My Random Musings | Peaches Prattlings

{April 24, 2014} My field trip to the museum…

Let’s get some culture on!

I thought it was time that I got some culture in my diet, I’ve been lacking a little, so I took myself to the Denver Art Museum.

I have been wanting to go to the museum for a while and today I looked it up and saw a Lichtenstein, I knew today was the day! I absolutely love Lichtenstein, it stems from when I was in high school and in my art class, I was assigned an artist and had to report on them and an artist before and after and Lichtenstein was who I got and it’s been a love affair ever since.

http://www.denverartmuseum.org/

Once there, I decided to become a member of the museum so I could go any time, get advanced invitations to special showings, just like I had with the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. I also got the dual membership so I can get others in for free, who’s coming with me next time?

I wasn’t able to take pictures, but there were some fantastic quotes on the walls and I would love to share them with you as well as some of my favorite artists. I’ll try to find some pictures on the web. Some time it would be great to sit down with you and talk about artists and techniques and emotions, I might just touch on things as we go along.

“Each age finds its own technique” Jackson Pollack

The first painting I saw was by Pissaro. I love seeing Camile Pissaro’s work; I find pointillism fascinating, up close it’s just a bunch of dots but when you take a step back, an amazing image starts to take form and evokes a range of emotions.
http://www.camille-pissarro.org/

“Follow the masters!
But why should we follow them?
The only reason they’re masters is that they didn’t follow anyone!”
Paul Gaugin

“A new art! But what for? We do the best we can, and when we do as well as an masters, that’s all we can hope for.”
William Adolphe Bouguereau

“Splashes of raw color juxtaposed without rhyme or reason…their art is either raving madness or a bad joke.” critic Marcel Nicolle 1905

“We were always intoxicated with color,with wordsthat speak ofcolorand With the sun that maKescolors live.” Andre Derain

The next three paintings spoke to me
Picasso, la toilette

Matisse, La musique 1935

Andre Derain The trees 1906

There was a bronze statue by Jacques Lipchitz ‘Sailor with a Guitar. It reminded me of Leger and Picasso, cubism period.

“All the earth colors of the painter’s pallet there in the many miles of badlands.” Georgia Okeefe

Yves Tanguy “I found that If I planned a picture beforehand, it never surprised me, and surprises are my pleasure in painting.”

http://www.matta-art.com/tanguy/tanguy.htm

“The Role of the Artist is always to deepen the mystery” Francis Bacon

“Art is an experience, not an object.” Robert Motherwell

I love Motherwell’s art, the bold statements. http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artists/1394

Jackson Pollack is another artist that I enjoy and admire and if you know his work, even though it looks like splatter, there is a method to his madness. He said about his technique “I feel nearer, more apart of the painting, since this way I Can walk around… and literally be in the paiI can controlthe flow of the Paint. there is no accident. just as there is no beginning and no end.”

”I want to express my feelings rather than illustrate them.” Jackson Pollack

“Mere unorganized explosions of random energy, And therefore meaningless.” critic Robert Coates on Jackson Pollack’s work 1948

Lee Krasner- Pollack’s wife, self critical and began destroying some of her paintings in the 1950’s. She saved some pieces from those canvases and used them in collages like Milkweed. She lived on Long Island with her husband and often remarked on her connection to nature. “My painting is so autobiographical… If anyone can take the trouble to read it.”

Phillip Gaston Voyage 1955
“Sometimes I scrape off a lot. you have on the floor, like cow dung in the field, this big glob of paint, and its just a lot of inert matter, inert paint, then I look back at the canvas, and it’s not inert-it’s active, living ..If a year or two later I look back at some of the work and try to start judging it, and its impossible . you can’t judge it because it was felt.”

Mark Rothko Orange and Yellow 1956
To counteract viewers’ natural tendencies to stand back from his large canvases, Rothko sometimes included signage asking them to stand close. that way, viewers Could experience the depth of each color and the basic human emotions the Could evoke like “tragedy, ecstasy, doom.The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them-And if you are moved only by their Color relationships, then you miss the point.”

“[my art] is not about facts, its about feelings” Agnes martin

Claes Oldenburg – “I am for an art…that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum. I am for an art that grows up no knowing It is art at all.”

“Reproduction was really the subject matter of my work” Roy Lichtenstein

{April 23, 2014} My personality

Or falling on it is closer to the truth.

In case you didn’t get my Meaning,I fell on my rump. I heard that expression when I doing a mud run a few years ago and I thought it was great and now I use it often.

