Betty's Pub 20.1
Main Menu => Old inactive posts. => Topic started by: andyg0404 on June 25, 2016, 06:01:44 PM
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Yes, this is the first Flickr of the Summer, my favorite season with Spring right behind, Fall a distant third and Winter dead last. Let’s enjoy it while we can. That makes me think of my departed ancient Aunt whose attitude to my enjoyment would closely mirror her comment when I would visit her on the first day of my vacation. I would tell her how pleased I was that I was on vacation and she would reply, it will be over before you know it. Which was true but not something I particularly cared to dwell on. I loved her but she could be a bit of a wet blanket.
I complained about technology in my last email and it took a small bite of my week again this week. I was working from home on Friday morning, in my office computer remotely, when it stopped responding. I went to email a colleague who was physically in the office to ask if the Internet there had gone down. When I saw my email not going anywhere I realized the Internet was out on my end. I picked up my phone and it was dead. Then I went to my rotary phone and it was also dead. Not a good sign. The television was working but that wasn’t going to do me any good insofar as work. I went into the basement to look at the big Verizon box. I had to go back upstairs and get my glasses since I couldn’t really see the writing next to the little lights. Then I had to get the magnifying glass since I couldn’t read it from the top lens as it was too close nor from the bottom lens which wasn’t close enough. Eventually I determined that everything seemed ok although the MOCA light, I have no idea what the acronym stands for, was kind of flickering. But I found myself once again completely disconnected from the outside world. While I pondered what to do, the phone and Internet came back.
I called Verizon and the robot at the beginning of the call said, I see you are calling from home. Well, where else would I be? Then it told me there was an outage in the area that would be fixed by 9:30 PM. As it was around 11AM and I was working I was concerned it might go out again. When I spoke to a human being she said there was an outage and they were fixing it one account at a time. I was lucky to be one of the first and they didn’t expect it to go out again. But she couldn’t really tell me what MOCA was either and basically said to ignore it.
At any rate I realized that I didn’t want to again be in the position of not being able to call Verizon when the phone went out. I’ve said I planned on getting a cellphone when I retired and yesterday I decided to move up the decision. I just bought an Android TracFone which several of my friends have and they are completely satisfied with it. I’m annoyed at Amazon. It cost $35 with $7.29 shipping and was eligible for free shipping if the total was $49. I found a pocket flashlight which would have brought me to the total. Both were described as eligible for free shipping but when I added it to the cart, only the flashlight had free shipping. Amazon can act in unpredictable ways too. I should receive it by July 1st which is good as I go down to the shore the following day to celebrate my friend’s daughter’s sixteenth birthday. I’ll bring it with me and have one of them program it and show me how it works. I don’t expect to use it very often, I have no one really that I need to call nor is there anyone who really needs to call me. Basically I want it for is situations like I just described and for when I travel if it’s an emergency or I want to call a cab. Trac Fones seem to be perfect for my use, I can sign up for $99 a year which will give me 1200 minutes of phone and text and 1200mb data. I have stubby little fingers and I know using the device will not be easy as the few times I’ve been handed my friend’s phone to look at something I’ve brushed across it and either closed it or moved away from what I was supposed to be looking at. It will be an adventure. I was concerned that nowhere on the Amazon page did it mention a charger but I contacted TracFone and they assured me a charger is part of the package. So, for me, another inch into the 21st Century. Kicking and screaming all the way.
I feel like I should let the media know since I’m guessing I’m the last holdout.
Today was a truly beautiful day and I went back to the Metropolitan Museum of art to visit a different part of Asia. This time it was the second rotation of the Chinese exhibit, Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection. Like the Japanese it was very enjoyable. Mostly hanging scrolls and handscrolls which unroll from side to side, most in black and white with a few in color.
Here are a few I especially liked.
Wang Xizhi watching geese, one of the colorful ones, done in a deliberately unrealistic style. http://tinyurl.com/j5jczes
Living Aloft. I suspect I like this one because it is an, “idealized vision of life in retirement: separated from the outside world by a stream and a rustic wall.” Living a life in retirement in peace and quiet sounds like a good deal to me. I’m ready to start now. http://tinyurl.com/hypusc2
Luohan. This rather large, rather macabre image is of a Buddhist Arhat or perfected person who had miraculous powers which in this case is exemplified by his holding a begging bowl that has miraculously filled with flowers. I find it a very powerful image. http://tinyurl.com/jv76758
This is a link to all the images in the second rotation. Click on the plus sign next to rotation two to start the listing of the images. http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2015/masterpieces-of-chinese-painting Many of the scrolls are fairly large and don’t reproduce that well on our computer screens; additionally some of them are very dark to the point that I had problems with them even standing in front of them. This is due mostly to my rather poor vision. I’ve complained about the Met website and I’ll do it again now, aside from being cumbersome, despite their saying that they are showing all the images in the exhibit, that isn’t true.
Well, perhaps this will prompt one of our board members to take a trip to the Met and visit the Far East along with all the other wonderful genres.
Now let’s tiptoe over to the Flickrs.
Andy G.
90er Brautkleid 4
https://www.flickr.com/photos/88956597%40N08/26307396291/
0015
https://www.flickr.com/photos/137432660%40N02/26817081646/
Untitled
https://www.flickr.com/photos/12341876%40N05/26598716016/
LA NOVIA
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56282790%40N05/26260523140/
160503_Jamie-118
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134551354%40N03/26827008562/
Sissy Danielle
https://www.flickr.com/photos/112581963%40N05/26988285021/
Yellow sissy pair
https://www.flickr.com/photos/queerina_slutskaya/27002079146/
I am such a lucky little bitch
https://www.flickr.com/photos/138580735%40N03/26958250736/
2016-04-15_21.40.33
https://www.flickr.com/photos/136382964%40N05/25849537094/
160503_Jamie-78.05
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134551354%40N03/26315428474/
long time no see
https://www.flickr.com/photos/myy_mee/24004016774/
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Amazon policy seems to vary week to week & month to month. Something will say "free shipping" but you need a minimal purchase of $35, or $50, or $60 depending on the month & how Amazon feels like treating you at the time. And the total has to add up to that much before shipping. So half that $60 order may be just shipping charges, so they see the order is only $30.
Shipping is usually grossly overcharged anyway. Like $4.95 shipping for a $4 micro-SD card. The tiny thing is lighter than a post card & easily will fit in any standard mail envelope. That means shipping should be around 40 cents.
The seller can print "free shipping" on the product page, but charge for shipping anyway at checkout in hopes you don't notice it or think it's for something else.
Amazon Prime is a joke. Most of the people I know with Prime didn't get discounts or free shipping on the stuff they buy at Amazon. It seems their stuff they order there usually don't "qualify" for Amazon Prime discounts or free shipping.
It's also dangerous to buy at Amazon. The same shady sellers at ebay & craigslist also sell at Amazon, under a different name. Some of them even use a popular store name, but they're not really from that store. I consider Amazon the most risky place to shop online.
I've had plane tickets for Kenya ordered on my credit card within a day of placing an Amazon order. I've had someone order over $1,000 of stuff from Bed, Bath, & Beyond on my credit card the day after placing an Amazon order. Someone tried to order thousands of dollars of computer stuff from Tiger Direct on my credit card after I placed an order at Amazon.
That was a few years ago. All that horror stopped when I stopped using Amazon, & never had any problems again. My sister's primary email address seems to almost always get hacked & hijacked right after ordering at Amazon.
Even reputable companies & stores, sell their grade "B" products, factory rejects or defects, & returns at Amazon. That trackphone is most likely used, a return, or a factory reject.
You can't even buy a new hard drive from anyone at Amazon anymore. Through Amazon, they only ship out returns, used, or drives with defects. Setting those "new" drives up with diagnostic tools, most of them show they had 10,000-40,000 hours usage on them or are damaged/defective.
Or check the model number, & you see the company hasn't made the hard drive since 2007 or 2013. No, it's not old stock someone had in a back room. Any decent drive 2 or more years old has been sold, & was not sitting in the back gathering dust. They must be sold quickly because the older the model is, the less it would sell for. So nobody is gonna leave older un-used drives in back un-sold for a couple years unless there's something wrong with them. They all must go quick, or they devaluate over time & are worth less.
I see a lot of "New" WD, Hitachi, HGST, Toshiba, & Seagate drives under 500gb for sale. None of those manufacturers made mechanical drives under 500gb since 2013. That means all of those "new" drives for sale at Amazon are really used, returns, or defects. They may work good enough for your uses, or they may arrive DOA or die in a few months, but almost none of them are really new or good drives.
