No, you didn't skip a post. I just figured I'd better be accurate in my counting.

Love you to pieces!

Day three was a rather uneventful. See, it started raining.

But I am getting ahead of myself. I did forget to mention one rather important thing on Tuesday.

I fell down the stairs!

Um, yes, it hurt. Yes, I have bruises. I also banged up my toe fairly badly. It hurt to walk for a couple of days. I can only blame it on slick socks and Dramamine. (Actually, it wasn't Dramamine, it was some off brand, but it does the same thing.) I could blame it on my sister's all wood floors and stairs, but I won't because I made it up and down those stairs more times and was fine. So I'll blame it on the socks and the woozies.

Another side note. I have the greatest nieces and nephews. My niece, Woof-Woof, commandeered every moment she could get with me. And what did we do?



We read this book over and over again. If you have little girls, you really need this book. I read a few other books as well, but Pinkalicious was the book of the week. Of course, I actually read "Pink"alicious only once. But I did read "blue"alicious and "brown"alicios and I think even a "gold"alicious (not the actual book). But it was so much fun. Woof-Woof pretty much ties everyone around her finger, and I was no exception.

Okay. Back to the narrative.

The Barnes Foundation and Museum.

That was what I did Thursday morning. I had an hour and a half and I left feeling burnt out and yet wanting more time. This isn't your normal museum.

Albert Barnes was a self-made man who wanted to make art accessible to the public. He amassed a large fortune and spent a good portion of it making and filling an art museum (which was attached to his house). This paragraph from the website explains things fairly well.

"The Barnes Foundation was established by Albert C. Barnes in 1922 to "promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts." Located in a twelve-acre arboretum, the Foundation is home to one of the world's largest collections of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings, with extensive holdings by Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, Renoir and Modigliani, as well as important examples of African sculpture."

One of the things that makes this museum experience different is that there isn't a painting, and then five feet, and then another painting. The paintings are grouped together on every wall, usually having some color or thematic element in common. Around the paintings are hinges or coat hooks or the like from castles. Also there are beautiful examples of early furniture underneath many of the walls. It all works together to make a cohesive whole. This picture from the NY Times is a really great example of what the whole museum is like.



Random thoughts on what I saw:

1-I loved the African art. I wanted to buy a replica mask, but they were a bit on the pricey side.

2-I got a little sick of Renoir. Barnes and Renoir were friends and I'm not sure there was a wall in the place that didn't have at least 1 Renoir on it.

3-I also got a little tired of negatively clad women. (How's that for euphemistic?) When I went to buy postcards I had to be rather careful because I don't necessarily need to introduce that to my kids just yet. There is a lot of other great art out there.

4-That being said, Renoir is certainly a master.

5-There were some ancient Chinese silk paintings that I found amazing, especially in contrast to the lush, full colored Renoir all around. The sparse-ness and evocative-ness of the simplicity was beautiful.

6-When I finally went upstairs (all of the non-western stuff is upstairs) it was almost a relief for my eyes to see textiles and sculpture as opposed to paintings.

I really need to be able to go there for 1 1/2 to 2 hours a week for about 30 weeks running to really appreciate the grandeur of it all. It really was amazing.

Thursday afternoon was spent reading and enjoying being in a warm house whilst the rain came down. I finished James Dashner's The Maze Runner that day and can I just say, amazing! That book is awesome!

Thursday night one of my many brothers and his family came to dinner. That was a fun evening with good food.

The best moment of the night was all about a quarter.

Imagine, if you will, a group of various aged people sitting around in what amounts to a circle in a front room. The kids have been banging around and in the process have found a quarter. It has been given to one of the adults. There are 6 kids playing around and the floor is clear.

Do you see it?

Now, take the adult with the quarter and have that adult decide to toss the quarter in the middle of the floor.

How can I explain what happened with the kids?

Immediate magnetic attraction?
The quarter equals a black hole and the kids all get sucked to it?
Chickens diving for a kernel of grain?

I'm not really sure words can do it justice. We needed a camera rolling. It was a Funniest Home Videos moment. From every part of the room where there was a child, they all dove for the quarter. It was a hard fought battle with tears in the end.

And the adults just laughed to tears.

Ah to be a child and understand the true value of a quarter.

Happy days.