Glass and Fishies

August 3rd

If you haven't guessed by now, I'm kind of in a waiting period.  I'm waiting for Dan to come home; I'm waiting for our last move; I'm waiting to find out when we actually get to go to Italy.  As I write this, I am waiting for Dan to call.

Today I went to the Chrysler Museum with my friend Laura.  I have never been, as it was under construction until recently.  They have a very impressive glass collection as well as some other art collections.  Here are some of the highlights (in my opinion) from the museum.  I believe you can click on images to see a bigger version of them.



First up is this delightful (and I'm sure politically correct) flameworked glass chess set by Gianni Toso. 

Next are three beautiful pieces by Tiffany.   In the foreground is a flower form vase inspired by nature.  To the back right is a Wisteria lamp, designed by Mrs. Freshel for her Boston, MA home.  To the back left is "Woman in Pergola with Wisteria."  It was privately commissioned for a Long Island, NY home. Finally, in glass, we have the famous "Woman with Shrimp" figurine by Ercole Barovier.  Obviously if you aren't familiar with this piece, you've been living under a rock.  Probably with that "shrimp's" brother.

This is a giant painting. It is about 5' x 7'. "Neptune and Nereides" by Giovanni Beinaschi. I don't know about you, but to me it looks like the one Nereide is about to flick the other one's nipple. I think she's actually holding a piece of string or something, but you have to look REALLY closely to see it.
So, we all love George Washington, right? First President of the United States and cherry-tree cutting mofo.  This guy REALLY liked Washington.  This piece is titled "The Apotheosis of Washington" and it is by John James Barralet and Jean Simon Chaudron.  In case you are wondering, apotheosis is "the perfect form or example of something; the elevation to diving status."  Thanks Google and Merriam-Webster!
	This is supposed to be a grand portrait of this guy, Commodore Daniel Todd Patterson by John Wesley Jarvis.  It is supposed to represent him as "a proud and intelligent leader."   All I see is: Who ate the last cookie? "Uh....it was him!  Definitely not me...."
This painting is actually quite beautiful and I have nothing snarky to say about it.  It is titled "Venice" and is by Thomas Moran.  Maybe someday I can visit Venice, if I ever get to Italy.
Lastly is "Kâkiwi" by Deborah Butterfield.  It is a horse made of driftwood, except not.  Each driftwood piece was the cast in bronze, painted to look like driftwood, and reassembled.  It's a driftwood statue, made of bronze, cast of driftwood.  Kâkiwi is Hawaiian for "bow or bend." (Laura for scale.)

Museum adventure completed!

We walked back to Laura's place and on the way we passed through an area known as The Hague.  As we were walking past the water a school of tiny fish jumped out of the water and onto the stone area the serves as the end of the Hague waterway.  Clearly some larger fish or Hague monster was after them, but now they were stranded on land.  Laura and I to the rescue (sort of)!  We rushed over and started tossing tiny flopping fish back into the water.  Sure, we may have just handed them back to whatever it was they were running from, but maybe some of them got away.  And it has to be better than suffocating, right? 

Fish side quest completed!

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing not a whole lot.

The company I up-till-recently worked for has a reality tv show that started its new season last week.  I don't have cable so I FaceTime with Dan's parents to watch the show.  It is a bit of a silly system, but it works, and I get to talk to them for a bit during commercials.  

Dan did not call.

Edit: Dan did call, it was just very late/early.