Reverence

We visited the Nasher Sculpture Center while downtown today. We spent most of our time looking at the outdoor exhibits. Vanessa enjoyed resting for a moment on a stone bench sculpture.

Ethan made me laugh. I enjoy listening to his commentary about art. He would make a great art critic one day if he could be serious enough about it. His is interpretations are quite enjoyable though!

The thing I like about Ethan is that as soon as we stepped into the exhibit called  Melvin Edwards: Five Decades, he became quite somber. The sculptures in this exhibit are part of Edward's Lynch Fragments series.

I loved seeing Ethan show reverence where reverence is due. I think that is what is so great about art. Each piece can evoke such completely different emotions in a person.

Weekend in Washington

When Southwest Airlines recently added a new list of nonstop flights all over the country, Aaron and I jumped at the chance of booking a flight for a weekend getaway. On the list of new flights was Washington DC.  When we were there a few years ago, there were several places in DC that we wanted to go to but the kids were less excited about. This was our chance to go.

For our first stop, we visited the National Gallery of Art. One of my favorite paintings was this one called Adoration of the Magi By Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi. 

 I want to add it to my nativity collection. 

One of Aaron’s favorites was this piece.

It is a leather shield with a depiction of David and Goliath. Aaron wants to hang it on our wall but Goliath’s decapitated bloody head is a bit too realistic for me. It got the veto.

We both enjoyed the Ginevra De' Benci painted by Leonardo Da Vinci.

I especially liked the back side of the painting with the inscription Beauty Adorns Virtue. I want to share that phrase with the young women at church that I work with.

In high school I painted some grapes. They are not as easy as you may think. Here is my version of a still life.

Here is Still Life with Grapes and Game painted by Frans Snyders. I know I must face the harsh reality that one of my works of art may never hang in the NGA. I am fine with that.

We also went on a White House tour. It was beautiful!

My favorite room was the East Room where there have been funerals, weddings, extravagant galas, the Civil Rights Act and many treaties were signed in this room. It is also this room where the recent "fence jumper" ran through before finally being tackled by the Secret Service. It is amazing he made it through.  Security is pretty tight. The only way to get the tickets was through our local congressman. No cameras were allowed inside on the tour. You can take a virtual tour here.(White House Tour). 

We visited the Newseum where we saw part of the Berlin wall. We saw this exhibit the day before the 25^th anniversary of it’s fall. It was interesting to see the two sides of the Berlin Wall. The first photo is from the West side where people enjoyed the freedom of speech.

 This side faced Eastern Germany where there were fewer human rights.

 This tower is called Checkpoint Charlie. This is where soldiers from the East monitored the wall for people trying to escape to the West.

 The September 11^th exhibit was also touching.  It brings back so many memories of that day in history. The is the anntae from one of the towers that was recovered from the rubble.

There was a wall is covered in front page articles from newspapers around the world reporting the attack on the US.

We also looked at many newspaper articles throughout history including the front page article about Joseph Smith’s murder. I was raised to be a news junkie and still read the newspaper almost every morning. This museum was a treat!

We visited the United States Botanical Gardens at Aaron’s request. He loves nature and I will admit, this place was amazing!! It was quite a bit colder in DC than in Dallas so it was nice to sit for a moment inside of a jungle and feel the warmth.

From the Botanical Gardens we had a beautiful view of the Capitol building. Even with the scaffolding, it is a magnificent building.

We visited the United State Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was depressing and haunting. I believe anyone who visits there will be a changed person. I will ever be grateful for food, clothing, education, mattress and pillow, family relationships, and freedom. I hope we as a society never allow something of this magnitude to ever happen again.

This three-story tower displays photographs from the Yaffa Eliach Shtetl Collection. Taken between 1890 and 1941 in Eishishok, a small town in what is now Lithuania, the photographs depict a vibrant Jewish community that existed for 900 years. In 1941, an SS mobile killing squad entered the village and within two days massacred the Jewish population.–US Holocaust Memorial Museum

We walked from our hotel past the Washington monument to the Jefferson Memorial one evening around sunset. It was beautiful! I love feeling reverence for important places, people, and events.

We rode the Metro to a nearby chapel so we could attend church. It was great! I loved this old member built church house.

The talks were great! We were pleasantly surprised to see a friend from Utah who happened to be visiting the same random ward.

I loved the fall colors of the trees on the church grounds.

The leaves here in Dallas don't change color. The trees are either ever greens or the leaves just die and fall off.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was trying different restaurants for every meal. From Ethiopian, to seafood, Italian, Old Ebbit Grill, a tourist favorite that opened in 1856. It is Washington's oldest saloon and happens to serve the best pecan pie ever created. Aaron thinks it is weird posting a photo of half eaten food. The problem is, I didn't know how noteworthy this pie would be until I started eating it. At that point it was too late for a professional food blog style photo. At this point I will just say, it was delish!!

A trip to Washington DC wouldn't be complete without a stop at Z Burger. Every time we talked to Vanessa she asked if we had been to Z Burger yet.

After ordering "one of each flavor" at Astros doughnuts we literally and figuratively had our fill.

We met our friends Melissa and Latif for dinner. It was great catching up with them. They are the ones that introduced us to Ethiopian food and the Metro. 

This was a fun trip. I love learning more about the world around me. I love broadening my horizons and trying new things. There is so much to explore in this world and I as so grateful to have a chance to do just that for a few days with Aaron.

Chihuly

My sister and her family visited us a few days after Christmas. There was an art exhibit here in town until December 31st. I wasn't sure if it would be worth the drive and the admission prices. My sister and her husband said that it would be worth it. They were right.

The artist/sculptor is Dale Chihuly. Who bares a resemblance to someone else I know.

He does all his work in bright colored glass. The exhibit was outdoors at The Dallas Arboretum. The sculptures were spread throughout the gardens. See his website here.

Holly served as our tour guide. She looked at the booklet and said, "The map says we are going the wrong way." I pointed out that our current path would lead across a bridge.  She replied, "The map says this is the right way now."

Holly was really good at naming the sculptures. In her mind this one is titled "Yellow Mountain Rock"

Holly was willing to stop and pose in front of some actual holly.

Savanah was excited to see some artwork from Chihuly. In her art class at school, they are divided into groups and assigned to tables named after various artists. She sits on the Chihuly table.

His work is amazing!

 The kids seemed to have fun together.

Amaia, however, was far more interested in the water features.

This fountain was not part of the special exhibit but ended up being one of my favorite photos of the day.

You all may be surprised to know that my favorite piece of the exhibit was not the Dallas Star, in spite of the fact that it was incredible.

My very most favorite piece is called the Sun. It made me feel happy.

The only problem with the visit was the fact that it was really cold. We only had hoodies on and there was just enough of a breeze to make it feel even colder. I would have loved to stay longer but I'm pretty sure that I am allergic to weather below 40 degrees. It was so cold that by the end of our visit, as we stopped by a tadpole pond, Holly had the look of the matchmaker of Fiddler on the Roof.

All in all, they were absolutely right. It was well worth the trip. If you ever have the chance to visit an exhibit, you really should do it.