weekend so far
May. 21st, 2006 03:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterbadgerHas been very good (minor drama excepted).
Yesterday I had an excellent lazy day. I had meant to get a lot accomplished, but sleep had other plans. I eventually fed cats, had breakfast, read, napped, cut down a dead dogwood tree![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
redactrice had suggested we get rid of, and went for a bike ride. Another 11 miles of the WO&D (well, five and a half, and then back again). One thing I love about bike trails around here is how often the run through residential areas, with gardens and backyards backed up against them. So on warm spring afternoons you get to hear snatches of people's conversations as they garden, or relax, or grill in their back gardens. And there are masses of honeysuckle everywhere, which are quite wonderful. I'm also intrigued by all the little neighborhood bike paths that enter the main trails here and there. They're so tempting, calling you to wander off into residential streets and little local parks.
Agian, no big deal for the old hands, but I've now gone over the Fairfax County Parkway, the Reston Parkway, the Beltway, and I-66 (two different places). Pretty cool for us newbies. Rupert still doesn't like bridges, but I've kpe thim under control. I must say I'd rather have a bridge than a level crossing. Not because they seem dangerous, but because it never fails that if I come to a full stop, the traffic that I'm suppsoed to be stopping for stops for me, courteously, and waves me across. And then I fumble for 30 seconds, trying to actually get going across the road. V. embarassing.
Last night DC played in Columbus against the new and revitalised Crew. LA are going to curse they day they fired Sigi Schmidt, but Columbus are going to be a real team for the first time in years. Alecko, Jaime, Freddyl, and Carroll had good games; Gros and Perkins struggled a bit but did OK; Erpen contunes to underwhelm; and Filomeno showed there really isn't any position he can't underperform in.
Today I dawdled around for some of the morning, then went to the National Gallery and saw three exhibits:
Amorous Intrigues and Painterly Refinement: The Art of Frans van Mieris. Wonderful work by an artist I had never heard of before. Almost on a par with Rembrandt, and with a sense of humour and an eye for humanity that reminds me of Hogarth. Very entertaining! I'd recommend it, but today was it's last day. :-(
The Poetry of Light: Venetian Drawings from the National Gallery of Art. Very interesting display--mostly of cartoons and rough sketches, but a few finished drawwings and a couple of paintings--of the work of several 18th century Italian artists, finishing with pieces by later artists, including Maurice Prendergast, Whistler, and JS Sargent, showing how those artists were inspired and influenced by the earlier artists and by Venice itself. Definitely worth a visit.
Photographic Discoveries: Recent Acquisitions. Photographs selected to show the development of photography from an adjunct of painting to its own art form and to show the evolution of the process itself. Not as compelling as the other two, but certainly some appealing, expressive, and impressive pieces among the collection. If you're already there to see something else, check it out, but I wouldn't recommend a trip just for this.
I stopped on the way home and treated myself to lunch at the Lost Dog (delicious as always!). Now I need to get to work doing at least a few of the things I was thinking I would do over the weekend (housecleaning, laundry, dishes, some scanning, and some music ripping.)
Yesterday I had an excellent lazy day. I had meant to get a lot accomplished, but sleep had other plans. I eventually fed cats, had breakfast, read, napped, cut down a dead dogwood tree
redactrice had suggested we get rid of, and went for a bike ride. Another 11 miles of the WO&D (well, five and a half, and then back again). One thing I love about bike trails around here is how often the run through residential areas, with gardens and backyards backed up against them. So on warm spring afternoons you get to hear snatches of people's conversations as they garden, or relax, or grill in their back gardens. And there are masses of honeysuckle everywhere, which are quite wonderful. I'm also intrigued by all the little neighborhood bike paths that enter the main trails here and there. They're so tempting, calling you to wander off into residential streets and little local parks.Agian, no big deal for the old hands, but I've now gone over the Fairfax County Parkway, the Reston Parkway, the Beltway, and I-66 (two different places). Pretty cool for us newbies. Rupert still doesn't like bridges, but I've kpe thim under control. I must say I'd rather have a bridge than a level crossing. Not because they seem dangerous, but because it never fails that if I come to a full stop, the traffic that I'm suppsoed to be stopping for stops for me, courteously, and waves me across. And then I fumble for 30 seconds, trying to actually get going across the road. V. embarassing.
Last night DC played in Columbus against the new and revitalised Crew. LA are going to curse they day they fired Sigi Schmidt, but Columbus are going to be a real team for the first time in years. Alecko, Jaime, Freddyl, and Carroll had good games; Gros and Perkins struggled a bit but did OK; Erpen contunes to underwhelm; and Filomeno showed there really isn't any position he can't underperform in.
Today I dawdled around for some of the morning, then went to the National Gallery and saw three exhibits:
Amorous Intrigues and Painterly Refinement: The Art of Frans van Mieris. Wonderful work by an artist I had never heard of before. Almost on a par with Rembrandt, and with a sense of humour and an eye for humanity that reminds me of Hogarth. Very entertaining! I'd recommend it, but today was it's last day. :-(
The Poetry of Light: Venetian Drawings from the National Gallery of Art. Very interesting display--mostly of cartoons and rough sketches, but a few finished drawwings and a couple of paintings--of the work of several 18th century Italian artists, finishing with pieces by later artists, including Maurice Prendergast, Whistler, and JS Sargent, showing how those artists were inspired and influenced by the earlier artists and by Venice itself. Definitely worth a visit.
Photographic Discoveries: Recent Acquisitions. Photographs selected to show the development of photography from an adjunct of painting to its own art form and to show the evolution of the process itself. Not as compelling as the other two, but certainly some appealing, expressive, and impressive pieces among the collection. If you're already there to see something else, check it out, but I wouldn't recommend a trip just for this.
I stopped on the way home and treated myself to lunch at the Lost Dog (delicious as always!). Now I need to get to work doing at least a few of the things I was thinking I would do over the weekend (housecleaning, laundry, dishes, some scanning, and some music ripping.)
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-21 08:24 pm (UTC)I'm DEFINITELY hitting DC this summer.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-21 08:34 pm (UTC)And there is an Artists of Edo" exhibit still running through next weekend; quick trip out East? ;-)
I'm DEFINITELY hitting DC this summer.
Yay! You're certainly welcome to crash here if you like.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-21 09:09 pm (UTC)