As Elaine Benes would say,"that's a big coincidence."

The cover of the latest New Yorker, on the right, is obvious in its meaning. The cover on the left is from the week before (dated April 25 but we all know that magazine cover dates and, what's the term? drop dates? are different).  The adoring-fans-in-red-and-blue-with-guitar-in-foreground issue arrived in my mailbox after Prince died on April 21. I remember thinking, very briefly, wow, that was fast. I even thought, oh that's clever, they used red and blue, which of course together makes purple. The title of that cover art is Closing Set, appropriate title for a farewell to Prince, who was a great guitarist, something I didn't appreciate until after he died. 

Today the Purple Rain issue arrived so I checked on Google just to be sure I was right about the magazine devoting two covers to his death. I mean I get that he was beloved, talented, and successful but two covers? In the New Yorker? 

No, they didn't devote two covers to him. The left cover is by artist R. Kikuo Johnson and is described by him in the New Yorker this way:

“Everyone in Brooklyn is a d.j., so I rely on my much cooler friends to take me out,” the artist R. Kikuo Johnson says. “I have been taken to many one-night-only warehouse parties—I love dancing—but this was my first time at the Palisades,” he continues, referencing the underground venue in Bushwick that was the model for his cover of this week’s issue.

I say R. Kikuo should be credited with some unconscious foreknowledge. 

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**From "The Statue," Seinfeld, April 11, 1991:

RAVA: Yes, that's all, a coincidence!

ELAINE: A big coincidence.
RAVA: Not a big coincidence. A coincidence!
ELAINE: No, that's a big coincidence.
RAVA: That's what a coincidence is! There are no small coincidences and big coincidences!
ELAINE: No, there are degrees of coincidences.

Arthur and Anne. And Rebecca.

A good friend, and lapsed blogger at The Complaint Department, gave me this print in honor of my love of crows (and a convenient birthday). I loved it from the moment I saw it. It now hangs in my dining room so I can see it every time I eat at the dinner table. Which is most nights of the week. The artist is Colette Davis. Thanks again Anne!

I named the crow Arthur, and of course the lady is Anne. She asked if I thought the lady in the painting looks a little like my daughter. I think she does!

"Polish town erects statue of a urinating Lenin"

If you find yourself traveling in the Polish town of Nowa Huta don't miss it. 

Happy Hallowmas.

[November 1st is All Saints' Day -- and is also known by some as Hallowmas, facts I spent most of my life not knowing.]

Today I went with a friend, formerly just another blogger (The Complaint Department) and now a very good in-person buddy, to the National Gallery of Art in DC. We thoroughly toured an Andrew Wyeth exhibit, and also saw a few other odds and ends. (And, truthfully, we had a long lunch in the Gallery restaurant and then a long visit at the gift store so it was a balance between art and consumption.)



Wind from the Sea, 1947.

We parked in front of the Capitol, which is undergoing repairs. [insert lame joke about Congress and repairs here]

 

The Rotunda in the National Gallery of Art.

 

Many people know of Wyeth's famous painting Christina's World. It's not my favorite Wyeth, not by a long shot, but maybe that's because it's almost become a joke painting -- so many take-offs and parodies over the years. The works we saw today contained no humans but many windows and curtains. All were stunning.

 

After I got home and did some googling on Wyeth I was reminded of Helga, a secret German model he had for many years who posed nude for him. He was married, she was married, and neither spouse knew of the painting sessions. I'll have to do some more reading to find out what else occurred, if anything, during those long hours of posing and painting. And there's my gossipy art lesson for the day. 

New York!

My daughter and son-in-law live in Brooklyn, so off to Brooklyn we went for a Friday through Sunday visit. As always, trips to New York give me energy and brighten my mood. Plus, I always come home with memories that seem to get stronger as the days roll by. Such is the power of that city over me.

After we got to Penn Station on Friday we walked the 15+ blocks to Rebecca's office and got a quick tour of the place (I think she prefers that I not literally name the company she works for...they're a bit private). The sculpture currently on display outside the front door is Jeff Koons' Orange Puppy, which last sold for 58 mill. I know, I know, I don't really get it either. The puppy's nose is roughly facing the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center. At Christmas you literally can't walk around easily because of the crowds.

Rebecca was able to take the afternoon off so we hopped on the subway and went to Brooklyn to drop off our bags at the airBNB apartment we rented for the weekend. It was a spacious, funky, and perfect place for us to stay. Comfortable, quiet, good collection of books, nice wall hangings. And a wonderful fish/plant setup! Hard to describe but here it is:

The apt is a yoga studio during the day.

Then we walked to R's apartment to spend time with the grandcats, James and Robert. They are adored and pampered beyond description.

Next we had lunch at a new place in Crown Heights called Berg'n. I had a Breakfast Ramen Burger. Not exactly healthy eating but I've eaten much less healthy things. And oh was it yummy.

