Welcome 2014

A New Year will start in a few minutes in Europe - we have to wait six hours - in our thoughts we are with you and celebrate.  All our most positive wishes for a Happy New Year. Thank you for visiting my posts from time to time and thank you for keeping up the connections.  Friends should be like stars - you do not see them all the time, but you know they are there.

Change of Plans

In the last years we have had the pleasure of celebrating the New Year in Maine at the Atlantic coast.

We said good bye to the old year at sun set to the West on December 31 and went early to bed. Then we welcomed the New Year while the sun was rising from the East on the horizon.

We had a reservation again but the hotel called us because for several months heavy equipment is used night and day dredging the nearby harbor -  just in front of the hotel.

http://wellsbeachmaine.com/

We appreciated their warning and saw it for ourselves yesterday.  An easy decision -

this year we look at our old photos at home.

Wreaths

Today is the fourth of Advent which means the fourth candle on the Advent's wreath will be lit. http://german.about.com/library/definitions/bldef_cmas0323.htm

In the US the tradition is used in churches mostly.  Hanging a welcome wreathe on the front door during December is very much in the Christmas spirit.

There are no rules or limits to the decorating fantasies in choosing size, material and decoration. The two 'wreaths' on St. Ignatius church for example with their wreath shape fitting the windows….

In Manhattan we saw wreaths in the high rise office lobbies in unbelievable splendor, all sizes and colors.  But this wreath in a lobby surprised me nevertheless in its originality of a wreath interpretation.

The guard let me take a picture and it was then that I discovered that it was a Jeff Koons

art work from 2004 "Lobster Log".   Not at all a Christmas wreath but a year round welcome.

MOMA is a MUST

    

Whatever you prefer, quiet or lively, small or large, paintings or sculptures, you will find it in the MOMA.

Museum of Modern Art - founded in 1929 for 20th Century art.  Modern Masterpieces in every gallery.

Just 17 streets down from The Frick Collection but the difference between the two museums could not be greater. Both are an art treat.

  Eventually we felt our legs getting heavy and just wanted to sit down like our fellow museum visitors

at the video installation in the great hall.    www.moma.org

Traveling Girl in New York

                         

Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' is the magnet of the special exhibition in The Frick Collection

in New York (through January 19, 2014).  She is sometimes called the Dutch Mona Lisa.

Cold winds and snow could not keep the waiting line short in front of the entrance. As soon as we entered the Frick's family mansion we were envelopped in the warmth of the house. Not only the Masterpieces of the Mauritshuis but the outstanding paintings and sculptures of the Frick collection

kept us inside for two hours.  Warmed inside and out we left for the MOMA.

www.mauritshuis.nl

"Light and Learning"

December 12 and 13 are Study days in Boston College.  Then final exams and then Christmas break until the Spring semester starting January 13.

Among the campus libraries available, the most spectacular is Babst Library and Gargan Hall.  http://www.bc.edu/libraries/ugradsnewsletter/2010spring/article2.html

400 study spaces open 24 hours until December 21 when the doors will close. Now it is a large hall with a palpable intensity of 400 thinking and writing students.  

Will they get inspired by the stained glass windows in the different alcoves?  There is Archimedes  for Mathematics and  Michelangelo for Art History among the remarkable humans portrayed.

The scene from the Odyssey in the cave of the Cyclops may evoke some emotions!

Ready for Christmas?

The creche next to Babst library on the BC campus is now installed. A sure sign of the end of the Fall semester and final exams coming up.   Because of the mild weather no snow is covering the green grass yet and it seems out of season.  This evening we listened to the Christmas concert of the University Chorale and Boston College Symphony Orchestra and were given the chance of singing with them several Christmas songs.  

Hark! the herald angels sing: Glory to the newborn King! 

http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/music/calendar.html

Lit up Avenue

The traditional lightening up of the Champs Elysees happened last week end and will last until the beginning of next year.  It was proudly announced that because of LED bulbs the electric energy was now only 38 000 kWh instead of the 480 000 kWh with the old fashion bulbs they had used until 2006. One million euros were invested to install all the lights along the trees of the avenue and at the Rond Point area.  The festive mood will be enjoyed by more then a million revelers!