This is why there's so many conflicting reviews for the same drives or products there. WD is the best, most reliable drive you can buy. But the places with the most bad reviews about them are also the places that sell a lot of them used (claiming they're new), or selling returns. Without setting up diagnostics & doing some research, the average user doesn't know they just got a 3-9 year old hard drive, a return, or factory defect from Amazon.
One "new" drive I got from Amazon a few years ago, said it was a WD drive. It was clearly stamped & marked as a WD drive. It looked like a new drive, & almost like most WD drives. It was slow & noisy. Setting it up on diagnostics, showed it was a 7 year old Seagate drive with 26,000 hours on it, & several bad clusters. The Amazon seller actually printed up a WD drive label, & put it on a cheaper, older, worn out, used Seagate drive!
I got 2, USB hard drives from Amazon for Christmas gifts for someone a few years ago. I planned on filling them up with cool stuff for them. They both died after putting around 160gb in them. I crack them open to discover both of them had very old & worn out 2007 drives in them, but I paid for new ones.
Seagate is probably the worst popular brand to get, with an average life expectancy of only 10,000-20,000 hours. WD are 40,000-60,000 hours. But look at all the rave reviews Seagate gets. Wait, these are the same places notoriously noted for lots of fake reviews. The company, store that's selling them, or their friends wrote those reviews.
Many people get free products for writing reviews about them too. Many of them write praising reviews about bad products, just to encourage them to send them more cool free stuff to review. So the reviewer feels compelled to write a good review to keep nice free, sometimes expensive cool stuff coming in. Most of my bedding, high-end router, tablet, cereal, powdered milk, & 2 coffee makers I got for free just by reviewing them.
But unlike my fellow reviewers, they don't like me much, because if a product sucks, I will say so. So they don't send me much, or much cool stuff. Surely if I lied & praised everything, I'd be getting a free tablet, TV, monitor, radio, or lots of free food every month.
The best low-price phone service or pay as you go service currently comes from PureTalk, https://www.puretalkusa.com/ They even have huge senior discounts if you're over 60.
Buy your own phone or one of theirs, or just get the SIM card to use the service with any non-verizon & non-sprint phone. Smart phones with 4" touch screens can be had for $50-$60, with occasional sales even lower. A 4" touch screen is fine for large stubby fingers.
If you have wifi, you can have phone over wifi with any device with google voice... even on a $29-$36 nice large 7" screen android tablet. A $50 or less battery backup system (UPS system) just for your modem & wireless router, insures your wifi stays on during a power failure. But in most cities, free wifi is usually just a few blocks a way.
Beware "signing up" for a year for phone service. The small print usually says you made a commitment contract for 2 years. Early cancellation is a $300-$500 fee, which they will withdraw from your bank or credit card without your knowledge or permission if you cancel early. Changing your service in any way, even to cut back service or minutes, is considered an automatic contract renewal, so you're automatically committed for another 2 years just by cutting back minutes, messaging, or getting a different phone.
Ordering a phone or anything else in the USA should take only 3-5 days to arrive at your door in the USA... except around a holiday, not over a week unless it had to be back-ordered or something.
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
This will be a quick note to wish everyone on the board a Happy Fourth of July, at least those of you in the States. I hope everyone else has a good weekend as well. I’m going down to the Jersey shore to help celebrate my friend’s daughter’s sixteenth birthday. The birthday girl said she wanted to bake her own birthday cake but asked if I would bake a double batch of my cinnamon almond sugar cookies. Need you ask, two batches of cookies ready to go.
I received my first cellphone and have had adventures with the initial setup but I activated it and made a call. I had a lot of trouble with gmail which didn’t recognize my accounts which I guess isn’t surprising as I have problems on the web as well. As I don’t use it it’s not really a problem. I was struck at how small the device is, about a third of the size of the cigarette packs I kept in my shirt pocket all those years ago. I’m bringing it with me and my friends, after getting up from fainting from the shock, will give me a tutorial on how it works. I don’t have anyone I need to call and no one who needs to call me so I don’t expect to use it very much. Basically I wanted it so I could call Verizon when my landline is down or when I’m traveling and something untoward occurs.
Andy G.
Tracey was born to serve
https://www.flickr.com/photos/frillyknicks/27026543316/
Hopelessly Pink
https://www.flickr.com/photos/blackietv/26656545926/
Cute in all sizes
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulasatijn/27048429685/
SDC10038
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43403432%40N03/3997608047/
CG4
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jodiexfemme/27122086146/
Shiny Airways...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/shinypenny77/8167537738/
John's Journey to Femininity
https://www.flickr.com/photos/83314340%40N02/17271929923/
2015_relaxing_0456
https://www.flickr.com/photos/61083860%40N00/26588643203/
Blonde girl
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rachel_valentine/27118652606/
brbr3
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lynnlynx/27136757551/
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have a happy 4 of july andy,and glad you managed to work out how to programme your new phone.Every time i get a new phone i also have too reprogramme the phone and also transfer all of my business and private numbers over,so you are now the jet setter of a new mobile phone
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I just realized my Samsung Smart phone just turned 7 years old this spring. I got it for only $45 with a mail-in rebate, & a 1 year commitment to T-mobile. Google store, google play, & google apps won't even go on it anymore because they consider it obsolete. Facebook apps stopping running on it in spring too. Basically everything that runs lots of spyware & ads on your phone without your permission won't run on it, because it wasn't designed to run garbage. It doesn't have a big processor or enough memory to run adware & spyware.
The good news is all the basic android apps, before google, FB, & Amazon got their hands into Android still work good. With wifi I can still get on the web with it, with basic android browsers. 4" screen is plenty big enough for a phone that should easily fit in a pocket. OLED screen too. The original battery is weak though. On standby or just simple quick texting it'll last a couple days. But I probably only get about an hour of talk time, surfing time, video time, & music play time on that old battery. Most people report they need a new battery or phone every 1-2 years, so I guess it's doing good.
All my numbers were written on paper, with my most used numbers on a small paper in my wallet. So when I got the phone, it took less than an hour to type them all in - - with no touch screen experience back then. These days, I have the same numbers in a .txt folder on every of my active computers, & 2 external drives. So I won't be losing any numbers, but if I get another phone, I'll have to type them in again.
My quad core 8gb 7" tablet that I got for free to review, runs great. Out-performs my 2005 laptop. But my 2005 laptop still runs better than it did new. Let's see if this $36-$50 tablet will even last 2 years. The battery isn't replaceable unless you break it open & remove the screen to get at it... and the battery is soldered in. I might be able to do it, but is it worth it to spend a few days getting it apart, finding a battery, & trying to put it all back together? Using SSD/flash memory inside, after a couple years, the memory might almost be worn out. Yes, SSDs do still wear out faster than mechanical drives, regardless of what the PAID reviewers tell you, after doing unrealistic tests on them that don't simulate any real world usage.
I like my phones & computers because I can open them up, & put them back together in minutes - - and all the parts are common, upgradeable, easy to find items. I also choose models that should last for years without me doing anything to them.
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Well, our mini heat wave is over, several days in the 90’s. it was in the 60’s when I awoke and hasn’t gotten too far into the 70’s. And it’s been cloudy all day with the threat of rain although it hasn’t started yet. My first week of vacation this year has started and I’m hoping for a nice week. Today was a little cool for my tastes but I’m the outlier in that respect, most people appear to be happier with the cool weather than the hot. I’m also hoping that next July I will have no need of a vacation or should I say no job to vacation from.
I don’t have any plans for the week aside from visiting my dentist on Monday to get my permanent crowns put in. Hopefully once that’s done it won’t feel like I’m chewing my food with someone else’s teeth. Afterwards I’ll visit my dermatologist for my full body scan. Before I had one I assumed it involved some kind of machine while I now I know that it is just a visual examination. It brings to mind Gary Larson’s cartoon of the Cat scan with a doctor standing over a patient holding a cat aloft. The body scan is for melanoma, something I’ve been told I am susceptible to owing to my very fair skin and the fact that I had multiple bad sunburns as a child. I never tanned, just burned and of course back then we didn’t worry about such things. And I’m thinking of also seeing a specialist about my elbow which bothers me when I do my chins and pullups. I damaged it years ago when I was lifting weights and it’s never really came back. It generally only bothers me when I do the exercise but I want to continue doing it and I think I need to have it looked at. It’s amazing how many doctors one can acquire as one ages. My brother tells me that every time he visits a doctor generally the recommendation is that he see another doctor. Apparently it’s a large fraternity.