I got a real treat when some of the classes I was supposed to co-teach this Week were cancelled, so I was able to extend my time at home to a week! This is the first time I’m home for more than 2 days since the project started in February!

So…Yesterday I decided to go skiing. First time in a while!

I did some work in the morning then headed to Keystone, I knew I would Work when I got home. I got to the parking lot, geared up and walked to the gondola only to find out that Keystone closed for the season the day before-pook. A very nice EMT offered to give me a ride to my Car, so nice!

I Kept my Ski boots on and drove to A-basin which was just a few miles Up the road. Parked and headed to the lift, almost closer than the gondola.

I did a few runs, the snow it as wasn’t as Soft and fluffy as it’s been, a little slushy, but not too bad. I decided on the next run to head higher up. Some of these blue square intermediate hills were a little more, well, intermediate, some a little Steep, but I came up And there’s only one way down.

there Was one Section of a slope that was particularly steep and there were three of us wondering what we had gotten ourselves into! One woman sidestepped her way down, I decided to have a sit down and while I sat there, I realized I wouldn’t be able to get my skis back on so I held them and the poles and slid down “on my personality”.

It was actually fun! I slid and stopped and slid and stopped until I got to the bottom of this one short hill, then got up, put my skis back on and skied back down the mountain.

I had some lunch and headed home, got more work done and then called it a day. All in all, a good day.

and… happy to report, my personality remains intact!

{April 21, 2014} Happy Easter

To one and all.

I hope all my friends and family who celebrate Easter have had a fantastic holiday.

I love seeing all the wonderful photos on Facebook some with the Easter Bunny, some with parents and grandparents, at Easter Egg hunts, eating chocolate bunnies, enjoying themselves. Seeing pictures of LB, Baby A and L enjoying what we sent them via the pictures their moms posted on Facebook and tagging us, makes us feel so good!

As a kid, I used to spend spring break with my grandmother in Philadelphia. We would go down to the square in front of her apartment building, The Rittenhouse Claridge, I would search for Easter eggs and then we would watch the Easter Parade, everyone dressed in their faster finest, the women in their Easter bonnets on their way to church. so wonderful! Then we would go home and Watch Easter Parade with Fred Astaire and Judy Garland.

I hope whatever you did to celebrate was enjoyable and just What you wanted.

Here are a few of the fun pictures I found on Facebook, enjoy.

(The first one was for me)

{April 20, 2014} Cop out post

My excuse…I have been up since 6:30am eastern (4:30am central), traveled back to Colorado and have been going, going, going since I got home and I’ve fallen asleep a few times while we were on the couch.

So I am going to take my tired tush to bed. I asked DCM if I had to blog. Would it be weird if I didn’t he said “only to me” and he was right. So here is your post.

I hope you had a great day. Goodnight!

{April 18, 2014} Don’t drink and blog…

So says DCM.

That was after he read my post from last night which had more typos than I am proud of. Part of the problem was that for some reason my phone added extra characters and letters to certain words, the other problem was that I was beyond tired and actually fell asleep in the middle of writing. [at least I wasn’t driving!]

As I mentioned at the end of my post, I had to get up in a few hours, I had been up since 5:30 that morning with very little sleep, so there are my excuses and I apologize to you for the typos and such, but, in the end, I hope the meaning and message I was trying to convey with my post came through.

Today, I was in the building that inspired the post and there were so many other signs I thought about telling you about, but no need, you knew what I meant, right?

Ok, moving on, tomorrow is a new day and a new post!

Goodnight!

{April 17, 2014} Signs…why do we still need them?

There are signs that are important, Warnings even, but aren’t we grown ups, can’t we figure this stuff out?

So this post was inspired by the sign on the inside of the stall door in the bathroom.

I don’t know what’s on the doors in the men’s room, but according to the sign in the ladies room, we are not smart enough to know not to throw anything more than toilet paper down the toilet.

There are trash receptacles everywhere, in the stall, by the sinks, by the door, everywhere. Unfortunately, offices, restaurants, stores all have signs instructing people “Please do put anyhg more than toilet paper in the toilet.”

Seriously? who among us over middle school or high school age, doesn’t know that rule?only TP in the toilet, anything bigger will clog the pipes.

0k, There is more I can say on this it could be a novel, but I’ve got to get up in a few hours. and I’ve given you something to think about it.

{April 16, 2014} Passover is a dirty business!

There is a lot of cleanup before and after the Passover Seder!

