming, it's 80 degrees and we are smiling.

Paris, Texas

No, it wasn't filmed there. And now we know why. But, I'm ahead of myself. We drove out of Oklahoma City in a driving rainstorm that kept up for most of the entire trip. The landscape slowly changed over to hills and then the Ouachita Mountains. We stopped in Paris, TX for a late lunch with a Texas Longhorn. Unlike most Texans, he kept his opinions to himself. The town is the county seat and has a 19th century feel with a court house surround by a square of buildings. We pulled into Magnolia about 7pm, happy to see and be seen.

And when we say Yeow! A-YIP-I-O-EE-AY

We're only saying you're doing fine Oklahoma. And Oklahoma City, you're OK. It was a day filled with awe, surprise and fog. The fog. It was so heavy from Amarillo into Oklahoma that we couldn't really appreciate any of the landscape surrounding us. But as we neared OK City the fog lifted and we pulled in to see what was what. Our initial intention was to stop for a quick view of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum and then move on toward Magnolia. But our quick stop soon became an extended stay. The Memorial was far more intensive and extensive that we expected. It is a very moving experience. Situated on the grounds are bronze chairs symbolizing each victim. There are baby chairs that just break your heart. Adjacent to the chairs is a reflecting pool book ended by 2 large monoliths that note the times 9:01 and 9:03. Between those two seconds the pool symbolizes the changing of the world for so many people. An elm tree that survived the explosion still stands today, its bark blackened. There is a museum on the grounds that chronicles the event from moments prior to the explosion, through the investigation and arrests, to the trial and jury decision.

We decided to stay the night and chose the Brick Town district. This is a revitalized area of OK City that includes a ball park, canal, and many restaurants, shops, etc. We ate steak at the Mickey Mantel. After all, we are in beef country.

"...I'm Gonna Take Them Down to the Cadillac Ranch" The Boss

We drove straight out of Santa Fe headed for Amarillo, TX. The landscape was ever changing from areas stretched flat and grassy as far as the eye could see to burnt sienna bluffs and cliffs and huge mesas. Amarillo sits in the panhandle of Texas and is home to Cadillac Ranch. Nearby is Robert Smithson's last work, too. But Cadillac Ranch was on our route and we stopped. I immediately gained a whole new appreciate for Texans at this stop. They know where their priorities should lie.




The walk to the Ranch was across a pasture and up a dried, cracked mud road. Not too far in and one could smell the aerosol in the air.



The place was alive with artists.



I set out to choose my canvas.




Below is a detail of my work. The entire canvas includes comments about GW Bush that would change the PG rating of my blog. Snicker, snicker.



Amarillo has a big cattle stockyard and auction house. What could we do but eat at the biggest steak house in town. They have a challenge meal: eat a 72oz steak and it is free. Anyone care to lay odds?



Tomorrow we head out to Oklahoma City.

Following the Rio Grande

We followed the Rio Grande up into Taos today and saw the actual artifacts, paintings and structures discussed in our lectures. We first stopped at the Rio Grande Gorge where we got an up close view of the rift the Rio Grande etches through the valley. Many come here for the white water rafting. Some of us chose to walk across the gorge on a very cold, windy trek. It was disconcerting to look down into the gorge and walk at the same time.

From the Gorge we traveled to the Millicent Rogers Museum, which held a wonderful collection of jewelry, retablos and pottery. This was somewhat of a serendipity for me because of my Fairhaven, MA connection to Henry Huttleston Rogers, Millicent's grandfather. He built and donated many beautiful buildings in Fairhaven including the Millicent Library.

Next we visited the Taos Pueblo where a brief tour gave us an overview of the history and lifestyle of the pueblo. There are about 1000 Puebloans living here with about 40 living in the old section. We had about an hour to wonder through the area. Many of the members of the tribe have studio/shops where they sell their own works of art. While the place was fascinating (it has been inhabited more than 1000 years), it was so alien to our way of living that I felt I was in a foreign country.

From the Pueblo we went to Taos and visited the Ernest Blumenschein Museum. He and Bert Phillips were the founders of the Taos Society for Artists. Actually, the museum is the Taos home of Blumenschein which his daughter donated upon his death. The home held his works as well as his wife's, daughters, and other prominent artists of the period.

The day culminated with two more stops, the Hacienda de los Martinez and the Ranchos de Taos Church. The Hacienda has been restored to the original state and was a good example of an 1804 ranch. BUT I was most thrilled with the Church which has been the subject of numerous paintings, most notably Georgia Okeefe's. She painted some 15 works of the Church.

