Dumbarton Oaks

Went to Dumbarton Oaks estate and museum with a friend on Wednesday. It's a little hidden treasure in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The museum is free. To walk in the gardens costs $8.00. We'd planned to do both, but mother nature surprised us was a sudden, protracted and rather rambunctious thunder storm, so the garden tour got nixed.



The museum is not large and it's know for two areas of interest, the Byzantine Christian Empire and the Pre-Columbian artifacts of the meso-American civilizations.

There is also a smattering of Antiquities (mostly mediterranean) and Renaissance (mostly Italian).

Here are three images to give you a flavor of the offerings, The central panel in ivory of a Byzantine triptych, A mosaic from a Roman villa in Turkey, and a Renaissance cabinet. All exquisite.

Being a museum, they also mount special exhibitions from time to time and the show currently taking up the lion's share of the Byzantine galleries was an exploration on the history of the cross as a religious symbol through art and how its depiction has evolved. Most of the works are from the Byzantine era, but in one gallery a display included works by Andy Warhol, which was an odd surprise.

Physically the museum uses the back section of the original estate house with one wonderful exception. The orange extension on the map is the Pre-Columbian galleries which opened in 1963 and were designed by Philip Johnson. They are amazing.

The Pre-Columbian Galleries combine so harmoniously the interior with the exterior using travertine and wood and glass and bronze, on some level you feel like you are experiencing the art as though in the actual jungles of Central American. While my friend and I were there this glorious electrical storm was also occurring just beyond the safety of the glass. A special effect that elevated the experience.

The following are all from photos I took of some of the wonderful objects to be found there.

Good Bye, Old Girl

Purchased back in 2003 from an elderly Jewish women who only drove it to synagogue once a week--and it was downhill both ways!--my 1995 Honda Civic came to me with only 15,360 miles on it at a time when I desperately needed a car with an automatic transmission. Whew! (There's a movie pitch somewhere in that sentence!).

And here I am--eight years later--having driven the odometer to 98,938 miles, and without any great need for her anymore. On one level it's a mental comfort to own two vehicles, but on another for me it's also a luxury that just doesn't make any sense. Not because she is costing much. I own her out right, and the insurance is minimal. But for her sake, not being driven is a waste of her potential. It's time that someone get her who will use her while her usefulness remains valid.

Mentioning this burgeoning idea to my mechanic's grandson recently sent him into an animate flurry of an imagined conspiracy between us. He assured me that he could get me a great deal on it's sale...his sweet Thai eyes wide and glistening with thoughts of his own finder's fee. She's a great car. Selling her was never the issue. The hassle of selling her was what I was not interested in. My solution?

Donation!

So I have donated her to WAMU FM, my local NPR station. It was (IS) surprisingly easy. All the paperwork is done. All that remains is for her physical transfer and introduction to her next owner. I will get up-dated paperwork upon her actual sale that will present my tax deduction, and that makes me a lot happier than selling her and deal with my tax burden.

Bon Voyage, mes amie!

I SUPPORT The Dream Act

In this past legislative season in Maryland a law was passed called "The Dream Act." It allows for the children of foreign born undocumented residents of Maryland the right to attend state institutions of higher education at in-state tuition levels. Young adults whose families participate, work, contribute, sacrifice, invest, pay taxes, and live within the expectations of our laws. To deny them benefits that otherwise would come to them if only their parents had also been born in the United States, is NOT the kind of neighbor that I want to be.

Those who oppose the "Dream Act", have gathered enough signatures to place the law before a public referendum. Fair enough. So be it. Bring it on!

I, for one, will not sit back idly and allow this law to be repealed when I completely support it. My support is firm. My support reflects my belief that it is an investment in our collective future. My support is because I refuse to allow the mean-spirited, small-minded, self-absorbed xenophobes to prevail, when even they will benefit from it's enactment.

Paper Wasps Amaze Me

I looked out my living room window this morning looking for the arrival of my friend, when I noticed this. When did they create this? I've been working in my yard on and off for weeks and never noticed it before.

I'm guessing that was part of their amazing little plans. Create a "death star" and hover stealthily. It's absolutely one of the most beautiful and amazing things I've ever seen.

Let's Go To Church--It's Wooop Ass Time!

Random Quote 129

"A life is unimportant except on the impact it has on other lives." ~ Jackie Robinson, 1919 - 1972

Pray The GAY Away--FABULOUS!

THANK GOD, indeed! Grrrrrrr.....



"For nothing is hidden that shall not be disclosed. Nothing concealed that shall be known and revealed." ~ Luke 8:17

Vintage Postcards of Midwestern Cities

I LOVE these vintage postcards with the illuminated bubble letters of the place names. In this instance these are all cities that I have visited in my life.

Perhaps I'll keep up the theme and share postcards from other regions of the United States that I have had the privilege to enjoy. Hope your summer has given you some time to get away and enjoy the wonders around you!

Today's Sermon

Mulberry Tree, 1889, Vincent van Gogh, (1853 - 1890)

Place

On the last day of the world
I would want to plant a tree

what for
not for the fruit

the tree that bears the fruit
is not the one that was planted

I want the tree that stands
in the earth for the first time

with the sun already
going down

and the water
touching its roots

in the earth full of the dead
and the clouds passing

one by one
over its leaves

~ W. S. Merwin, 1927 -

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOUTHERN SUDAN!

I was born in 1961. Africa had only just begun to become a continent of independent nations. Former British, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Belgian, Dutch, Italian, and German colonies began the process of nationhood. It was a joyous time. It's was a feeding frenzy for the world powers (the US and Russia) and as they say "mistakes were made". The people paid the price...even as they continue to in some places.

The first transition that I remember was Southern Rhodesia becoming Zimbabwe in 1980--and what a cesspool that has become. Eritrea was the next one and things there seem to be well. The war prize given to Emperor Haile Selassie after the defeat of Italy in WW II became a free nation, again. Also there is East Timor, and the many new nations of Europe: Slovakia, Check Republic, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia... On to Asia: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Now Southern Sudan! Welcome and may your future be a prosperous and joyous one.

Definitive Postage

I fell asleep on the porch swing this afternoon as the rain blessed the earth thinking about the comely Dr. Ghosh who is hopelessly infatuated with the formidable Dr. Hemaltha who just delivered the twin sons of Dr. Stone who denied them in the presence of the splayed body of their mother Sister Mary Joseph Praise who died in the battle that was their birth at the hospital called Missing in Ethiopia in 1950 something... Such dreams!--"Cutting for Stone".

To distract myself from Addis Ababa, I returned to my "Earth Stamp" series and began working on definitives.

Definitives are the odd denomination stamps that are always there to add to other postage when needed. My theme is National & Marine Parks of the Nations of the earth. I began with 1¢ to 10¢ and chose parks in Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Finland, the United States, Greece, Ethiopia, Madagascar, New Zealand, and Nicaragua.

The series will eventually contain 100 stamps. Here are my first 10.











I have actually been to two of these. Come on now, guess which two?

AARP, here I come!

Proud to Be an American

In 2009, Adam Lambert performed our National Anthem at the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station just north of San Diego, California. The video is a little choppy, but hey, his voice is amazing.

And since we share our dates of birth, the boy's golden in my book! Happy Fourth!

Friday Funny