We were cleaning up after seder and I think it was GES who said, no one ever talks about how much there is to clean up! First of all, you go shopping for the week before, not unlike any major holiday, no matter what you celebrate. Then, there is the setup to begin cooking, then there are the dishes, pots, pans, mixing bowls and the like to clean during and after cooking.

Then you set the table, maybe you’re using the family china or the set you bought just for these occassions or maybe you’re using paper or plastic as those things are getting nicer every year. This year, we had some fancy looking, nice plastic plates with silver trim from Costco, you may have seen it and the genuine silver looking plastic utensils and paper cups, a perfect senario, easy right?

Well, even with the plastic plates, utensils and paper cups, there were still multiple mounds of dishes to be washed as we were serving the different courses and then after, oh my word, we must have run the dishwasher at least four times! And there were still dishes when we went to sleep! The next morning, unload and load at least two more times! Then you have to move the chairs to the other room, the dining room table needs to go back where it came from, sweep the floors, maybe mop, unload the dishwasher, put the dishes away and load the dishwasher again?

We laughed about the time the dishwasher broke right in the middle of seder, everything was washed by hand, some things need to be, but not all, well, that night they did!

I’m sure this was no different than any holiday celebrations that you’ve had and thought, hey it would be great to be able to throw everything away, cleanup would be a snap! Not so! We used plastic plates, those went into the dishwasher, but even if we hadn’t kept the plates and utensils, it would still have been a glorious, wonderul mess right up to the point we all collapesd after it was over!

{April 13, 2014} Let’s get down to it!

You know whatFriday Was like, crazy, yesterday wasn’t much quieter!

Friday night we spent at a Hampton Inn, a few miles from lake Lanier, where the race was going to be held. This made it nice Saturday Morning, getting up leisurely, having breakfast and heading to the run.

I don’t I know if you remember me talking about participating in the Dirty Girl run last year. We had a great time and by the second obstacle we decided we were going to do this race again. This year let’s just say, we had a good time because we did it together.

There were some things that were frustrating with the organization the setup and part of the race itself but, we still had a good time. After the run and those in off I’m putting on clean clothes we checked out some of the merchandise walk to run a little bit and then walked mile back to the car. ( one mile walk to the packet pickup, 3.1 miles run/walk, multiple obstacles, & one mile walk back to the car, not too shabby)

We headed to Cracker Barrel for a bite to eat, our new tradition then on to pick up CKM’s car at the hotel, mala Georgia area to a running store to pick up some new super feet, Justice in the mall to pick up a gift for JK, just in time to head to Mimi’s to meet the gang for dinner.

Our waitresses name was DJ and when she asked what the occasion was I said “because I was here!” I told her about the races and how we all get together when I come to town.

We had seek CKM, DL and her hubby ML, SDL was there with Miss A & I got to snuggle and hug and kiss and jump with one of my favorite 4 year olds, her sister DJL. We had CC and JC and they’re adorable son, MC and rounding out the group was JBM, AL and their son.

When we got our checks, DJ gave me two of their fabulous muffins as a welcome home gift and I gave one of the muffins to Miss A because I know how much you love blueberry muffins.

After some good conversation, lots of laughs, and smiles, we went outside to take a picture and talk some more and then everybody went on their separate ways.

I’m always so moved and touched and amazed at how awesome my friends are that can make it out and take the time to come see me when their schedule permits. I know how lucky I am!

After Mimi I headed out to LK’s house, JK had had her birthday party and was now having a slumber party and I joined!

She had two friends over so they were for kids in the house and me and LK. We talked for a few hours caught up shot the breeze and had a great time. Then she gave me a Benadryl and I passed out on the couch.

I have to tell you one of the things I do not miss about Georgia on my allergies, when I moved I stop suffering when I got back to Georgia on Friday I started sneezing within 5 minutes.

I have to tell you about these couches, if you have been to an AMC and experienced the recliners this entire couch is made of those recliners, let me just say wow! I fell asleep in that spot and then wake up until just before my alarm went off. I might still be there at this moment if I didn’t have a plane to catch!

I got cleaned up headed to the airport got my flight, got to Boston where my dad picked me up brought me back to the house and I hit the ground running. I had a nice surprise, BR was in the kitchen with my sister cooking and I jumped right in.

We stop cooking when it was time for pizza, no I didn’t have any, boo hoo, I was good and had salad. After dinner and everyone else left EJS and I started baking. We made matzoh brittle and coconut macaroons.

After cooking it was upstairs with DJs for two books that she read to me, spelling, math, I’m exhausted.

Tomorrow there’s some more cooking, then people come over, and we will start the seder.