French visitors will make a point to visit and from all over the world tourists will arrive to walk up and down 'la plus belle avenue du monde'.

And many more will not walk but drive slowly up and down and add to the illumination.

http://int.rendezvousenfrance.com/en/events/christmas-lights-champs-elysees-0 

The Water Lilies

Monday 9 am we were at the Orangerie Museum to go straight to the two rooms where the famous water lilies paintings are installed. For a few minutes we could enjoy the pictures full impact without other visitors.  Monet painted these large canvases in the last 12 years of his life, starting when he was 74 years old. Alas, he did not live to see the installation in 1927.

These paintings invite to meditate and demonstrate at the same time a certain development from impressionistic to abstract art. Visitors are asked to keep quiet and not to take any photos.  To give an idea of the art installation I took a photo of a photo in the museum's entrance:

http://www.musee-orangerie.fr/homes/home_id24799_u1l2.htm

If you click on this link, you can visit virtually the water lilies art installation!

Not Just An Oyster Bar

Look - is this an installation of a Dutch still life?  We stopped our walk on the Boulevard de Montparnasse to admire this 'presentation' -  in English 'presentation' ......
 Even their web site is worth to be admired:  http://www.lebarahuitres.com/uk/index.php

The reality is somewhat different.  The staff is not the friendliest and one is lucky to get a table without reservation.  That in a way is a good sign. Perhaps next time we decide for a take out order because the seafood is very fresh, the most important quality.

Metro Station Abbesses

A walk on Montmartre is always popular when visitors are in Paris.  Best then to take the Metro line 12 to 'Abbesses' and start from there. As it is the deepest station of Paris there are many - ca 120 - steps up to the street level. Two large elevators are provided to make it easier for everyone. 

While you wait for your friends who took the steps, you can admire the art nouveau iron decoration by Hector Guimard (1867-1942).  There are only two complete Guimard stations.  Abbesses and Port Dauphine.

Then follow rue Lepic to the right and house number 54 is the one where Vincent van Gogh lived with his brother from 1886 to 1888. At that time there was no Metro and Montmartre was still a village outside of Paris.  http://www.aparisguide.com/montmartre/

Brunkebergs tunnel

This tunnel gives a clever shortcut under a hill in the middle of the city.  Over hundret years old, it was renovated not too long ago.  Swedish design at its best: visual pleasing and functional with the inward curve to the gutter...... a non smelling tunnel was created.

Vikings

Those strong vikings are still living in Sweden and they keep fit for fight in Fredhälls parken.

 When you dare to come close you realize these Vikings are beautiful Swedish women!

Docked and covered

    Today we had a pleasant 45 F and it was hard to imagine that snow and ice soon will hide everything.    Boat owners know and are prepared accordingly!

Eterneller

Middle of November it is pleasant to find a group of daisies growing on a playground. They will last through Winter and will be in competition in Spring when the real daisies are showing up.

Lusthusporten

No blue sky today but a very blue gate to the large Royal park. Once closed for royal hunting now open to everyone.  All year long and in all weather.

International Stockholm

.l 

Decisions, decisioons - once it was only a hot dog with or without bread. 

Constant Upkeep

Versailles - the largest palace in Europe which was built in the 17th century has at least five million visitors every year.  The combination of palace, park, statues and fountains built for the Sun King Louis XIV is still a monument to his absolute power.  The space, the size and the history is admired by everyone who visits this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Two weeks ago a major renovation of the Latona fountain has begun and will last at least 16 months. During this time visitors are invited to follow the work of the many artisans involved in the repair from a platform.

http://en.chateauversailles.fr/news-/events/vie-scientifique/restauration-du-bassin-de-latone-en 

The sculptures at the South side entrance to the park are waiting to be renovated and it is sad to see their beauty still covered under moss and dirt.

"Faire la queue"

 Sunday afternoon is perhaps not the best time to visit the Orangerie to see the Monet paintings - look at this line!  We continued to the Grand Palais, where an exhibition on Felix Valotton should be very good.

