Oh It’s Cold Outside

After the great Thanksgiving weekend, we followed Cheryl up north to the Adirondacks where she began her new job.  For those who do not know, she has left the Smithsonian and taken a position as Director of Interpretation at the Museum of the Adirondacks. The museum provides her and the family with an A-frame cabin until she finds a home.  Dave and Bennett will join her up here at the end of the year.

This is mountainous country with lots of snow.  The museum campus, where we are staying, is in far upstate New York and close to Canada.  It is snowing as I write, snowed yesterday and the day before.  Fortunately, the roads are well plowed.  Jerry proved his metal by driving for more than an hour in the snow and keeping his California cool.

We went into Saranac Lake, the largest “city” around to check out the town.  Our lunch at Blue Moon Café was delicious.  Jerry took photos of Saranac Lake and the lakefront houses.

Lots of hiking, fishing and outdoor activities in this area which Cheryl, Dave & Bennett will love.

Growing up in Colorado did nothing to prepare Anna Lee for the beauty of the heavy snow.  We are surrounded by trees that are adorned with white covering and the sides of the road shows the beauty of cold weather.

 The snow on the deck outside the cabin is over a foot deep.  That little bump is a small BBQ,

Ever so often, snow drops off the roof or the trees, causing a slight thud.

The boulders on the side of the road bare cascading frozen waterfalls.

Thanksgiving

This holiday is traditionally all about family and food and we observed the traditions in an orthodox manner.

Daughter Cheryl and cousins Leora and Ed created a wonderful feast including some healthy foods.

 Ed and Leora set a goal of a dessert per person but fell short about three desserts.  What we had was so yummy.  Jeff was a major contributor to the sweet buffet.

When we weren’t eating, we played games, took naps and looked at devices.

At the end, we took a family photo.

It was another wonderful family Thanksgiving.

Kvel (Brag) Time

We are back in DC enjoying time with family.  Our first adventure of this trip was to go to Natural History to see the exhibit Cheryl created on elephants and their plight today

The exhibit goes back in history to show human’s interaction with these magnificent creatures.  Included are Theodore Roosevelt’s photos of his hunting trips to Africa as well as his later leadership regarding the environment.

For too many decades people were indifferent to the consequences of poaching elephants.  This exhibit calls the public’s attention to what is currently happening.

The exhibit contains a collection of books and articles show the gradual awareness of the importance of these magnificent beasts.  This one is covered in elephant hide.

Included on display are two books from Bennett’s collection

 one from Dave’s family’s  collection

Cheryl, Dave and Bennett are leaving DC and moving to upstate NY.  We have been helping with the packing.  Bennett jumped right in to help.

Getty Center

You all know we are museum people.  Well, we reached our ultimate experience at the Getty in LA.  We arrived about 10:30 and left at 7:30.  We took three tours, had both lunch and dinner, and walked over 10,000 steps.  Our expenses were $15 for parking and for our meals.  Yes, J. Paul Getty, at one time the world’s richest man, created one of the best museums and so endowed it that all visits are free.  His Getty Villa is a separate museum in Malibu.

From the parking lot a tram takes visitors to the top of the hill.  You arrive in the midst of the amazing architecture of Richard Meier and lovely gardens of Robert Irwin.  The two men did not get along but managed to create an outstanding and unique environment for the acclaimed art collections.

Our first tour was of the buildings and gardens.  Neighbors strongly opposed the idea of a museum blocking their view of the hills.  We think they stopped complaining.  The architect was careful to be sure the views remained and the buildings were a plus.

Meier used travertine blocks, 30 inches square, on the floors, walls, walkways, and windows.  Some of the blocks stick out to show fossils of leaves and shells imbedded within the rock.

Irwin’s garden includes a maze.

Our second tour was of the general collection, sampling each room.

Getty was partial to art of the ancients through the 1800s.

 He did not like modern art. Three Brush Strokes by Lichtenstein has recently been added to offer a pause from one gallery to the next.

We enjoyed lunch on the terrace basking in the sun.

Then we traveled back to ancient Egypt and the era of Ptolemy, a Greek who took on the role of king of Egypt and claimed descent from Egyptian gods.

This sarcophagus is a rare find because it is intact.

The hedgehog was a popular addition to tombs because its hibernation symbolized death and rebirth.

This hippo would have been in an Egyptian garden.

This mummy is unique because the picture of the deceased was found intact.

Our wanderings also included an early photographic exhibit and an exhibit of books created as art rather than to be read.

That dinner we mentioned was fabulous, the view of the area shared with gourmet dinning.  What a great way to end the day and the trip.

Los Angeles: The Peterson Automotive Museum (with a lot of pictures)

The Peterson is an auto museum like the Empire State Bldg is an office building.  The first thing you notice about The Peterson as you approach it is the unique and striking architecture. Remodeled for $90 million, red and silver stainless steel ribbons catch the eye from blocks away.

Inside, four floors of displays tell the history of cars in California, pay tribute to the nearby movie industry, tell of Japanese and German influence on car design and function and show off great vehicles.

In 1886 Karl Benz made the first practical self-propelled vehicle.

In 1900 the Smith brothers built this car but added a place to attach  reins in case the car had to be towed by horses.  This car is the oldest surviving gas-powered vehicle built in LA.

Fannie Arbuckle owned this Renault.

This is the 1989 Batmobile

You know that you are getting old when something you owned and drove is now in a museum.  Jerry drove a Datsun just like this one in the 70s.  It is also the car that Anna Lee used to learn to drive a stick shift

 Anna Lee loved all the Corvettes.

Lightning McQueen from Cars attracts the younger visitors.

This McClaren is made from Legos

Race cars from past eras pose for action.  This one is a hybrid, just like our Avalon only a little faster.

In a side room are classrooms for engineering students to design their own cars.

Jerry took a VR trip in two Ford powered race cars.  It was really cool.

A small special exhibit shows the High Art of Riding Low, the car art of Chicana/o artists.