I gotta get some sleep or I’ll be no good to anyone tomorrow! Have a great night and

A very happy Passover to my friends who are celebrating.

{April 11, 2014} Traveling to Atlanta its going to be a long one!

So you know everytime I travel to Atlanta or Boston its going to be a jam packed weekend and you don’t get to take a breath in between!

The day started like every other Friday that I head out of Michigan, I was making good time I already packed last night and then I got stopped at the front desk to catch up with Adriana, which was great, because I had a little extra time that I can talk to her. Headed to the airport got gas for the car return the car and then sat on the bus waiting to go to the terminal for a good 10 minutes, which is slightly frustrating since I gave myself enough time to do everything I needed to and get the terminal but here we are waiting and waiting and waiting for the driver.

I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to check my bag in because you have to be there for you 45 minutes prior to the flight for your bag to get checked. Well I got to the counter and was told that I had plenty of time because my 10 o’clock flight was now leaving at 11, I’ll be. I had gotten no notification from Delta that my flight was delayed until… I was walking away from my bag drop and I got a call from Delta my flight was delayed…they were waiting on the flight crew. Um…

I decided I was going to have some breakfast because now I had the time, so I went to Chili’s and had one of the worst experiences. At one point, I called the manager over at told him basically that I didn’t feel like the waitress actually gave a crap about the people she was waiting on, my order was slightly wrong but I was going to eat it and I just wanted him to be aware of the situation. The nice thing was, totally unexpected, the manager comped my meal. I was hoping he wouldn’t say anything to the waitress before I left, but apparently he did, but only about me not getting the tea or honey I wanted. thank you.

Then I head to my gate, board the plane while talking to a very nice woman then sit and wait and wait and we took off only 2 hours late, great!

The nice thing was that the fligt was only 1.5 hours. we land about 1:30 and the people with connecting flights fight to get past the people clogging the aisle and the woman next to me didn’t have a connecting flight, just someone waiting for her, isn’t that special, here, please Walk over me to get out!

off to car rental to get my rate of $30 per day, then add taxes, fees and Charges and my $60 turns into $146! Really?

I leave in my suv to go Pick up SDL’s sister,DJL. I drove her to SDL’s house then I drove to my house and found my Favorite shoes!!!

Off next to drop off my taxes to my tax people, I had scanned & emailed them but never heard back so I thought I Would drop them off. There was a cancellation so they were able to take me. It took about 45 minutes and I’m getting money back, Wahoo!

But wait, there’s more!

I drove to Ansley Mall to meet CKM, we were going to go to The Nook but the traffic around Piedmont park was crazy because of the Dogwood Festival so we turned around and went to Bantham & Biddle, very tasty.

After dinner, we walked across the street to Smith’s Olde Bar to see JMB’s band Bahnhof. They were interesting..Had a European fee|, a German/RusSian vibe. original and different.

Then why figured out why I was miserable, tired, sneezy and itchy eyed since I landed…duh! Allergy season in Atlanta! Save me!

Headed to the hotel to get Some sleep after I finish writing to you.

Mud run tomorrow! Need rest! Goodnight!

{April 11, 2014} Packing…Unpacking…Packing…Un…

Packing…unpacking…packing…unpacking…I have to pack again?

One of my least favorite things about traveling for work is the packing and unpacking. Let me explain. When I travel for pleasure, the idea of packing for the trip is exciting, what do I need, will I have everything I need, well, if I don’t have everything, I can buy what I need.

When I travel for work, this project specifically, I’m ok when I’m at home, just have to figure out what I need, generally the same thing week after week, hopefully more warm weather clothing soon. I’ve been on projects before that I was never in one hotel more than two nights at the most, then I never took my clothes out of the bag, but I was excited when I could stay somewhere two nights, wow!

The part that I am not a fan of is Sunday I got to the hotel, I unpack everything, get settled in and then all of a sudden it’s Thursday and I’m having to take all the clothes out of the drawer, make sure the food stuff is together, and it feels like I just unpacked it. The weeks I don’t go home to Denver, I pack an overnight or duffle bag, and my larger suitcase and everything else to take downstairs to store. I’m kind of looking forward to the weeks that I have to be here longer than five days, can get settled in without having to think about ok, it’s Tuesday, I have to pack in two days.

Please don’t get me wrong, I love traveling for work, I really do enjoy it, I have a great room, work with great people and the hotel staff, as I’ve told you are fantastic. It’s just that packing up to go to the airport, couldn’t someone just find the trip packing fairy and let me just show up places?

Happy travels to you!

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