The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 3 Exhibitions

While away on Holiday vacation at my Mom’s house, we took adavantage of her proximity to the city and visited the Met. We had longed planned to see the Interwoven Globe and here is my report on that exhibit.

THE INTERWOVEN GLOBE – The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800

This was a huge exhibition and I learned a lot about textiles and their trades between the different countries in those early times. For example, I learned that India crafted patterns in the Chinese or Japanese fashions for sale and trade to European markets when Oriental styles were all the craze, and in the Indonesian style for trade to Java. I learned the origins of the palampores and chintz. I saw beautiful and tremendously detailed embroideries from all over the world in silk and other fabrics. Unfortunately, this exhibition ends on Jan. 5, 2014.

 

Palampore, first quarter 18th Century, India Coromandel Coast, cotton painted resist with mordant dyes. 44 x 72 inches. Chintz.



Palampore, mid-18th Century Indian Coromandel Coast, cotton embroidered with silk, 135 x 103 inches.

 

Panel with flowers, birds and animals, 17th Century. Chinese silk embroidery on silk with gilt wrapped paper thread, 100 x 80 inches.

Man’s morning gown, early 18th Century, India cotton painted resist mordant dyed. 54.3 inches long and 75,75 inches wide. Pine trees and prunus blossoms on red ground imitates Japanese patterns. Oriental style morning gowns became de rigeur in Europe at that time.

SILLA – KOREA’S GOLDEN KINGDOM 57 BC – AD 935

I had to see this show!It had two things that I adore: gold and Buddahs! Hmm. Those things don’t really go together, do they? But it was a really terrific show.


These gold earrings are second Quarter of the 6th Century and were found in the Bomun-Dong Hapjangbun Tomb. They are 3 3/8 inches long. Notice the fine granulation of the top loop, which was all done by hand. Yikes!

This is a chestlace from the end of the 4th Century that was found in the Wolseong-Ro Tomb ga13. It is made of glass, gold and jade. The comma shaped pendant is thought to symbolize power.

JEWELS BY JAR

JAR is Joel A Rosenthal, who now works out of Place Vendôme in Paris. The show had over 400 of his mind-blowing works. JAR is an expert in pavé jem setting. Here is a small sampling of pieces from the show:
 

Sorry about the poor photo quality, I took photos of post cards.

Needless to say, we were both exhausted after seeing all 3 of the exhibitions! Hope you enjoyed my report!

R.I.P. Laila

Our German Shepherd dog Laila passed away peacefully last night in her sleep. She was 14 years and 5 months old.
She was a brave, caring and loyal dog and we will miss her very much. She had a great temperment and made wonderful judgements her entire life. While not a real tail-wagger, I couldn’t have asked for a better dog.
Rest in peace my lovely Laila.

Rehearsals for Synchronized Swimming Demonstration

This is difficult, but I am/was a synchronized swimmer in High School. I tried out for my college team at the State University of New York College at Cortland with 50 or more other hopeful gals and only two of us made the team. But the practice times in the late afternoon conflicted with my science lab and work times, so unfortunately, I had to quit the team. Sigh.
But since then, I have kept up with it and that will all pay off now, as I have volunteered to coach synchronized swimming at our local YMCA! The Director of Aquatics is thrilled and asked me to put together a demo. So that is what I have been working on these past few weeks. Here is a video of my latest rehearsal.


As you can see, I have lost most of my finish on the moves. I need to work on keeping my vertical and holding the moves longer. I blew the opening move entirely and had to start over. I could not do the submerged double ballet leg with rotation at all! It must be because of the full suit, as this is the first rehearsal I have done in it.
So, I redesigned the move to start out at the deep end and it works!

I still have to put together an entry. The music I am thinking of using is Marc Anthony’s  I NEED TO KNOW. And I was thinking of wearing the platinum star hoodie before my entry, to spice things up.

Meet Filush!

While at home, I met my mom’s contractor’s new puppy Filush, who is a Morkie.





Morkies are a cross between a Maltese and a Yorkshire Terrier.



When I held him, he was all tongue, licking me all over! So cute!
Here is a short video that I shot:

Snake Lecture!

I was so excited that there was a Snakes of Connecticut Lecture at our Yacht Club being given by Kim, a speaker who works at the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center last Tuesday! It was really enjoyable!
The lecture was packed with kiddies! How wonderful to see such interest in nature! Kim brought 5 snakes with her! Here they are:

This is a hog nosed snake that was kept as a pet for 11 years. It is small for its age because the owner fed it only one mouse every 1 to 2 weeks. It was given 2 mice and gobbled them down. Hopes are that it will grow much bigger now. Aren’t the markings pretty?

This is another hog nosed snake. Note how the markings are very different.

This is a ring-necked snake. As adults they get no bigger than a pencil. They are escape artists, and love to find their way into basements. They are very fragile and do not make great pets.

Above and below are photos of an Eastern rat snake that is 27 years old. Look at the wide eyes of the little girl! She is just amazed by this snake! Note also, the white underside of this snake.


This Eastern rat snake is 35 years old. We have one this size that lives around our house and have seen it in the rafters of our porch. Rat snakes are known to climb trees to go after baby birds.

With the help of a volunteer, Kim held the snake to its full length.
What a wonderful way to spend an evening!

Celebrated May Day with a ride to Old Saybrook Point

What a fabulous ride on a gorgeous day! I wore my shortsleeved jersey and short cycling pants and was a bit cool starting out. This ride was well over 20 miles. Here is a map:



The map is from 1890 and Deep River back then was listed as Saybrook. LOL! To find where I, look above Essex. I live on the small promonotory of land just North of the double marshes over the second “O” in Saybrook. Got that? I rode from there all the way to the bottom of the map where it says Cornfield Point and across to Fenwick and then onto Saybrook, which is not marked on this map; then home.

Here is a photo of the manse at Cornfield point:



The manse is the building in the background and the roof used to be a brighter orange that could be seen for miles from the water. I turned around to the other side to get this view of Old Saybrook:


You can’t see Fenwick, the point, or the lighthouse from here, because a landmass is shielding them. I would have thought that full Summer was upon us, judging from the crowd at the beach, but the flora was not developed enough to prove it.

I felt very strong during this ride. Today is supposed to be even more beautiful! Can’t wait!

20 Mile Bicycle Ride from New Haven Green to Cosi Beach

Last Saturday, I went on this ride with my friend Susan from the library. We put both of our bicycles in her Honda Fit. that is her in the orange jersey above, and that is the New Haven Green flagpole, with the town hall in the background. She is holding up my Trek. Mark, in the yellow was the leader. He set an extremely slow pace.

It was a totally un-hilly ride and after a few miles in the city heading South, we arrived at a more country setting and we could have been in Old Saybrook just judging by the houses and beach.
But it was a beautiful day and a lovely ride. Neither Susan or I had been this way before and we decided we would ride here again. Cosi Beach had a light house and carousel. But the pavilion housing the carousel was not open.



What a great ride!

Slammed by Nemo!