Anyway, today I took a walk up to the Metropolitan Museum for a very small exhibit entitled Printing a Child's World. It concerned images used in children’s books and containing children. The main attraction was nine original watercolors by Randolph Caldecott (1887) for the children's book The House That Jack Built. The Caldecott medal, named after the artist, is for most distinguished American picture book for children. There were also some wood engravings by Winslow Homer and Thomas Nast as well as a very nice painting by Seymour Joseph Guy, Story of Golden Locks, the precursor to the Goldilocks fairy tale. You can see that painting on the Met website, with a description of the exhibit, here http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2016/printing-a-childs-world This is another article on the exhibit.
http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/PRINTING-A-CHILDS-WORLD-Exhibition-Showcases-Childrens-Illustrations-at-the-Met-20160627 This is my favorite image from the book, The House That Jack Built, it’s of the cat. http://www.randolphcaldecott.org.uk/imgpicbk/CatHseJackBltP9.jpg The exhibit is on the mezzanine in the American Wing, right next to the permanent rotating baseball card exhibit which was fun as well. Baseball cards from before the beginning of the 20th Century into the 1970’s.
I guess that’s it for today, let’s see what’s doing at the Flickrs.
Andy G.
Sat on the side
https://www.flickr.com/photos/103977268@N06/27095706681/
Winter Angel MISAKKY 001
https://www.flickr.com/photos/misakky/23927814642/
playing with the petticoat of my new sissy dress
https://www.flickr.com/photos/10974572@N05/26718608085/
AshleyAnn
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43125899@N04/27191256051/
Stephanie and the Ladybug
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephaniewardlow98/4812197606/
Keystone 2016
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephaniewardlow98/26331762122/
Venus Belle ´″°³♡
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cross_dresser/22018709273/
New Dress. Already love it.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/136208579@N03/26618846023/
Unclear
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kristinayoung/3558209182/
What can I help you today boss?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cutiemei11/20738148638/
Tiffany LTU S4-1
https://www.flickr.com/photos/97867932@N05/24671762954/
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
This is the end of the first week of my vacation which I very much enjoyed aside from the 2 ½ hours in the dentist chair on Monday. I wasn’t expecting this four tooth crown to be a series of visits. Look forward to when they are firmly planted in my mouth and playing nicely with their neighbors. I also look forward to next July when hopefully I’ll have no job to need a vacation from.
I went to the Frick on Tuesday for another very small exhibition, Watteau’s Soldiers: Scenes of Military Life in Eighteenth-Century France. This was held in the basement of the Frick and it was all in one room. Three oil paintings by Watteau as well as three oils by his predecessors and followers. One of the oils has always hung at the Frick, another was a recent find and is held in private hands, while the third is from the York Gallery. 13 red chalk drawings, studies for the oils. Watteau wasn’t interested in the actual war scenes but focused on the individual men who fought. In a six degrees of separation moment, I came across one of the drawings and noted it was a promised gift to the National Gallery from someone I had met, a longtime friend of my brother. This is a link to the Frick webpage description of the exhibit. http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/watteau This is a link to all the objects in the exhibit. Click on each one to enlarge. http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/watteau/all This is a review from the NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/15/arts/design/watteaus-peacefully-bittersweet-war-scenes.html?_r=0
Then on Wednesday I went to the Met Breuer to see, diane arbus: in the beginning.
I always walk up to the museums from the Port Authority and this time I completely spaced out and forgot where the Breuer was. It’s on Madison and 75th Street. Walking uptown I didn’t cross over to Madison until 79th Street and got all the way up to 86th Street before I stopped someone and asked where the museum was. When they told me, I realized my error. So it was eleven blocks out of the way going and coming, more miles to add to my pedometer. It was a very interesting show with over 100 photographs, about half of them having never been on view before. She was a sad, strange lady who committed suicide at an early age. Very sexually promiscuous. She came from a noted family, they owned the Russeks department stores. Her brother, Howard Nemerov, was a Pulitzer prize winning poet. It turns out they had a sexual relationship. She was married to the actor Alan Arbus who you may remember played the psychiatrist on MASH. They originally were partners in a very successful photography business but they broke up the Company when they divorced although they remained good friends up until her death. The photos are mostly snapshots of people on the street and she was attracted to oddballs. Someone in the gallery described them as quirky and that’s a good adjective. She made pictures of the action on the screen in movies. In many of them, where the person is facing the camera, it doesn’t look to me like they are pleased to be the subject. Others pose for her. Some of them appear to have been taken in poor lighting and have a slightly blurred effect. These are early pictures and sometime after these photos were taken she changed her equipment and made the clearer photos you would expect. One of her most famous photos is of two little girls, identical twins from Roselle, NJ, standing side by side looking out at the viewer. It’s said that Stanley Kubrick was taken by the image and incorporated it into his movie The Shining.
You can see them here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Identical_Twins,_Roselle,_New_Jersey,_1967.jpg
Another was of the Jewish Giant with his parents which was exactly what the title said. A very large man who I believe suffered from acromegaly, a growth disorder. The picture shows him at home, standing in front of the couch with his parents, two small elderly people in front of him.
You can see them here. http://dianearbusart.blogspot.com/2009/11/jewish-giant-at-home-with-his-parents.html
This is a link to the Met website description of the exhibit. http://www.metmuseum.org/press/exhibitions/2016/diane-arbus There’s a brief video towards the end of the page. You can see more images at the Met Twitter feed https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&q=%23dianearbus
And this is a link to the NY Times review. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/15/arts/design/diane-arbus-met-breuer-in-the-beginning.html
Afterwards I took my third walk through the Met Breuer’s Unfinished Art exhibit which was just as good as the first time. Almost walked out without seeing the really magical Jan Van Eyck drawing but luckily I remembered right as I was walking down the steps. http://content.ngv.vic.gov.au/col-images/api/EPUB002128/1280
Thursday I visited the Morgan Library and saw two wonderful exhibits. First, Rembrandt's First Masterpiece. The exhibit’s main focus is the oil painting Judas Returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver which he painted at the age of 23. A brilliant composition. It’s from a British private collection and has never been exhibited in the United States. It’s surrounded by his preliminary sketches and etchings as well as early self-portraits. This is a link which discusses the exhibit and also contains a short video about the painting. At the bottom of the page are images from the exhibit. It you click on the first one the rest of the images follow in an automated slide show. I’ve seen versions of some of the etchings before in different venues, the most recent time was the large installation at a recent auction. http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/rembrandts-first-masterpiece This is a link to a review in the NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/03/arts/design/rembrandts-first-masterpiece-a-portrait-of-a-biblical-betrayal.html?_r=0
The second exhibit was City of the Soul: Rome and the Romantics. Very pleasant exhibit of drawings, watercolors and early photographs.
This is a link to the Morgan website description of the exhibit. http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/city-of-the-soul
This is a link to the Morgan Library press release which has images. In particular is JMW Turner’s watercolor, Interior of St. Peter’s Basilica which shows the enormity of the structure as the figures at the bottom look like ants in comparison to the capaciousness of the building. Also images by Corot and Piranesi. http://www.themorgan.org/sites/default/files/pdf/press/CityOfTheSoulPressRelease.pdf Here’s a link to a larger image of the Turner. http://www.themorgan.org/drawings/item/247253#overlay=node/8535/zoomify
Many of the items in the exhibit are from the Morgan collection and one that I especially enjoyed was a portrait drawing by Ingres which you can see here. http://www.themorgan.org/collection/drawings/109863
And to end my vacation week, on Friday I visited the Met and walked back into 18th Century India for Poetry and Devotion in Indian Painting: Two Decades of Collecting. Another small show of 22 paintings, mostly watercolors. Very bright colors, incredibly ornate and filled with images of people, animals, deities and other things. One of the small paintings has actual pearls affixed. I’m definitely warming up to this genre and very much enjoyed this exhibit. This was my favorite today, Escapade at Night. It shows a nobleman climbing a rope to visit his lover. There’s really a lot going on here, three levels of activity or non-activity with the guards on the ground floor asleep. The storm clouds above, the cows just hanging out and the town in the background. http://tinyurl.com/jgbbn2y
This is an essay on the exhibit from the curator of Asian Art at the Met and it is filled with images. https://metmuseum.atavist.com/poetryanddevotion
This is a link to all the paintings in the exhibit and you can click on them to enlarge them. http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/objects?exhibitionId=a06f110d-91b0-48d1-8233-51401c3e2982
It wasn’t until I read Friday’s NY Times that I discovered the Met has two Indian painting exhibits. They reviewed a much larger exhibit in the newspaper which I guess I’ll see in a couple of weeks.
