Asian Art Museum

This is our last day in the U.S. We had a lazy morning, checked out but left our bags at the hotel before we set off for the Asian Art museum. Lots and lots of Buddhas!

A special treat was a room full of Safavid velvet fabrics. There is one that I might be able to reproduce, albeit on a larger scale, for our 8Plus project next year.

We caught the tram to Fisherman's Wharf, along with a gazillion other tourists, for an early dinner. Now we are waiting in the United lounge for the midnight flight to Sydney. We hope to sleep through Wednesday.

California Academy of Science

The only reason we went was that it is the only museum open on Mondays in San Francisco. And we thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the hordes of little people. It is in a Ne building that is three stories tall to accomodate a rain forest and aquariums that you can walk under.

There is a garden that covers the roof.

The building is edged by a row of photo voltaic cells that act as a porch roof and supply only 5-10% of their electricity needs. So we were happy to pay the $30 each entry fee.

Jo finally found a pair of travel pants to replace the ones he has worn for the past 10 years. And they were on sale and a bit big. He will grow into them.

While we were at REI I got a Fitbit One: the kind you clip to your clothes rather than wear on your wrist. I hope it is washing machine proof.

A gay day

Choose heaven for the weather 

Choose hell for the company

Says Mark Twain

We arrived at the Mark Twain Hotel yesterday after the usual long flight from DC. It is a nice old pub on the edge of the seamy end of town. 

Today we went to the Legion of Honor (a museum) to see the High Style exhibition of couturier gowns from the Brooklyn Museum whose collection has been absorbed by the Metropolitan Museum in NY. These were the Paris fashions that Mrs Post didn't choose because she was a real person not a fashion model. 

We were glad to get out of the city to avoid the huge gay parade which was still going when we got back. Tonight there is a ball game so the traffic is ferocious but the tourists donT mind because they are on foot. 

Hillwood Estate

I sat to watch water lilies opening imperceptibly

There was a special exhibit of Ms Post's gowns. She lived from the time when even girls were corseted to when she could have relaxed in tricky dacks . . . . not that she would have done that. She kept every gown that she had been painted in and got painted almost as often as Bill Clinton.

More yarn

We went, with Jean and Lois to the Super-natural exhibition of botanical and other works at the Women in the Arts Museum( http://nmwa.org/exhibitions/super-natural). It was built as a Masonic Centre and is very grand. I imagine the masons turn in their graves because of the female take over. The lunch was great and the shop was irrestible to Lois and Jean. 

Because I finally finished these socks, I saved my pennies for some yarn from Looped. 

Now to find the pattern of the shawl that I knitted from Mary Evan's camel down which I spun. I gave her the shawl and she gave it to her niece who lives in Wales, for safekeeping!

Perfect

That is what Montrealists say instead of "No problems." But it applied to the weather as we left today which had clear, clean blue sky, cool breeze, warm sun. . . Rather like a nice Brisbane winter day but ?I wouldn't dare tell them that.

It took us two hours to get from the airport to our hotel. Perhaps the traffic is as bad here as it is in Sydney, at peak hour. 

Stairway to heaven

We spent the day in the Fine Art Museum of Montreal. Their big exhibition is Rodin with a record number of his plaster, bronze and marble sculptures. I understand him better now. But what I really liked was the Marion Wagschal, http://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/exhibitions/on-view/marion-wagschal/ retrospective. She is a local artist who tells her stories in meticulous paint.

The cat appears in several paintings.

We braved the metro to get there and back and I spotted this staircase. Montreal, 3 story plus basement, terrace houses favour iron staircases that go up to the first (US 2nd) floor instead of having an internal staircase but this is ridiculous.

We had a wonderful, proper French dinner with Judy and David to round off our stay here.

Minks fabric store

The best way to shop is with an enabler friend. Today Judy knew of a high class fabric shop that is going out of business. They had remnants marked down to $15 . . . some from $90. I bought 7. 

Goodness knows where I will wear them but I will enjoy making them up.

After lunch, She discovered a place, also with a sale, that had cotton socks (85% cotton is the best I have found for years.) My suitcase is full.

Fathers Day in Montreal

We have spent a lovely day with three generations of Sinclairs. Jo skied with grandpa when they were both teenagers (almost) in the 50's. They had a good old trip down memory lane. Then we got the Cook's tour of a sunny, warm Montreal and ended up in a traditional Portuguese restaurant for sardines. Heaps od new building here with the locals complaining about the loss of the charming old ones. 

Mussels

Yesterday I dropped the car back to Budget. I can recommend a Hyudai Elantra. Paula drove down from Pennsylvania to visit. We had the most interesting meal that I have had in Vienna at a tiny cafe which used to be a Tex-Mex joint on the main drag. Only trouble was that it was fashionably loud so we went off to a local ice cream parlour to continue our chat.

