Patricia and I are members of the Phoenix Art Museum for 2007. First time we've tried this. The museum just completed a major group of facility improvements and the place looks great.
Anyway, a few years ago the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam announced plans to undergo a renovation, and the director of the Phoenix Art Museum immediately called over and asked if PAM could exhibit some of their things while in storage. Two other U.S. museums also were chosen, so this show is pretty exclusive to Phoenix.
It so happened that Patrick was in town during our scheduled trip to the exhibit, so he came along. We much enjoyed. The show included works by various Dutch masters of the Rembrandt era (17th century). The brochure features Rembrandt's late-i
n-life self-portrait as the apostle Paul. My favorite was the scene showing Peter's denial (see accompanying photo, as always click to enlarge). Among other neat features, check out how the candle illuminating Peter's troubled face is behind the hand of the servant girl asking about him. I wouldn't have seen it without the audio accompaniment at the museum, but Christ is over Peter's left shoulder giving him a look.
Anyway, the exhibit gave an overview of Dutch town life shortly after independence from Spain and during a period of major prosperity. I'm a sucker to buy books of things I see, as you can see in the bottom photo. The book is a great way to recall the images, but it is amazing (though not surprising) how much larger and more vibrant the works are when seen in person.
We next drove downtown to Arizona Center and sat outside for lunch at Sam's Cafe on a glorious Arizona afternoon. Quite fun.
At night we taught Patrick pinochle. He caught on too quickly for our comfort factor.
Rembrandt is worth reading about,
bio here.
Patricia is so talented at taking down and putting away Christmas decorations that it only seems right that she handle the task. I stay out of the way except when manly lifting is required.
n-life self-portrait as the apostle Paul. My favorite was the scene showing Peter's denial (see accompanying photo, as always click to enlarge). Among other neat features, check out how the candle illuminating Peter's troubled face is behind the hand of the servant girl asking about him. I wouldn't have seen it without the audio accompaniment at the museum, but Christ is over Peter's left shoulder giving him a look.
At night we taught Patrick pinochle. He caught on too quickly for our comfort factor.
No doubt - the NBA is far and away the best sports league going. And here in Phoenix we get to watch the most entertaining team in the NBA.
It's been ridiculously cold here. About a week ago, we had the hardest freeze in the Phoenix area since 1990. Many of our plants were damaged. Check out the browned-out hisbiscus and the whited-out fern. (Both should be fine though will need cutting back). Lots more of our plants look even worse, including the bougainveilla (or however that's spelled, I understand the plant is named for some French military guy).
Check out the unwelcome addition to my life. I just finished a week on crutches following a pretty significant ankle sprain. Swelling has not gone down much though I feel quite a bit more strength down there. Not sure how long this will take to fix, maybe another week on crutches?
My dad hit #78 today.
y spinning out their ideas in conversation. I think they’re every bit as busy as those of us that live in cities, but somehow have really preserved the art of conversation. (I was reminded of this twice recently. First during a morning of delightful conversation with my Capesius cousins, Jim McEnroe et al at the seed corn shed in late August. Second, with Virgil and Laurel (St. Joe neighbors) outside Gammage Auditorium following our holiday concert in early December.)