And today I’m taking a friend who has a little boy who just turned one year old to visit the Brooklyn Museum. I called the museum to see if there were any restrictions on bringing children in and the woman laughed and said, don’t touch the art. She added that adults shouldn’t touch it either. We will all try to abide by that rule.
And now before I forget, let’s get to the reason I started this whole thing.
Andy G.
Dad turns 84 today…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/leahpeah/27563418954/
Dan Wallace %40Annaphylactic stars in Die Diana 29 June - 6 July %40Bandit_MCR %40shayster57 %40GMFringe
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124096850%40N04/27426213006/
Anita 0468 - little berry dress
https://www.flickr.com/photos/anita-dreamgirl/27347078116/
Alo 3
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jackiejonestv/26852325364/
SissyDress
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24078110%40N08/24918800229/
Forced into satin & frills
https://www.flickr.com/photos/125838995%40N04/14579297035/
larissa27_03
https://www.flickr.com/photos/devilbutts/27253439251/
Trying to look cute :)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/36028969%40N05/27315061522/
2015_hold-ups_0406
https://www.flickr.com/photos/61083860%40N00/26623071104/
Posing
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kristinayoung/27026416940/
Fire
https://www.flickr.com/photos/91219737%40N08/27141340630/
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so Andy ,you will be retiring completely next year,well we all have too retire sometimes,time creeps up on you as the years roll on.
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Hi Samantha,
I'm really looking forward to it and I feel lucky that I can choose when the time comes rather than have circumstances dictate it.
Andy G.
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hi Andy G
that is the best way when you can choose when you retire,and judging from all the writing you do ,it sounds like you will have lots to do too keep you occupied
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Hi Andy, I am sure you will have more than enough to keep you busy in retirement. Are you going to read all those papers you have been collecting? I had a thing for Architectural Digest magazines and have most of the issues from the late 60's to the early 90's. I frequently read the old issues when I am dusting them off and more often in the winter in front of the fire. These days it is laying on the bed with the air conditioning on.
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Hi Angela,
Yes, I will definitely catch up on reading my collections as well as watching television, something I really haven't done for the last 20 years.
Andy G.
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
I never complain about the heat but I just got back from my second walk of the day and I will just say that it’s 95 degrees and even I found it a tad warm. Definitely need to drink water and keep hydrated on a day like this.
My first week back at work wasn’t too bad, certainly working from home four days a week helps. On Monday I took my normal commute into the City but was a little disconcerted when I saw an article about a collision in the Lincoln Tunnel that morning. It occurred at 7:45 AM with one bus ramming the bus ahead in the rear. A number of people were said to have suffered minor injuries. Although I always remember what someone said about surgery; minor surgery is what happens to other people. If I undergo it, it’s major. I catch my bus at 5:30 AM so I wouldn’t have been affected by the massive tie up but my heart skipped a beat when they announced which buses were involved, the one that got hit was the same bus I had ridden in earlier. That was a little close for comfort. I’m grateful I wasn’t on it and also grateful it didn’t affect my commute. The commute is bad enough under normal circumstances, I don’t need delays to make it worse.
I don’t know exactly how many years I’ve been coming to Betty’s but my first visit was well before I started the Weekly Flickr. For quite some time I was a lurker even though I was unfamiliar with the term and didn’t realize it applied to me. Then during one of Betty’s periodic lockdowns against the spammers I was included and couldn’t access the site. I was very upset as I felt I had found a home. It’s a long time ago but as I recall I wrote to Lindsey and Mary Beth asking for help and they suggested I write to Betty which I did and Betty let me back in. I decided at that point that I should join and start posting. And from that point on I did. Then, ten years ago on July 22, 2006, I introduced the weekly Flickr like this:
Welcome to My Weekly Flickr, a posting that may not necessarily occur weekly but it sounds better than My random occurrence Flickr. I'm Andy G and I'll be your host today. And now for the viewing pleasure of all, allow me to present this:
And since that day, ten years ago, I think I’ve only missed one Saturday and that would have been the week I moved and didn’t have my Internet hooked up. It was also a while before I started including comments on my daily life and my museum visits. Hard to believe ten years have passed but it’s equally as hard to believe that I’m on Medicare. That’s life I guess.
Anyway, thanks to Betty for creating all this and also for giving me a forum to chat with board members and share the stuff I find.
Today I walked back up to the Metropolitan Museum and once again took a tour of India for the exhibition, Divine Pleasures: Painting from India's Rajput Courts—The Kronos Collections. This is the second and much larger Indian exhibit currently at the Met. It’s filled with more watercolors from the 16th to the 19th Century. It’s comprised of almost 100 paintings from the Kronos collection of Steven M. Kossak who was a curator at the Met for two decades, from 1986 to 2006. He started amassing the collection in the 70’s and continued collecting during his stint as curator. He avoided conflict with the museum only buying items when the Met couldn’t afford them and with the Met’s knowledge and acquiescence. And now his collection is a promised gift to the Met. This is discussed in this review of the show from the Wall Street Journal which includes images. http://www.wsj.com/articles/indias-rajput-courts-at-the-met-1464655319 The Times has a long review of the show as well, also with images. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/15/arts/design/divine-pleasures-celebrates-the-colors-of-desire-in-indian-paintings.html All of the paintings show deities, demons and royals fighting, loving and playing. Each one tells a little story as well. It’s a very large exhibit with a lot to see. This is one I particularly enjoyed, Rasalila: Krishna Dances with the Gopis (Cowmaidens). In the telling of the story, the Gopis link arms together, forming a great circle. By divine arrangement, the God Krishna dances with every cowherd maiden at once, yet each one thinks she is dancing with him alone. http://tinyurl.com/h5esjww And this is a link to all the images in the exhibit. http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/objects?exhibitionId=02cef407-c9f9-4ddc-a43d-547eed945478 The Met is lucky to be getting this collection.
And now it’s Flickr time.
Andy G.
Burgundy skirt_2
https://www.flickr.com/photos/trans_kyoko/22423079840/
Maid Charlotte and me
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahbright45/27433792391/
0002
https://www.flickr.com/photos/137432660@N02/25965348914/
Vesna / David
https://www.flickr.com/photos/96743750@N03/27618576725/
From Keystone 2016
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134008694@N07/26042719154/
Oh me?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kristinayoung/27026415150/
jky_043
https://www.flickr.com/photos/125915844@N07/22770649509/
37
https://www.flickr.com/photos/130352799@N08/26475178332/
3650725_1_46_1_bfc7d9b0
https://www.flickr.com/photos/141749098@N02/27463651596/
Fetish Snow White
https://www.flickr.com/photos/empresslouann/27376808200/
Wanna come play with me ?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/9433783@N04/26667522413/
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Our heat wave finally broke, today the temperature is in the 80’s. I never complain about the heat but I wasn’t sorry to see the over 90 degree days come to an end. Before I moved to my current residence the town I lived in was serviced by Mr. Softee, the custard seller. Every night I would hear the siren sound of his irritating pop goes the weasel song booming and would have to battle internally as to whether I was going to give in and indulge. Mr. Softee didn’t follow me so it hasn’t been an issue. But there is a Carvel in town within walking distance and for the longest time 12 year old Andy has been badgering elderly Andy that he really wanted one. I finally gave in on Wednesday night and took 12 year old Andy to the Carvel for a medium chocolate custard cone with chocolate sprinkles. Aside from the fact that it cost almost $6 which elderly Andy found outrageous we both agreed that the cone was outstandingly delicious. Elderly Andy will do his best to stave off his youthful alter ego for a while before giving in again. Dessert can be a really slippery slope for someone who had a weight problem as a child.
Aside from that, not a lot to report. I just read a book that was personally recommended to me by two friends as a must read. The NY Times gave it a rave review and it was written by Terry Hayes who wrote or co-wrote the Mad Max movies. The title is I Am Pilgrim and it’s a thriller. The paperback edition is close to 800 pages and I regret to say it really wasn’t all that thrilling. The last hundred pages or so kept my attention but I have to confess it didn’t make up for the 700 pages I had to slog through to get there. I look forward to discussing this with my two friends to see why they rated it so highly.
