very simple

Labor day weekend, we took a break from our normal routine of doing as little as possible, and spent an afternoon at the Norman Rockwell Museum and the Berkshire Botanical Garden. Pictures aren’t allowed inside the Museum, so I don’t have anything except the sign below, but it was the first time I had been to the museum and was really struck by how much more…well-rounded…Rockwell was as an artist than his most well-known Saturday Evening Post americana would suggest. I (of course) had seen some of his civil-rights era art before, most notably, The Problem We All Live With, but “Southern Justice” stopped me in my tracks.

I was really shocked by it. Of course, even without looking at the title, I knew exactly what it was in reference to, but more than that, both in content and in style, it’s incredibly different from anything we “expect” when we think about Rockwell. I’m pretty sure I stared at it for about 10 minutes, just devastated. I also took a brief tour that was given, and the guide (who clearly loved his work), talked about the fact that Rockwell chafed for years against the Saturday Evening Post edict that people of color were only ever to be depicted in positions of servitude toward whites. Which explains why this painting was done for Look magazine.

Changing subjects, the following are the photos that I actually took, at the Berkshire Botanical Garden. They had three specific exhibits going on – one dealing with chairs, one dealing with dogs, and one where these little cabins were decorated extravagantly. That should make these photos pretty self-explanatory.

I stole these 3D glasses from a showing of “Up” this summer, because they’re much nicer than the normal 3D glasses they give out at Lincoln Square (which don’t even have folding arms, and which hurt my face after about 20 minutes). I’m using this post to remind myself to take these with me when I go to see Alice in Wonderland on Sunday morning (yes, I’ve already got tix). Because when I forgot them at Avatar, it was just icing on the annoyance cake.

Whenever Ollie comes over for a visit, he can’t be physically separated from me. Here, he has jumped on my lap in order to stand there while I attempt to get work done on my computer. He’s very sweet, and very annoying at the same time.

missed a few more days in here, but here are the latest pics.

365:155 (earmuffs)

oddly, these were purchased in the place least likely to ever require earmuffs…New Orleans.

365:156 (sophie mae (RIP))

took this picture of sophie the last time I saw her last week on an intermittent trip home from the vet. We had to let her go to the great beyond this weekend. very sad.

365:160 (saratoga

the best sparkly water anywhere.

365:161 (metropolitan opera)

365:162 (scary skies)

one of the oddest cloud formations I’ve seen in a while. Assuming this is a precuror to SNOWPOCALYPSE part 2 that is supposed to hit tomorrow.

bought this bracelet last January at the airport in Roatan, Honduras. best $5 I’ve spent in a while.

bought this fan a gazillion years ago, and it’s the best. Except for the part where there’s no easy way to open it up to clean it!

Again, a bulk post to catch up on the last week of photos:

133:365 (library card)

In the 6th grade, I checked out a library book that promptly fell behind my dresser, and not wanting to admit this, I never returned it. My fear of getting in trouble turned into me not getting another library card for over 20 years. At which point I realized that (a) they probably don’t keep records that long, (b) even if they did, replacing the book would cost, like, $20 (c) it was a biography of John James Audubon, so who the hell would even miss it and (d) I don’t even live in that town anymore.

So…new library card!

134:365 (on hold)

took this 1 hour and 4 minutes into being on hold with B&N digital support, because my nook was connecting to the internet just fine, but wouldn’t actually download any books. Took about 30 seconds to solve once I did get someone on the phone.

(please note that I have missed days 135 and 136 – the first ones ever, and I feel really bad about it, but I had a job interview and was totally distracted by that!)

137:365 (early morning)

Apparently the trick to getting a table at my local coffee shop is to get there really early in the morning.

138:365 (boats)

taken at the south street seaport

This is one of my coasters from my Eames coaster set. Probably the closest I’ll get to actually owning an Eames lounger.