Looking back…

‘Tis the time of year to look back at the year that was.  I have gotten into this habit less from nostalgia and more from needing a concise synopsis of the year to answer questions like:  What year did we go to Timbuktu?  and Didn’t Uncle Sid die in 2013?  So, here goes my first six months of 2013…

In January, while I was still recovering from my knee replacement and nursing the worst cold I've had in years, Greg, Olive, the pug, and I took a road trip from Massachusetts to Apalachicola, Florida.  It was a good antidote for what ailed me.

In February, we got hit with Winter Storm Nemo.  When the heck did they start naming the winter storms anyway?  Nemo was a powerful nor’easter that dropped over 20 inches of snow on us.  We’ve lived in New England long enough to not let that kind of thing hold us back for too long, so my daughter Carrie and I planned an overnight trip out to North Adams, Massachusetts, to visit the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MassMoCA) to see Xu Bing’s Phoenix.  In this photo, you can see the scope of the project, which consists of two huge birds made entirely from materials taken from construction sites in urban China, including demolition debris, steel beams, and tools.  But it is difficult to convey the beauty of the work.  If you are interested in seeing Phoenix in more detail, click here.

March came in like a lion for us and stayed lion-like for a while, but I’ll be damned if I can remember if it went out like a lamb.  In any case, we had more snow to contend with...lots more snow.

Spring finally came to us in April and nothing screams SPRING to me more than the forsythia blooming.  But the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15 shocked and saddened us.

While I stayed home and enjoyed the spring in May, Greg took off on his motorcycle and circumnavigated Lake Superior.  I would enjoy circumnavigating Lake Superior, but in an automobile.

June was a major event for me.  I turned 60 and for my birthday, Greg and I went to Norway.  That’s what Greg gets when he asks me what I want for my birthday.  I guess he figured that it was too much to deny an old woman.  We had a fantastic time in that spectacularly beautiful country!  It could well have been the best birthday gift I’ve ever received.  Sorry, I couldn't stop at one photo.

On the Nærøyfjorden

Scenery above the Arctic Circle.

To be continued…

Admiring the bones at MASS MoCA…

I loved spending time at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA).  The exhibits we saw were sometimes fun, sometimes beautiful and always thought-provoking and I thoroughly enjoyed them.  I will try to get some time to give you a taste of them later this week.  But something I truly love about the museum is the building itself.  It has a long and interesting history that I won’t go into here, but if you would like to learn more about it, you can by clicking on this:  History of the Site.

The building itself is a work of art and I took many (WAY too many) pictures of bits and pieces of it.  That is what I am going to post today.  I told Carrie that even if the place were totally empty of all the artwork within its wall, I would still want to hang out there.  And I meant it.

Taken inside the Sol LeWitt exhibit.

Hunting in North Adams…

If you read my last post, you know that my daughter Carrie and I took an overnight trip out to North Adams, Massachusetts, which is a town located in the Berkshire Hills near the Massachusetts – New York border.  North Adams was an old mill town back in the day.  These days it is a town filled with a lively art scene primarily because of the opening of the wonderful Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in 1999.  While we were in North Adams, we stayed at The Porches Inn, which is right across the street from the museum.

All of my photos this week for Ashley Sisk’s Scavenger Hunt Sunday are from that trip.  The prompts for this week are:  Time to Eat, Getting Ready, Playtime, Sweet Dreams and Scrub-a-dub.  I did have to stretch the limits a little, but I managed to get something for each prompt.  And here they are:

As part of the turn-down service at Porches, we each got a couple of these lovely little handmade chocolate mints.  It was Time to Eat!

At MASS MoCA, there was a section of the museum that was having new walls put up and painted.  They were Getting Ready for a new exhibit.

For me, and for Carrie too, I think, going to places like MASS MoCA is like Playtime.  Here, Carrie is posing at the end of one of Sol LeWitt's wonderful huge paintings.   I really liked the reflective quality of this particular one.

The Porches Inn is a really neat place to stay.  It is built in old block of Victorian Row Houses that are located right across the street from MASS MoCA.  Here's a photo of our room.  The rooms are decorated with retro furnishings that are very attractive and fun.  And the beds are très comfortable.  Mine certainly allowed me to have Sweet Dreams.

The bathrooms at Porches are also very nice.  Ours had a claw-foot tub and a large shower with a rainforest shower thingy.  Here is a bit of the tub.  If there were three men in it, it would be like the old nursery rhyme,  Scrub-a-Dub Dub, Three Men in a Tub.  I actually think it's Rub-a-dub dub, but who's really keeping track.

 

We had a great time and I hope we'll be back at some point in the future.  I am not done with all my photos from this trip, so be prepared...there's more to come.

Linking to Ashley Sisk's Scavenger Hunt Sunday.