While I was out, Jo and Stan went off to Ćostco. They bought a bag (big, of course) of mussels which Jo cooked. They were delicious. But Stan must have got the only bad one because he was struck down with the rampaging trots at 4am. Not a good night before hosting his granddaughter's pool party with a dozen 10 year olds!

We have decamped to Montreal. Our hotel room is, in fact, a one bedroom flat. It is lovely to have some space and a kitchen even if it is quite empty of tools, cutlery, plates etc.

Portrait Museum

We moved to Jean's in Arlington on Tuesday and I spent yesterday museum img while Jo had his meeting at the Bank with current staff to let them know about the ATO case. It went well. 

Jean's Luna is still petite so a hat fitted her but didn't stay on long enough for a photo. Harry Potter posed happily, he is such a ham (albeit a 14 year old).

I went with Jean to "her" museums: the Portrait Museum and the American History Museum which are housed in the same hollow square building and they share floors so that you don't quite know which one you are in. The centre of the square is a three storied, glass ceilings, air conditioned atrium available to hire for parties. . . . for a price. Lois joined me and we especially enjoyed the exhibition of the portraits of Elaine fe Kooning (the wife of. . . )

Textile museum

We went to the Textile Museum this afternoon. It doesn't have the charm of the old one or the intimacy that is appropriate for textiles. I wonder where the curators and the collection is. But, the exhibition is magnificent. I think they pulled out all their "big guns" to convince GWU that they did the right thing in building them a new home.

Otherwise, I have enjoyed the Berney cats (and people) and have knitted a new cat hat base that fits.

Merlin and Isadora

Nimmy

The hats don't fit

Prue, you made the hat too small. It does not fit at all. Take it off, NOW.

I did think that the hats looked small as I knitted them. Sure enough, they are kitten sized. Caroline's cats just ripped them off because they are too narrow and tight around the ears. There was no chance for a photo. 

Poor Caroline has sciatica as well as an arthritic hip. So we wil have a quiet time here.

We visited Janice Kane today in her new apartment in the National Park Seminary (http://www.saveourseminary.org) which started out, in the late 1800s, as a casino/resort for the wealthy to get away from the heat in the summer swamps of Washington. It was converted into a finishing school for girls before being requisitioned by the army in 1942. Well worth looking at the pictures.

Janice has a charming, one bedroom flat with 17 foot ceilings and a ballroom down the hall'

PC meeting

Today was the end of year meeting of the Potomac Fibre Arts Guild. They always have a round up of what their study groups did during the year. I am always impressed by the energy and talent displayed.

 

After the board meeting (Janet had some  yearbook changes to get approved) we went to the American Craft Council show at Strathmore Hall. Fibre was about 15% of works chosen most of which was quilting followed by machine embrodery. There was one, wonderful, hand woven scarf. Lots of glass, jewellery and wood work. 

We went to a local Burmese which made it into the Washingtonian's best 25 cheap eats. And it was good.

PS what happened to Friday? We moved to the Stollnitz', I visited Mildred Bain who has lost her short term memory but not her joy and Jo slit his pants in the Exec Director's office in the World Bank . . . Not much!

They moved the mall

We knew how to get there but couldn't find the huge Potomac Mills mall when we arrived. Jo remembered the same thing happening the last time he visited. Lucky I had the Tomtom to get us there. Jo bought a new suitcase which is such a boring thing to do that I bought three tops.

And then we went to jail. We did not pass Go and spent 200 en route.

What was the jail for gang members from DC when we lived here has been turned into an artist's "workhouse". The old buildings (? dormitories or work spaces) are now studios that are rented by local artists to sell and/or work from. Some Waterford Weavers have a joint studio there and had an exhibition.

Tonight we dined at home with the Southby's because it was too hot to walk to the restaurant down the road. It was 94 deg when we set out for their house. But not humid. It was great to talk freely.

Sat in a garden

"tear it down to bring in light and air" sounded good when it cleared slums.

I spent the morning in Lois Dean's garden in Chevy Chase. It is full of plants and critters but the adjacent houses have been recently rebuild and their forested back yards have been raised to the ground. So what was a very shady area is now open grassland. Lois is madly striking cuttings from her trees to plant around her periphery.

We had dinner with Andrea and Richard Ackerman who are off to Switzerland tomorrow. We were lucky to catch them. They have been beset by illness but are currently well. Richard had successful immunotherapy for melanoma. Which makes us doubly lucky.

Shopping

Is not the same without Nona Luculescu. But I did manage to buy walking shoes ansd sandals in a store filled with glamorous foot apparel.

And saw some bedding for Linda M.

Jo's plane from Miami was delayed by a storm so I almost finished my Red, White and Blue entry for the Guild's Open Day. Somehow I managed to twist the cast on . . . . twice!

But, fortuitously, it works. I have 3 yards of yarn left and a neckline filler or headband. I will probably use the left over yarn in a cat hat.