This morning I walked up to the Metropolitan Museum for the latest rotation of their drawing corridor. I wouldn’t say this was one of their really outstanding hangings but everything in it was quality and there were a few things I especially liked. The Met posted no images for the exhibit which is unusual but I found a few images on their website and on the web. The Met’s newly designed website is hopeless. This is a link the website description of the exhibit. http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2016/drawings-and-prints-july-rotation
The Met is going to feature one highlight per week from the collection of the Department of Drawings and Prints through April 2017 to celebrate their drawing collection. This week it’s by Antoine Watteau who I wrote about seeing at the Frick on my vacation. This is a red chalk drawing of the head of a man. http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/334650 I see from the site that I’ve missed a Goya, The Colossus, a drawing of a giant. Next week it will be Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves: The Three Crosses by Rembrandt which in a coincidence I just saw at the Morgan Library on my vacation.
Speaking of Goya, there were five prints in this display, two from Los Caprichos, two from Disasters of War and Landscape of Trees. I’ve been to a number of Goya exhibitions and seen Los Caprichos and Disasters of War which are brilliant but horrifying depictions of man’s cruelty. This is the Landscape etching. You need to enlarge it to really enjoy it. It’s very rare, you’ll see on the site that it’s one of only four impressions printed by Goya during his life. http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/690986 This is from Los Caprichos, And there’s nothing to be done https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/romanticism/romanticism-in-spain/a/goya-disasters-of-war which will give you a sense of what I’m describing about his take on man’s cruelty.
This is Theodore Gericault’s Boxers. http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/357998 Two men, one black, one white, preparing to go at it bare knuckled.
John Sloan was a member of the Ashcan school of art and this is a nice etching, Anschutz on Anatomy. The website describes it thusly: “Thomas Anshutz was Sloan's teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. The scene depicted shows Anshutz delivering a lecture on anatomy to Robert Henri's students at the New York School of Art in 1905. Pictured in the audience are Walter Pach, William Glackens, Maurice Prendergast, George Bellows, Robert Henri and his wife Linda, and Sloan and his wife Dolly.” I wish I was on more intimate terms with each of them to be able to pick them out of the picture. http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/367875
And finally a mezzotint, which is a special kind of etching, by William Pether, an artist I had never encountered previously. An Academy by Lamplight, done after Joseph Wright of Derby. I was really taken by this, a realistic but dreamlike atmosphere of six young men, boys really, sketching a statue. http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/359909 This is the actual Wright painting which hangs in the Yale Center for British Art. http://fineartamerica.com/featured/academy-by-lamplight-joseph-wright-of-derby.html
And with that, let’s toddle off to the Flickrs.
Andy G.
White Girl
https://www.flickr.com/photos/145265755%40N04/28408002262/
Philly Michaela
https://www.flickr.com/photos/phillymichaela/26686671735/
726_1000
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135057179%40N04/20939500562/
Long time coming
https://www.flickr.com/photos/91219737%40N08/27562462276/
sissy bride
https://www.flickr.com/photos/141787463%40N05/27704204192/
The Secretary's Amusement
https://www.flickr.com/photos/60741642%40N06/27079057273/
Picture 129 (2)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/48779471%40N04/26636722563/
Rio Laurie
https://www.flickr.com/photos/9352703%40N06/7648756464/
DSC_0087
https://www.flickr.com/photos/44815144%40N07/7640650522/
DSC07211
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mimo-momo/27096666104/
Lucy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/boyswillbegirls/26008026786/
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hi andy
that is a tad expensive as cones go at $6 ,almost £4.00,hope it was worth it.Did you also have one!
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$6 for an ice cream cone? Holy crap, you can get a quart or more ice cream for that much at supermarkets around here. Ice cream sandwich for 35 cents at the corner store too. Mr. Softee cones are $1.25 here. No custard though. Just chocolate, vanilla, & strawberry ice cream. A wide assortments of toppings is 25 cent extra. Haven't had any in years, but I read about the prices. Partially freezing some milk with chocolate powder stirred in it taste almost as good. As long as you remember to pull it out once in a while to stir & chop it up to keep it slushy, so it don't freeze into a hard rock of ice.
I'm surprised to read some people are paying $6 or more for a tiny cup of coffee in trendy coffee shops around here. It costs them 2-20 cents to make a cup, unless it's a rare imported kind. No wonder the coffee shop owners drive around in brand new Audis, Mercedes & BMWs. If you can afford a car like that every year or 2, you're charging way to much for your coffee.
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Yes back when I was working I would buy Kona coffee beans from Hawaii to grind myself and it was $23 / pound back then. When I visited Hawaii I fell in love with this wonderful coffee but after paying the price in Canada I stopped loving it so much. I think today's price is about $32 / pound now over here. I treat myself to Starbucks special roasts once in awhile when they have a new one out and some are very good. Since I stopped wine tastings I have developed a taste for good coffees but they can be pricey. I don't drink more than one or two cups a day now though. I stopped at my local corner shop last week for my Lottery ticket and found they are selling Ice cream. I got a cup filled with two large scoops of chocolate fudge brownie for $2.25 and it was good but I don't eat ice cream very often either.
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Except for a few very rare & hard to produce types, it's a rip-off. Investigations proved it cost less than 1-10% the sale price to make, brew, & serve most of those coffees. And it's less healthy than the cheaper coffee that is full of natural antioxidants. I praise coffee as a treatment for COPD, but pure caffeine doesn't work as well as a good normal cup of coffee, because normal coffee has other healthy stuff in it. Indeed, taking too much caffeine doesn't increase the help it gives COPD victims. By taking more you get de-sensitized to it, or become addicted to it, to the point it has no effect, does not help COPD, or you'll get headaches without the caffeine fix.
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Being British, I am hooked on tea, strong black tea with a touch of milk and sugar. I drink quite a lot of it so when I miss my tea I do get a headache if I go too long without some. I have cut down quite a bit from when I was working though as I would usually drink about 15 to 20 cups a day. Now I am busy and out quite a bit so I drink water more than I ever did before. I may have an occasional glass of wine or beer but can't do more than that because of my Meds.
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I finally found someone else who likes their tea with a little milk & sugar in it.
People look at me like I'm crazy when I do that. Depending on the tea, I may only put a little sugar (or honey if I have it) with no milk though.
I have drank tea or coffee with no milk & sugar, if I ran out & had no money for more, but it's not my preferred way.
Without coffee, my COPD is so bad I can't even stand up or take a couple steps without getting out of breath. So I don't drink as much tea as I used too. I tried various doses & found out a lot of coffee doesn't work well. A strong cup, or a couple cups over just a couple hours helps no more than a weak cup. Actually too much has a reverse effect where about halfway through the day my COPD would get as bad as with no coffee at all, where no more extra coffee helps beyond that point. I guess just like medicine, too much is bad for you. I find a mild/weak or average cup every 2-4 hours, spread out over the day works best, with no more than 4-6 cups throughout a 24 hour period.
Before COPD I was naturally hyperactive. So I'd only have a single cup of coffee after I just woke up to get my motor going. Any more & I'd be way too high strung & hyper the rest of the day. But COPD tires you out more, where more of your energy is just spent just breathing hard trying to get enough air, while you heart is pumping overtime trying to circulate what little O2 available in the blood. All that extra pumping & breathing requires more O2 too, so the whole thing could quickly spiral desperately into an out of control cycle if one isn't careful.
Coffee helps. Caffeine & other alkaloids in coffee are very chemically similar to many of the meds used to treat COPD.
I do all sorts of things to my coffee so I'm not stuck drinking the same thing all the time, depending on what I have around. I have a single cup coffee brewer I got for free to review. I use that as a treat if I actually have ground coffee in the house. But the cheapest per cup is plain instant coffee. If I got it, brown sugar, cinnamon, honey, or instant chocolate powder is nice in it for variety. Hot days, if you stir it a lot, instant coffee will dissolve in cold water for a delicious cold summer treat with milk & sugar. Throw it in the freezer (with extra milk added) until it becomes slushy & it's almost like chocolate coffee ice cream. Vanilla is nice in it, but that stuff is so damn expensive, I haven't had any in years. I can find sales on instant chocolate powder cheaper than coffee.
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Hey Betty, like you I have a little single cup coffee maker that I used when traveling but in the few years or so most hotels would provide a little coffee maker in the rooms with all the supplies to make a late night or early morning cup of coffee or tea. I also have a large automatic coffee maker but have not used that in years as it would make a large pot and I would feel the need to drink all 10 cups myself as I didn't want to waste any. I just stopped using it and stored it in the cupboard for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners with family and friends. On a hot day I do make Iced coffee with a little milk or cream and put it in a small blender I have and sometimes I do add vanilla or Chocolate. I use only brown sugar now in tea or coffee but did use honey at one time but as I got older my teeth got sensitive and the honey set off the pain sometimes where as brown sugar does not do that.
