Art Appreciation

One of my favorite bloggers, Lance Mannion, recently wrote that he enjoys the art of John Singer Sargent. He included some of Sargent's art, including this one that I was not familiar with:

It is called Light and Shadows, Corfu, and Lance probably wouldn't mind that I lifted it from his blog. Isn't it lovely?

I have always enjoyed this one:

It is a portrait of Mr. and Mrs. I.N. Phelps Stokes. I really like her bold stance. Here are some details of this work:

Sargent painted this double portrait in 1897. Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes (1867–1944), the son of Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes (see 65.252), was then an architect and author. His wife, Edith Minturn Stokes (1867–1937), was born in West Brighton, Staten Island, a daughter of the heir to a shipping fortune. The Stokes were married on August 25, 1895, and the portrait by Sargent was a wedding gift from James A. Scrimser. Sargent's first intention was to paint a single portrait of Edith during the summer of 1897 in Venice. After numerous posing and preparatory sessions, the artist decided to paint her as if she were just returning from a brisk walk outdoors, with a greyhound at her side. After the portrait was finished, however, the greyhound was no longer available and I. N. Phelps Stokes suggested that he take its place. Sargent agreed, and the single portrait became a double portrait.

I think we should take a break every day to look at some art. Consider yourself covered for today.

It's Go Time!

While I am glad that we can all rally around our man Obama, I am sorry that my plan isn't going to work out: 8 years with President Hillary, followed by 8 years of President Barack, then 8 years of another worthy Democrat. I believe our country does better with Democratic leadership.

My son was quite indignant that I could be a Hillary supporter right up till the end. He would sputter and grouse about how awful she is. I just think she'd make a good president, that's all. So shove it, son.

Today I gave money to Obama, a small amount, even though Hillary owes 11 million dollars or some outlandish sum like that. She will have to send Bill out on the lecture circuit to recoup that, after he rests for a while. Wasn't it nice to see Chelsea all grown up and proud of her mom? She's right, her mom would make a better president than her dad. He is so distractable and volatile.

So in the words of Mandelbaum on Seinfeld, it's go time now. Let's buckle down and elect a good, smart president. For a change.

Just allow me one last bit of space for the other candidate, old what's her name, and then I really will move on.

Thank You, Birds

On Saturday I misplaced my favorite glasses. This is not the first time. I think I need to make these my least favorite glasses and then they will never get lost again. These are only inexpensive magnifiers, so it is no great loss when a pair goes missing. However, my favorite glasses add to my personal sense of feng shui, therefore they are very valuable to me. And they are cute.

This morning (Tuesday) I was going to stop at the grocery store where I purchase all of my fashion eyewear and get another pair. But first I had to fill the birdbaths.

Look what I found:

thank you birds!

Birthday Greetings

Happy Birthday Barbara. I made this for you:

Congratulations to the Class of 2008

Wow, that was a good graduation. Easy parking, great seats, great student speeches, happy kids and parents. Woo hoo. We're done.

Based on the nearly 400 names called out yesterday, I believe that Christopher was the most popular boy name in 1989.

Here is a slide show for you to enjoy.

Today is the Day

Today our youngest son graduates from high school. It is a nice feeling. I hope he knows how proud we are of him. And that he has so much to look forward to. It has been a weird week for the old folks at the Empty Nest. I have suffered through my first case of poison ivy and have had a couple of bad sleep nights due to itchiness. My nutty husband has been too busy with work to do anything nutty. He broke a tooth and had to make an emergency visit to the dentist. It seems that just about every time I go to leave the house, I discover that whatever clothes I am wearing have food spots or other defects; you know, I really do try to keep up with the laundry. I have had time off from work, so I can't complain about being too busy to enjoy being at home and tending to my extensive grounds. We are having a graduation party Saturday night for both of our graduates, so we will have fun seeing people we don't see often enough. All in all, not a bad week after all.

Here is a photo of today's graduate, celebrating Christmas many years ago. I hope to make a slide show of his graduation and post that later, and maybe get around to posting the video from the baby shower too.

Welcome Little One

Today I enjoyed attending a baby shower for my daughter-in-law who will be having her third baby in July. Baby showers are fun for looking at all those precious baby things, but what really makes them special in my opinion is that this is often that last time the mommy will enjoy a party once the baby is born. It is also my opinion that first birthday parties are really for the parents more than for the oblivious, cake-coated baby. Parents deserve a big party for surviving the first year, especially with a first baby.

I made a video with my new Flip video camera, which turned out very badly due to the flood of daylight coming in the windows. But the audio is amusing, so I will share it here. Maybe you can hear the sound of children playing in the background - the 2 older cousins were having a blast with my 2 grandsons and there is much thumping and squealing overhead. It reminded me of when my children were young and they would make the house shake with their spirited hi-jinks.

Here is the poor quality video of my beautiful daughter-in-law opening baby gifts. It is about 3 minutes long. I promise that the next video will be extremely high quality to make up for this one.