Waterford

Drive the freeway fast into the past. The way back to now is bumpy.

My Tomtom whisked me to Waterford today on freeways that did not exist when we lived here. New suburbs, business centres and shopping malls now cover the fields wher the main crop was hay. Leesburg has a busy airport! But, thanks to the Waterford Foundation, I suspect, the village of Waterford has not changed. No new McMansions are allowed. 

Wee cottage

I spent a happy hour revisiting all the buildings where the Waterford Weavers have set up shop during the Fair and was inspired with ideas for Ewan's quilt for our "Off the Beaten Track" show.

Quilted barn

Waterford itself was literally off the track. It was settled in the 1700s by, mainly, Quaker folk and was very prosperous. Along came the Civil War and the Quakers sided with the North much to the disgust of the Virginians. (The West Virginians fought with the unionists too.) So, after the war, the locals remembered and routed the railway through Leesburg, not through Waterford and Waterford faded into obscurity until the expansionist 1970's when Northern Virginia became a service economy hub of wealthy commuters who wanted a house in the country. 

The school where the WWG was born

Rocketing to stardom

I walked in Nottoway Park early this mild morning. There was a few gardeners tending their plots, a group of old men playing tennis madly and a dog walker. Otherwise empty compared to Avalon at the same time of day. I think everybody was sleeping in.

The rocket in this plot was 5 feet tall:

Some folk grow strange combinations, like these red currents and opium poppies:

My prize for the neatest was the cabbage wraps:

The Waterford Weavers meeting was very good. They cooperate because there are so few to do the jobs that need to be done. Of the dozen or so members there, almost half were members when I was and I know another four from other groups or since then. And there was a potential new member. I had
such a good time catching up that I forgot to take photos.

11 hour drive

Grey ribbon freeways flow and explode, Medusa-like at the Beltway.

I drove from Georgia to Virginia on freeways that varied from 2 to 6 lanes in both directions. It is amazing how much wider all the roads have become since we left. And there are spectacular spaghetti junctions! I would hate to be a new driver on these roads. The speed limit is 55 but everybody drove at over 65 mph as soon as they got near Washington.

Sad to leave Linda but I will return (for more raspberries.)

Alpaca farm

We visited a student of Linda's who has learned to spin and weave while taking up farming alpaca, chickens, dogs and cats.

CHG exhibition

We went to the opening of the Chattahoochee Guild's 60th anniversary show this evening. Linda didn't get in because they opened entries to the world. She has won the show when it was just for members. They used an online company, Cafe, to organise the entries so that's the juror, a tapestry weaver, could choose 33 entries to hang. He chose ones that showed extreme technique. The winner was needle lace in wire of a series of images of her mother's hair dos suspended by those metal hair clips that were used for perms. 

There was a concurrent exhibition, mostly textile, that was by invitation and moved from the Atlanta airport. India Flint has a piece of yardage in it. This printed, pressed polyester was my favourite.

Interesting to meet with Linda's guild friends and see the works.

In Conyers, Georgia

Raspberries warm im the sun guarded by plastic snakes that deter blue birds.

I drove down from the mountains of North Carolina to the flat planes of South Carolina to see an exhibition in Greenville. The were many 12 x 12 ins works, mostly painted, one woven, by regional artists. And a great, full colour, 20 double sided A4 page catalogue that they gave away for free. I'll have to find out how they do that!

Arrived at Linda Jarret's in time for lunch. We didn't stop talking until bedtime.

Photos fixed

Do programs change from year to year?

Or do I just forget what I did?

A loom

This morning we visited the NC Aboritum just off the Blue Ridge Parkway which looks just the same down here as it does in Virginia. The gardens were lovely. They have a splendid bonsai garden (with iron gates with padlocks -- bonsai being as portable as bears.) Their current exhibition is about flesh eating plants so there were school kids by the bus load. I had not realised that pitcher plants have flowers.

Later I put Linda's upright tapestry loom together. She had forgotten how and the only picture she could find was not exactly the same and very small. But we managed it with not too much blood spilled (mine.)

Tomtom works

And now she is talking to me, in the same Australian accent. So I got to Linda's more easily than if I had followed her directions. We have another thing in common -- the ability to say/write "right" when we really mean "left."  Jo has learned to watch where I point rather than listen to what I say.

The drive through western Virginia and eastern Tennessee into North Carolina got greener, steeper and prettier as I went east. There is still spring freshness in the trees compared to the full green in Vienna because we are quite high.

Linda took me to see Hendersonville's quaint Main Street with its painted bears before lunch. Google "hendersonville nc bears" to see them. They are on wheeled platforms so they can be secured overnight and so last from May until October when they are auctioned.

In the evening we wandered around Ashville which is a very different city filled with trendy restaurants, any number of beer bistros with entertainers in interesting, old buildings. It is a year round tourist destination so has its fair share of street people.