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Just got back from my second walk of the day and it’s a little hard to type with this giant floater in my good eye but I will persevere. We’re in the dog days of Summer especially insofar as the art world is concerned. The new exhibits won’t appear until the Fall so if you want to see art you have to seek it out. And today I was lucky. I took the very long walk up to the Museum of the City of New York and saw two wonderful exhibits, neither of which showed the traditional art I usually talk about.
First was an exhibit of original art from Roz Chast, a cartoonist famous for her work for The New Yorker among many other publications. She’s done many of their covers as well as cartoons for the interior. She has a very distinct style and sense of humor. I had seen a previous exhibit of her work at the Bruce Museum a number of years ago which had many things I had never seen as it included her work for the many other publications she’s contributed to. Much of this exhibit was art from The New Yorker which I’m familiar with but is still fun to see. There was a whole wall of original art from her memoir about her experiences with her aging parents at the end of their life, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? Her parents lived to an elderly age, her father 94 and her mother 96. They were close to 90 and still living in their apartment in Brooklyn when Chast tried to discuss their future and that’s what the book describes. Her mother was an exceedingly difficult woman and Chast admits to a strained relationship. The pages are poignant and funny at the same time. My parents died at relatively early ages so I never had to go through anything like what she describes but as you all know I catered to my ancient relatives until their very elderly ends and many of the complaints and problems are similar.
This is a link to a video of Roz Chast creating a mural for the show http://www.mcny.org/rozchast and this is a link to a brief discussion about the exhibit with illustrations http://untappedcities.com/2016/04/01/sneak-peek-new-yorker-cartoon-memoirs-by-roz-chast-at-the-museum-of-the-city-of-new-york/ This is a review of the exhibit from the New York Observer http://observer.com/2016/04/roz-chasts-dark-humor-at-the-museum-of-the-city-of-new-york/
The second exhibit was a surprise as I hadn’t known about it when I decided to visit the Museum, NEW YORK'S YIDDISH THEATER: FROM THE BOWERY TO BROADWAY. This was filled with photos, drawings, posters, costumes and other memorabilia of the Jewish theater world. These names won’t mean much to many of you and most of it came before my time although I’m familiar with them from my reading and love of old time entertainment. They had a few videos such as Molly Picon singing and dancing in an old Yiddish film. I was able to find it on Youtube, Molly Picon - Abi Gezunt ("Mamele", 1938) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yot_R7xIoo Molly appeared on Broadway in the play Milk and Honey in 1961, something I remember my parents attending. Lots of photos of Menashe Skulnik who generally played comic, sad sack parts and lived to 1970 appearing on television. In 1965 he appeared on Broadway in The Zulu and the Zayda with Ossie Davis and Louis Gossett. It was a comedy with music and concerned the relationship between the Zayda, Yiddish for grandfather, and the Zulu, a black South African, when the Zulu is hired to grandfather sit Skulnik. I’m sure everyone is familiar with Fiddler on the Roof which originated in Sholom Aleicham’s stories about Tevye. There was a video from 1939 with Maurice Schwartz playing Tevye showing a scene where he is given 24 hours to leave the town he and his family have always lived in. Couldn’t find that on Youtube unfortunately. Being Jewish all of this resonated with me in ways that it might not for everyone else but theater is theater and great acting is great acting regardless of ethnicity.
This is a review from the NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/arts/design/new-yorks-yiddish-theater-explores-a-fractious-heritage-of-melodrama-and-musicals.html?ref=arts&_r=0 and this is from the Wall Street Journal. http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-yorks-yiddish-theater-from-the-bowery-to-broadway-review-1459806738
So, even in the dog days we can find things that amuse and delight us.
On to the Flickrs.
Andy G.
103videoclipS
https://www.flickr.com/photos/klarissakrass/28696422055/
A boy in a tee-shirt dress, nylons, flats
https://www.flickr.com/photos/111773085%40N06/28708798205/
Sissification level: Extreme!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tallulahhh/17150262527/
20130103_212810
https://www.flickr.com/photos/47231651%40N06/8344165108/
IMG_9997.JPG - Gender Bender - Jim Ganley
https://www.flickr.com/photos/125155770%40N06/27084974614/
IMG_0162
https://www.flickr.com/photos/144616764%40N04/27302344523/
ami3a
https://www.flickr.com/photos/131544457%40N02/27640887010/
Anita 0421 - little berry dress
https://www.flickr.com/photos/anita-dreamgirl/26382155255/
Lipsy Dress Jess
https://www.flickr.com/photos/103977268%40N06/27205669664/
Red Dots 2
https://www.flickr.com/photos/100207126%40N08/23338584501/
IMG_2550
https://www.flickr.com/photos/95108651%40N08/27324237574/
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Pretty sultry weather this week, the humidity has been through the roof. I listened to the weatherman this morning and he predicted that the temperature would be 95 degrees this afternoon and feel like 107 degrees. As I’ve said before, I don’t mind the heat but it’s been hard to stay dry in weather like this.
This will be brief as I have friends coming to visit today so I won’t have a chance to see any great art.
Hope everyone stays cool.
Andy G.
Surrey June 2016
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lucyhamilton/27932905965/
Juliette075
https://www.flickr.com/photos/noirjuliette/27224892503/
P1010781
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahmorgan1978/27066342773/
Long time coming
https://www.flickr.com/photos/91219737@N08/27562462276/
Lucy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/boyswillbegirls/26008026786/
Keystone 2016
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephaniewardlow98/25183827974/
tieba cross dresser
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nora1982/28006662685/
IMGP4005[1]
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134164999@N08/26342249435/
I found this interesting swing/chair thingy and decided to take a photo in it
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cutiemei11/26799610061/
Blonde in a Purple Tank
https://www.flickr.com/photos/secretjess/27521055226/
NEW VIDEO
https://www.flickr.com/photos/amnesiasparkles/26900486765/
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Our very hot weather has continued on which actually isn’t surprising as it is August after all. Last Saturday the temperature reached 96 degrees and felt like 111 degrees. I’m not sure I can actually feel the difference between 96 degrees and 111 degrees but I know that after each of my three daily walks I needed to change my clothes which were drenched. Ironically on Thursday I had to turn the heat on in my house. Not because it suddenly got a chill but due to the installation of my new boiler, something I’ve been wanting to have done since last year. It’s a big expense and I wanted to get it out of the way before I stop collecting a pay check. I won’t miss working when I retire but I will miss the steady income. Hopefully my lifetime frugality will see me through my retirement.
I had a splendid visit with my friends last Saturday. The husband is my oldest friend in the sense that I’ve known him the longest of all my friends. We went to college together so I would guess I’ve known him for about 47 years. I met his wife not that long afterwards and they’ve been married for 41 years. They are both retired, he was a chiropractor and she taught high school English in the NJ school system for 30 years. Then they retired to Puerto Rico but a few years ago they gave up their home in Puerto Rico and moved back to NJ as he, like me, recently qualified for Medicare and the health care system in NJ is better than in Puerto Rico. So now they just reverse the amount of time they stay in each place, that is, now they’re in NJ for 9 or 10 months annually and then go to Puerto Rico for the bitter cold NJ months in the Winter. They live a fair distance from me in NJ and I don’t like to drive so I only get to see them for an annual visit. I wish they lived nearby so I could see them on a more regular basis.
As I’ve mentioned, things are very slow in the art world currently but you can always find something to see at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Today I visited galleries I don’t usually spend a lot of time in, Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, where I saw Design for Eternity: Architectural Models from the Ancient Americas.
It included objects, not wall art, architectural models of houses, temples and vessels, that weren’t meant to be what we would consider prototypes but rather were created to be put in the tombs of important individuals. Many of them are several thousand years old and in remarkably good condition. There were two items I especially enjoyed. First, Palace Model with Figures, a model of a funerary ceremony or ritual filled with a cast of characters which includes courtiers, musicians, and hunchbacks serving chicha (maize beer). http://tinyurl.com/gllskv2 In the blog posts I link to below you’ll find one on this model. The second one I found interesting was Ball-Court Model. http://tinyurl.com/z5npeh5 This is a little arena where players are moving a ball around while fans sit in the stands. Very contemporary for something that may be 2000 years old.