No, seems too long of a wait in the rain, let's continue around the corner to the Palais de la decouverte.

Yes, we understand, that it is one hour waiting time from this sign to the entrance.

But the line continues and it will be more then two hours to see "Mille Milliards de Fourmis"
How many ants?  Thousand millions?   And only 30 million visitors per year in Paris.....
http://www.palais-decouverte.fr/index.php

The Golden Sphere

This sculpture by James Lee Byars (1932-1997) was installed in the Tuileries Garden as one of several outdoor works during the FIAC  (International Contemporary Art Fair).

The fair itself took place in the Grand Palais and went between October 24 - 27.

Lucky for us, the sculptures in the garden were not removed yet.  Today under heavy grey sky the gold of this sphere gave a beautiful ray of sunshine perfectly lined up with the obelisk of Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe.

The "Tuileries Colored Sculpture" by Sam Falls closer to the Louvre is supposed to change colors under the impact of sunshine.   Sam Falls living in California was perhaps not aware of the lack of sunlight here in Paris in the Fall.

http://www.fiac.com/fr/tuileries2013.html?lg=en

McMullen Museum

The large banner on the front of Devlin Hall on the Boston College Chestnut Hill campus announces the exhibition on Gustave Courbet (1819-1877).   He is known as the chief representative of realism in the nineteenth century.

(Portrait of Madame Leon Fontaine, nee Laure Janne, 1856-570)

He famously stated: "I cannot paint an angel because I have never seen one" expressing his distance to the romantic history paintings favored at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.  He taught himself by copying Dutch and Spanish paintings in the Louvre.  

(Woman with Mirror, c.1860)

Looking at the women he depicted, they have angel-like features and perhaps they were 

earthly angels he saw and painted?

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/artmuseum/

A Newly Painted Historic House

After 13 years in a green house, friends decided to have their large house in a different color.  Not pink, but 'Burgundy  rose'.  A decision was made and six painters went to work.  The neighbors got upset and then calmed down when realizing that it was the base color which offended their eyes.

Now, soon finished, the right 'pink' and the white trim and all the black shutters - it will be beautiful and just as stunning as Jacky Kennedy in the 60's at a Gala Dinner:

(They say that pink combined with black is associated with seduction!  Who are 'they'?)

http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-pink.html

"Cute Birds"

It is only the first time - a few years ago - that we got all excited about a wild turkey crossing the street.
Now they have multiplied and are no novelty but just a nuisance.  If scared, they can fly and go for the eyes! Better to wait inside the house until they left the garden.

Raccoons, skunks, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks we are used to and keeping the garbage locked, we live peacefully side by side.  But now coyotes are seen sometimes and brown bears are in Western Massachusetts and it is not entertaining anymore.

Yesterday morning  there was this proud hawk majestically picking on his breakfast.

From a different angle  I recognize suddenly the rest of a bushy squirrel tail!

Let nature take its course?  I am not so sure anymore.

http://www.entergy.com/2008_hurricanes/Underground-lines.pdf

Autumn Foliage 2013

Middle of October and suddenly the green leaves are changing over night and surprise with their beauty. Driving to buy the groceries I had to stop and admire the double beauty in Bullough pond.

How wonderful that we always have this change of seasons which marks the different months.

Many tourists from the western States in the US come now to enjoy New England:

http://www.massvacation.com/blog/2013/10/explore-massachusetts-fall-foliage-with-activity-suggestions-from-aaa-southern-new-england/

And I, looking in the pond and its reflexion, am thinking about Giverny and Monet's garden.

Anniversary Day

"They have this arrangement. He earns the money and she takes care of the house."


The New Yorker had this cartoon in one of its magazines in the Spring of 1977.  (See the
bellbottomed trousers of the two ladies!) We thought that was very humorous.

At the same time, this was our plan when we decided on a life together 36 years ago.

36 years together - how appropriate that 36 is both a rational number and a composite number.

Composite from  Latin 'componere' which means 'put together'......