We ended the day back in Santa Fe with a nice dinner and farewell to all. I'm please to report that it was a great experience with interesting and nice people who enriched the experience. Tomorrow we go where no LaGue has gone before, the Texas Panhandle.

The Wheels on the Bus Go 'Round and 'Round

Our morning was filled with Mireya Cirici's wonderful lecture on the differences between Hispanic Santos carvers and Hispanic contemporary artists. She also discussed the founding of the Taos Art Society. All this was accompanied by slides of work that we would see in the afternoon at the museums we would visit.

Our afternoon field trips began at the Georgia O'Keefe museum, which also had a show of Susan Rothenberg's works. It was nice to see the O'Keefe landscapes depicting areas we have been in for the past few weeks. It brings a new perspective to the color and form she presents. I also appreciate the scale of O'Keefe's work. Her ability to encompass an abstract landscape into such small canvases and still be visually powerful is admirable.

We next went to the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and the American Folk Art Museum. I preferred the Indian Arts Museum. The pottery exhibit covers the periods from the Mongollon Mimbres to contemporary works. These pots are so beautiful in form, design and surface. I want to take them all home and look at them daily.

The pictures below are mainly of the Saint Francis Cathedral in downtown Santa Fe. This structure is Romanesque and not at all in keeping with the adobe style. The bishop that came to Santa Fe disliked the adobe style and went about replacing the existing adobe structure with a stone cathedral. Willa Cather's Death Comes to the Archbishop is a novel based on Archbishop Lamey, the bishop responsible for the building. The final four pictures are the Folk and Indian Arts Museum grounds.

Poetry, Literature and a Little Gallery Hopping

This morning's first class was dedicated to Southwestern Literature, mainly poetry. Our teacher, Sharon Franco, read; she reads quite demonstratively and brought the poetry to life. There was some discussion about the works with conclusions that they deal with the spirituality of the poets and the continuum of the oral traditions. Later, Mireya Cirici continued her lectures on art and architecture of the area. She focused on Missions, their architecture as well as altar screens and the influence of the Spanish occupation. Specifically we looked at the structure of Rancho de Taos and discussed the ways in which the community maintain the adobe walls. Georgia O'Keefe has some 15 paintings of this mission. We will see it tomorrow in Taos.

Our afternoon was free and we took advantage of the Santa Fe galleries along Canyon Road. The photos will show some of the outdoor sculptures which are many times life size. We saw some Roxanne Swintzell works who we had learned of in class yesterday. There were beautiful woven jackets and capes, too. From Canyon Road we went to the Museum of Fine Arts. Their main show organized key objects from the museum’s collections that illustrated the intercultural history of New Mexico art. It included artists from the east who had come and worked for long periods here. Time was running short but we managed to visit the New Mexico History Museum, too. Tonight there was a musician who played the Indian Flute. His music was good. The bad was he talked more than he played.

Downloading pictures in the hotel is a tortuous process. I manage these few in 2 hours and gave up. I have great shots of the Museum that I will try to add later.

A Puebloan Day

We heard a lecture this morning by Mireya Cirici on the Art and Architecture of Northern New Mexico. She covered very thoroughly the history of Pueblo structures and pottery. Her lecture included slides of the more well known potters and Puebloan sites. This afternoon we visited the Santa Clara Pueblo and watched Paul Speckled Rock demonstrate building a coil pot and listened to him explain the polishing and firing process to achieve the black on black pottery. From Santa Clara we drove up to Chimayo and saw the Sancuario de Chimayo, known as the Lourdes of northern New Mexico (Wayne's still an athiest), and a weaving center. We had dinner at the Rancho de Chimayo before returning to the hotel.

School Days

Today was the first full day of the Exploritas Program. The lecture was by Sharon Franco about Willa Cather and Leslie Silko writings we read. The discussion was lively and tied directly to the New Mexico landscape and Native Americans. Franco read a quote from a letter to Cather that I really liked, "Find that quiet place within you. Don't work for those around you or you will never grow." It was written to Cather from Sarah Orne Jewett as advice on how to improve her writing. So, Cather takes her advise and leaves NYC for NM where she does find her own voice. Interestingly, tonight we watched a video on Georgia O'Keefe in which she said word for word the same thing about finding her way to paint when she moved to NM. Both women found great inspiration in the quiet and solitude of the place.

We took a quick tour of Santa Fe this afternoon to learn some history of the architecture and early peoples. No pics today. I lost them all in the downloading. Nothing I can't replace, though.