This is a link to the Met website overview of the exhibit with illustrations of the objects. http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2015/design-for-eternity
This is a link to a series of blog posts on the Met website discussing different items in the exhibit. As I mentioned above, there’s a blog post on the funerary scene but there’s also one on the Ball Court model http://tinyurl.com/hkvl927
And in a very rare occurrence, in a little while I’m heading back into the City to have dinner with my eldest brother. We email and talk on the phone regularly but since my Aunt died we haven’t really seen each other for a visit. We would go to my Aunt’s for holiday dinners although a few years before she passed away she decided she didn’t want to do that anymore. He and I are complete opposites in how we spend our day, I am a morning person and he swore when he retired he would never get up early again, an oath I think he’s religiously kept. Of course that makes it difficult for us to get together. When I queried him about having dinner with me I suggested a 5PM meeting and while he agreed he wrote back and said that for him that was a late lunch. It’s also difficult because I am still working. When I retire I will be more agreeable to doing things later in the day and I’m hoping we can get together a little more frequently. Although I doubt I will ever switch to his hours, I enjoy the mornings far too much.
Anyway, that seems to be my story this week. Let’s wander over to the Flickrs and see what’s waiting for us.
Andy G.
0223 (2)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/144616764@N04/27895042371/
Bird on a wire
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22813843@N06/27488034830/
2016-06-15_11-41-45
https://www.flickr.com/photos/claudiafenchel/27665695786/
Museum piece
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132986144@N05/27179544472/
Été nuageux かくもり Cloudy Summer
https://www.flickr.com/photos/_johanna_joya/27913685712/
2016.06-32
https://www.flickr.com/photos/samyoliver/28001754105/
Aron
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robinlindborg/2327387814/
Gorgeous dress
https://www.flickr.com/photos/14651405@N05/3518483365/
French maid
https://www.flickr.com/photos/marie-christine/8318686268/
Summer Fun
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lucyhamilton/27908043560/
Juliette084
https://www.flickr.com/photos/noirjuliette/28078107325/
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
After I paid my plumber for the boiler installation I was hoping not to see him again for a while but I woke up Friday morning to an unpleasant situation. The first thing I do upon awakening is my exercises after which I shower. When I came down from the shower on Friday morning I was dismayed to see a puddle of water on my kitchen floor with water dripping from the ceiling. My first thought was how involved and expensive a repair might be if it involved either breaking into the ceiling in search of a damaged pipe, or equally messy, having to remove the bathtub to look for same. So when it reached the sensible hour of 8:30 AM I gave my plumber a call and he responded right away saying he would be over in the morning. He showed up around 11AM, equally hoping that it wasn’t going to be a major demolition and refurbishment, and we went upstairs to check it out. Initially he thought it was just a matter of caulking having receded but then he noticed that the spout in the bathtub was leaking. He took care of both and was gone by 11:30 AM presenting me with a more than reasonable bill. I’m very lucky to have him for my plumbing needs as well as the gentleman I use for my other handyman problems. They’re both unfailingly pleasant men who come when I need them and bill me at reasonable rates. All of which is good because I am absolutely useless when it comes to this kind of stuff. There is no emergency I can’t make worse by trying to fix it. I’ve learned not to try.
I’m hoping that’s it for emergencies for a while.
We had a brief respite from the very hot weather but it’s back again with its sticky humidity. I’m not going to let it bother me as today is the first day of my second week of vacation, something I’ve been waiting for patiently since my last week off in July. Maybe not so patiently actually. I don’t have a lot of plans but I will keep myself occupied. I’ve baked a birthday cake for a friend and I will take her out for dinner tonight.
Earlier in the day I took a walk up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and saw Company School Painting in India (ca. 1770–1850). This is a small exhibit of watercolors in a room just off the staircase on the second floor of the Museum in the Arab wing. It’s a room I’ve glanced into numerous times as I turned right to head to the Japanese, Chinese and Indian galleries, always thinking to myself I’ll have to go in and check it out. I’m glad I finally did. The Company in the title is the British East India Company and the paintings were commissioned by the employees of the Company who wanted to have mementos to bring home with them. The watercolors are in lieu of the photographs we now take on our cameras, something unavailable all those years ago. This is a link to an extraordinarily beautiful painting of a Cotton Tree Flower. http://tinyurl.com/j2roz3e It brings to mind an exhibit of many years ago that I’ve spoken of before, Charles Demuth’s watercolor depictions of flowers and fruits and vegetables, although the Indian paintings are more functional while Demuth’s were aesthetic. This is a link to his Calla Lilies http://www.zazzle.com/calla_lilies_floral_painting_by_charles_demuth_poster-256807416462279701
This is a link to the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History which discusses the exhibit. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cpin/hd_cpin.htm
This is a link to the objects in the exhibit, http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/objects?exhibitionId=56259cf1-581b-46d1-862c-6bbf9ef92327#!?offset=0&perPage=50
Now let’s close with something completely different as Monty Python might say. I got a kick out of it and I think everyone else will as well. It’s a three minute video entitled School Lunch.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/JNgCM7zp30M?version=3&start=1&end=198&autoplay=1&hl=en_US&rel=0
And now I think it’s time for the Flickrs.
Andy G.
女装 Japanese Crossdress Myu
https://www.flickr.com/photos/myu_hukase/8285275506/
MISAKKY's Friend Wedding 001
https://www.flickr.com/photos/misakky/27667906532/
2016-01-06_12.14.33
https://www.flickr.com/photos/callmekate/23588208174/
160503_Jamie-78.05
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134551354@N03/26315428474/
London is not the place for me !
https://www.flickr.com/photos/48976578@N06/26550570686/
IMG_3201
https://www.flickr.com/photos/alicialee287/8459799181/
I love this picture of today…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rachel_valentine/28170153996/
Untitled
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dinashu/27522605761/
Yellow Rose
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stefanied/28291124321/
how do we survive school hols!!?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/136031688@N06/28135940362/
A bit burlesque
https://www.flickr.com/photos/142955841@N07/28284787431/
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Especial thanks for the "School Lunch" video. I thought the kids' reactions were hilarious. And the singing wasn't bad either<grin>.
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Hey Andy G, I too loved the school lunch video. It took me back to my British school days but the lunches back then were not very good and we sure did not get entertained like that. It was usually a teacher making a kid eat everything on his plate under threat of the cane on his backside. I must confess I was that kid sometimes as cold rice pudding was often after the meal and I hated it. If I could not give it away I would try to hide it or scoot out of the lunch room without getting seen, leaving my tray behind. As always I love your trips to the galleries and look forward to more of that when you hit full time retirement. Are you enjoying it part time for now?
I have been checking train times for Toronto so I can go the the gallery there and the museum also as they are near each other. I do think the museum will take most of my day though with its many rooms and exhibits and I have not been there for quite awhile. Parking in Toronto can sometimes cost as much as a train ticket one way and perhaps I can find a hotel special rate and stay over to do everything at the same time. I guess I should also check the gallery and museum websites to plan on what is showing and the times.
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A bus from Buffalo to Toronto is around $10-$15, & about over a 2 1/2 to 3 hour ride depending on how many stops it takes along the way. From your area it should be about half that time & price. Accommodations on a Greyhound or Megabus is about the same as a budget airline. Luggage storage, carry on luggage, a coat room. & a comfy seat. Most have toilet facilities about the same as an airline.
There are no meals or food stops on these shorter trips, but they don't mind if you carry on a light lunch, snack, or thermos, as long as it isn't elaborate, you don't make a mess, & don't stink up the bus. An onion, garlic, & Limburger cheese sandwich will probably be removed from you hands, & thrown out the window. Most of the buses are properly air conditioned, & heated. Alcohol consumption is prohibited.
Bring a simple 7", $26-$50 android tablet with headphones loaded up with your favorite tunes or movies from Betty's for the long ride. Most will play movies for 4-6 hours on a single charge. Speakers playing are not allowed on most buses, trains, or airlines. All of Betty's background music & movies can be downloaded to those tablets with plenty of room to spare. The movies look excellent on small screens. All greyhound buses have wifi. High bandwidth sites like Youtube, & Betty's movies might be blocked. Our music at under 5mb per 40 minutes will stream, but it's better to download & save what you want ahead of time.
Hotels in Toronto range from $40-$5,000 per night for a couple. The cheapest ones are smallish with plastic furniture, no TV, charge extra for WiFi, but are quite comfortable.
Your cheapest buses, trains, & rooms will be on weekdays rather than on weekends, holidays, & during special events when they're more heavily booked.
There are some cheap all day & overnight parking spots outside of the downtown area near subway stops. Park there, & take the subway the rest of the way in. It's not too long a drive from your town. Familiarizing yourself with maps before you go, will make it pretty easy there, as the city has changed over the years. The city is designed to navigate rather well without a car... especially for tourists there just to see the coolest stuff.
