Insomnia Art

I couldn't sleep--incidental to age, I suppose.  So I was reading a back issue of Horticulture magazine and I saw this article where a person uses a scanner to make pictures of flowers and veggies.  I decided to try it with the only flowers extant--the potted geraniums from the sunny south dining room windows.

I think I'll try it again--it's pretty.

Your Weekly Dose of Art History

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! from L'Ogre on Vimeo.

Hey I thought this was sweet and funny*. By way of Andrew Sullivan.

*but be aware that art history includes some (very mild) nudity

Fashion?

So I have never grokked fashion, but have come to a sort of peace with it by only shopping once every two years and only buying things that are comfortable. But I ran across this blog the other day which is by a certified 13-year-old blue-haired fashion genius, and I begin to get a glimmer of understanding. I also like this blog of fashionable old people, and this one for us fatties. Don't worry, I'm not going to change my behavior or my (lack of) style, but I can acknowledge a legitimate art form, even if I don't have the ability to participate.

And always a treat, here is David Bowie.

Cool Price Museum

I think Chris and John were trying to reenact the epic battle of the dinos (above). Not sure. Chris' tag (on facebook) for the photo below is "Pch. Those things were extinct like a hundred years ago, quit pulling my leg. Hold on..."
Dire wolf. The ultimate transformation ambition of werewolves everywhere.
John, mammoth, and tipi:
Utah's newest dinosaurs:
We feel a special affection for the Utahraptor:
Utahraptor, artist rendition. Possibly toy-maker's rendition.

Face Art by Nicolle

Tana shows off her patriotic musical notes:

Trent:Aisake's way cool dragon:

Jessica:

Teane and Anna:

Extreme Sheep Herding

So Dad, you used to do creative facial hair when you got bored out at the sheep herd. What do you think of this!

Lost in Suffolk continued…

We decided the Norfolk Broads and the Fens were too far to drive this afternoon, and driving much is itself too harrowing, and so we got out the East Anglia guide and went looking for Constable scenery at Dedham and Stoke by Nayland in the Stour River Valley. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, our directions were not precise and I didn’t review them anyway before we left, so we wandered up and down country lanes looking for cows under big trees, pretty St. Mary’s church, and old farm houses with hay wains nearby to take pictures of. Which we did find more or less. I took this nice photo of a church called St. Mary’s, but it was in the wrong town, I discovered later upon re-reading the guidebook. We got some pictures of friendly cows and a nice farmstead, but never figured out where the famous scene is at Stoke by Nayland called The Hay Wain. Oh well.

The Center of the Center of the English Speaking World

So Manhattan might be the center of the universe, but London is the center of the English speaking world, and to me, Trafalgar Square is the heart of London. Here Nelson gazes down Whitehall toward Parliament (reprovingly, one suspects), and a lion at the base of the monument looks ready to take a bite out of Big Ben. John and I took in a free lunchtime concert at St. Martin-in-the-Fields before visiting the National Portrait Gallery and eating (of course, for old times' sake) at Wagamama's. They've been refurbishing the church for several years now, and the concert was accompanied by the sound of a jackhammer, or some other noisy power tool. I love the new window--a sense of being held, caught, or trapped, but also having broken free--the web is empty now, but leaves a void or passage whereby we too may escape.

Nicolle