Back to Work

Vacation is over...David is back at his university.

He left this morning.

Before he left, we took a little weekend away with my family in Whistler, B.C.

(The company for which Gregg works closes before Christmas and re-opens after New Year's, so he had time off to spend with David & me.)

My brother & sister-in-law found a wonderful condo where we could all stay together. This is the view from the living room - gorgeous!

Morning coffee, breakfast and dinner, evening laughs and conversation, hot tub chats:
good times.

Our nephew came up from the Bay Area with his sweetie, so we got better acquainted with her. She took snowboarding lessons.

The weather was perfect: crisp, cold and blue-bird skies.

The skiers & snowboarders had a great time.

 Caroline, Gregg, Jim, Phil & David on top of Whistler Mountain.

 We ate New Year's Eve dinner at a French restaurant, owned by a friend of our neighbor, Kim.

Though they were in California, our parents treated all of us to dinner.

Thank you, Mom & Dad!

 Getting ready to hit the slopes in the morning. I loved the heated floors in this condo!

 Our nephew, Phil, and his sweetie, Rachel.

We spent a day together, exploring the village and neighborhoods on foot.

Thank you for lunch, Phil!

I didn't ski; I drove the skiers to and from the hill each day, read, wrote, did a bit of artwork, walked in the snow, and loved it.

Yesterday, we went to Seattle. You might have heard that there was a little sporting event in town (football) that upset some people's playoff hopes, yet lit others' hopes into a huge flame. A sea of blue & green jerseys flowed onto the ferry in the morning, heading for Qwest Field. But we weren't among them.
We went to the Seattle Art Museum to see the Picasso Exhibit!
We're not his greatest fans, but when Picasso comes to town, it's worth a look.
Now, I am going to sound like an old lady:
I majored in Fine Art in college. I have spent a fair amount of time in museums, galleries and with my nose in books, studying works of art and architecture, as well as furniture and decorative objects.
BACK IN MY DAY (that's the old lady part), when one went to a museum, one encountered a work of art with respect.
One stood before it, open-minded, and allowed the work to speak. Sometimes it was a familiar piece, due to study; sometimes it was a new encounter. But always, I remember peace and a personal experience with the work of art. Even in a huge museum, like the Louvre in Paris.
It's not that way anymore. I saw this in the Louvre in the summer of 2009, and I saw it at S.A.M. yesterday. Present-day museum-goers move in dense crowds, without any sort of order, with camera at the eye, snapping away (Louvre), or with audio-guide at the ear, listening to information about the artist, the piece or the exhibit (Louvre & S.A.M).
The peaceful, personal, contemplative encounter with the work of art is gone, apparently.
I could hardly stand it at the Louvre in 2009, and I felt the same way yesterday. It made me sad.

When I was in college, I was fortunate to be able to study in England for a term. One day, in London, we were exploring the Tate Gallery. I remember few people, and silence. Turning a corner, I encountered one of my favorite pieces of sculpture: The Kiss, by Auguste Rodin. I had read about it in Janson, studied its photograph and learned about the sculptor in Art History class. Seeing it in person for the first time, larger-than-life, was a life-changing experience. I could have wept, it was so powerful, filled with passion and tenderness.

This photo doesn't do it justice. It should be seen from all angles, in the round.

I wish that people would treat artwork with the respect it deserves, and be present to it - bring their presence to the moment, and let the work speak. Let the artist speak through the work.

Back to yesterday: we left the museum, had a bite of lunch, walked through the huge mall in Bellevue for some exercise, and went to meet David, my siblings and their spouses for a delightful dinner at a simple but great restaurant.

Today, Gregg and I took the Christmas tree and decorations down, and put them away. He worked in the yard. I vacuumed, and we re-arranged the living room furniture. We went for a beautiful, long walk together. Our house is in a bit of a mess from all of the holiday partying, and this week, I will clean it and get back to work. It's been a great vacation. I hope yours was, too.