Then we walked a bit south to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Wonderful, interesting, pretty in that nice fall'ish way I love:

Dinner that night was in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn at an Italian-Spanish-Portuguese place called Convivium Osteria.... Yum, yum.

On Saturday we got our typical late start and had brunch at R and S's favorite neighborhood restaurant Mayfield. Sort of southern American food (translation: lots of grits).

Next we subwayed into Manhattan and visited a gallery none of us has ever been to before: the Morgan Library and Museum. So many museums in DC and NYC are huge so this was a nice change of pace. And the library...oh that library!

We saw art spanning eight centuries: The Crusader Bible from around 1250, Cy Twombly art from the 1970s (meh), 19th century drawings and paintings by Theodore Rousseau, and a fascinating series of cartoons called From Here to Here: Richard McGuire Makes a Book. This drawing is from the collection: vacuuming woman in curlers is saying "the older I get the less I know." Yep.

The High Line came next. We visited the lower portion of it last year during a winter trip to the city, but we hadn't yet seen the recently completed upper portion. The guys who came up with the idea for turning an abandoned elevated railroad line into a pedestrian walkway filled with plants, benches, and great views deserve all the honors they've been given:

Sean, Becca, and Doug checking out the Hudson River.

 

 

 

After the High Line, we walked around Chelsea and the West Village before ending up at The Strand  ("Home to 18 Miles of Books") in the East Village. That's Doug walking toward the store entrance. I could have stayed for hours.

But we had to be off to the Laura Pels Theater in mid-town to see the Tom Stoppard play Indian Ink. Doug read the play this semester in his British Drama course at the Univ of MD so he was able to fill in many details about the British in India in the 1930s. Here's the stage before the show:

After the play we Ubered back to Brooklyn and had dinner at... I've forgotten where; maybe Mayfield again. Then walked back to the kids' apartment and I took a few shots from the roof. The white building near the center is the Empire State Building.

On Sunday we had another pleasingly late start -- 11 AM. Had coffee at R and S's apartment, and then walked from Crown Heights to Clinton to visit the new bakery of R's good friend Anna. Anna has been in Brooklyn for about 4 years, same as R, and in that span of time she created a cookie business from scratch (ha). In her small Brooklyn apartment kitchen, she started making Dutch cookies called stroopwafels (her newish husband Steve is Dutch) and selling them at street fairs and festivals. She then quit her day job and rented space in an existing bakery, continuing to get new business and expanding into ice cream sandwiches. In September, she opened her own bakery, The Good Batch, on Fulton Street. Can you tell I'm impressed? Local Girl Makes Good in Brooklyn Cookie Biz! Here are Doug, Anna, and Rebecca in the kitchen:

We had another great brunch at a place called Three Letters a few doors down from The Good Batch. I was taken by that picture near the kitchen door. Andre the Giant? I forgot to check.

So that's pretty much the trip. Many great memories. And it's always good for me to leave my comfort zone, as they say. My comfort zone is my couch, which I love almost as much as my new iPhone.

One last shot of the newlyweds walking through mid-town. Aren't they cute?

The Red Elephant up the street re-appears. And now I know it's a political statement.

I've been keeping my eye on, and posting pictures of, this interesting little house for years. Here, here, and here.

A neighbor's garden.

I like to poke around other people's gardens and this one was extra special.  I went with my friend Susan, and after we roamed around the White House gardens a bit we strolled through some other gardens on the Mall and passed by this sculpture. So many people, children especially, must see this and and say "what's that?" Only the old know!

The White House beehive is bolted down like that to protect it from the helicopter winds. We were there just after 9 AM -- I think -- and I was so conscious that the four Obama ladies were possibly at home that it was a bit distracting. I knew that Mr. O was in Williamsburg prepping for his next debate in two days. (Good prep, I'd say.) Anyway, I kept looking up at the windows and wondering what it would feel like to have hoards of strangers roaming around my front yard at 9 AM on a Sunday morning, taking pictures of my bedroom windows, speculating on who was awake and who was still asleep.

Permanent beeswax room coming to the Phillips Gallery in DC.

Yes, a beeswax room. Described here in the Washington Post. One huge problem with the article is that it never even mentions bees. The bees that produced all the wax to be used.  Bees get no respect.

Projected installation date is early 2013 and I'll be there. I wonder if it will smell like beeswax? And how will they keep people (like me) from touching the walls?

Photo credit: Wolfgang Laib or Sperone Westwater (confusing caption). The Post will probably make the photo disappear anyway. Copyright infringement. It's complicated in the Internet copyright world.

A trip to the National Gallery of Art. 18th Century artist Itō Jakuchū. 30 scrolls in a collection called Colorful Realm of Living Beings.

My blogging buddy Anne got me out of Silver Spring and into DC to see this wonderful exhibit. Last picture shows wisteria growing along a wall on the mall entrance to the Gallery. And I managed to take one interior shot before a guard politely told me to cease and desist. A beautiful exhibit and a lovely lunch!