An enormous amount of the gay population in Buffalo & Niagara Falls visit Toronto & their outlying beaches in the summer a lot but leave their car parked in the same spot the whole time. Toronto has held the title as one of the most gay & lesbian friendly cities in the world for over 45 years. You'll even find many "Guest DJs" from Buffalo working in the gay clubs there. Much more than half those Buffalo gay & lesbian guest DJs there, I personally trained, & broke them into the business.
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Hi Angela,
A friend commented on how different the lunch being served was from what is served in lunch rooms here in the states, fresh food as opposed to some frozen mess. I wish I was working part time but I'm still putting in the full five days a week, albeit four of them from home. And I monitor my office after hours and on weekends as well. Even though I'm on vacation this week I still go through my office emails every day; if I didn't I would come back to over a thousand. Most of them aren't important but it's hard to see the ones that are when they're buried in an avalanche of them. I thought the video was charming, the looks on the kids faces priceless.
Andy G.
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Yes the school lunches never looked that good back in the 50's and one had to sit up straight, eat quickly and all that was put in front of you and then go out to play. I wished that I lived closer to the school so I could go home for lunch but that never was the case. We moved to a new school 6 months before we were to leave for Canada, moving in with family that were coming with us. I hated that school and followed mom home the first day only to be taken back the next day and having the head teacher shout at me for leaving and not telling anyone. Once in Canada everyone took a home made lunch in a paper bag or tin lunch pail. It was quite a change for us.
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I think the change in England is because of Jamie Oliver trying to get people to eat healthier foods and schools to take notice of the nutrition programs. I believe he was trying to get schools in the U.S. and Canada to do the same thing but many schools in Canada do not have a lunch program, kids bring it from home.
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I don't ever remember there being a nice lunch available in school when I was a kid. It wasn't absolutely terrible but it wasn't good either. For 35 cents you did get a small milk, or tiny thing of juice though, or sometimes Jello. I think that was the best of school lunch memories. Military rations tasted better. I was in Air Force ROTC in high school, & had 2 brothers in the Marines, & Army. Dad was in WWII. So I did have a chance to try 1960s military rations. They were actually pretty good compared to school lunches.
Anything you packed for lunch was much better. 35 cents in the 1960s wasn't that great a deal back then, when you can get a rather big burger at Carols Burger, Burger Chef, or McDonald's for 29 cents, & a quart of milk was 25-35 cents. Back in the high school days when I got an after school & weekend jobs, I used to sneak out of school for lunch to the diner across the street.
A huge cheeseburger, & beverage like soda, coffee, or juice for 49 cents at the diner. They would still serve breakfast items at lunch too. I liked their 2 eggs with toast, butter, & jelly with soda or coffee for 59 cents. I'd even spring a dime or 2 to play my favorite rock tunes on their jukebox during lunch. Rod Stewart, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Procal Harem, Zeppelin, Gunthrie, & Baez were the hits at my school, & all on the jukebox. It was a Technical/vocational school for boys at the time, so we didn't listen to that low-IQ bubblegum pop-rock of the era. It was all the progressive or revolutionary stuff. The closest thing to pop we ever listened to was the Beatles & Stewart.
It was highly illegal to leave the school grounds, even for lunch. Eating outside on a nice day wasn't even allowed, & there was no AC for hot or humid days (downwind from the Great humid Lakes). You'd get hell if you got caught leaving school for lunch. I'd sneak in & out the back door for maintenance. The maintenance staff didn't care. I guess they felt it wasn't their job to watch the kids, or didn't like the school lunches either.
There would always be a couple other kids who ate at the diner for lunch, & some of the school teachers too. The teachers who ate there never turned us in... they all played like they didn't notice we were there so they don't get in trouble. I guess they didn't mind us there getting a better lunch, & chilling outside the school. But getting caught trying to sneak out while still on school property, would be a heap of trouble.
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When I was in grammar school we weren't allowed to leave the school grounds for lunch and I brought my lunch which was usually a salami sandwich. Many kids did and you may imagine what the lunchroom smelled like. Then when I graduated to Jr. High School we were able to go out for lunch and every day for two years I ate at a luncheonette and had a hamburger, french fries and a coke. I would call my mother every day from the luncheonette just to chat. One time I called and she picked up the phone laughing. I asked what she was laughing about and she said that shortly before I called, the phone rang and she picked it up expecting it to be me. There was a child on the other line and my mother had a little conversation with him before they both realized she wasn't his mother. That made me laugh as well.
Andy G.
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Hey Betty, it was the same when I was in high school, we were not to leave either but there was a diner in the plaza next door and also a Bowling alley and the lunch counter there was always busy at lunch time. I prefered the diner with my friends and the burgers were great. The place was also the local hang out after school too with car hops on roller skates bringing food to the car and music over the outside speakers. It was actually the only hang out for a short time until a burger & pizza place opened across the road from my house. Did not take me long to get a job there along with two friends and my sister. Flipping pizza in the front window was our special draw and it became the most popular place in town. I eventually became assistant manager there for a year or two.
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
I’ve had a splendid week on vacation and I’m sorry to see it come to a close although I still have the Labor Day Holiday on Monday to look forward to. I had enjoyable visits with two of my friends, saw some wonderful art and generally relaxed. The weather cooperated, it was warm all week but not unbearable and today, due to Tropical Storm Hermine I guess, it was cool, breezy and not sunny at all. I went out in my shorts and short sleeve shirt but wouldn’t have been hot had I worn the long pants and shirt. I look forward to having every day to myself the way I did this week.
I had another little run in with technology this week. I had to reset the password on my email, something I was reluctant to do as I have lots of passwords and it’s not always easy to keep them straight as to which password is for which site. First of all there have been issues with Chrome which have prevented me from going into my webmail which I access when I’m in the office. Chrome has become another unreliable browser and I’m thinking I may go back to Firefox. I Googled the issues I’m having with Chrome and Verizon and discovered there are many others experiencing the same thing. Verizon has no interest in solving this problem saying that Chrome is part of Google. I tried to point out to the Verizon representative that while that may be true, it’s Verizon’s customers that will look for another provider if they can’t access their email on their browser of choice. I spoke to Verizon last week as I was locked out and when I reset my password I used the same one because I thought the problem was with Chrome not actual hacking. But the next morning I received an email response from someone that was sent to Alan Scheer questioning what the invoice Scheer had sent to them was about. When I looked at Alan Scheer’s email address it was mine. So I made my password much stronger. As I said, this whole password business is annoying, trying to keep it straight and not use the same one for everything.
I did find things to do this week although I’ve mentioned that there are no new exhibits up. I went to the Met and saw a very small exhibit of paintings of Benjamin Franklin by the French artist Joseph Siffred Duplessis. It consists of three paintings, the oil portrait that is the iconic image of Franklin, the one that appears on the $100 bill, that is from the Met’s permanent collection. There were actually two $100 dollar bills in a display case. Also a pastel portrait which is on loan from the NY Public library and a reproduction of the first painting either by the artist or his shop. Replicas were popular as many people wanted a portrait of Franklin to hang on their wall. The pastel is very beautiful. This is a link to the Met website with more information about the artist as well as illustrations of the paintings. http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2016/benjamin-franklin
One morning I walked all the way down to the Bowery to visit the New Museum, a very long walk. I did an enormous amount of walking this week going over ten miles on several days. I hope to continue to be able to do this as I age as I think it’s the best exercise. I bought a pair of Skechers athletic shoes and I’m really pleased with them as they have a thick sole and are very lightweight. Finding the museum wasn’t too difficult but I wound up walking over to Third Avenue by mistake when I was crossing over looking for Fourth. On a walk this long I didn’t need to have to double back. On the way back I was very lucky. I walked up a few blocks to East Houston and walked West. I checked which Avenues were west and made sure I was crossing them so I’d know I was heading in the right direction and after a few blocks I came to a subway station for the #6 as well as the BDFM. Of course I stood on the platform waiting for the letters without realizing it was the #6 line. And I had looked up at the sign too but I clearly didn’t read it closely enough. So I went downstairs and caught the B for West 4th then transferred to the A which took me back to the Port Authority. Traffic has been terrible this week and my bus rides and waits for the buses have been long. I got to the museum a few minutes before it opened and I was surprised to see a line although it wasn’t a very long line. It was a fairly odd exhibition, I don’t expect I’ll be going back very often. The museum itself is very large, 7 floors, and they’re big floors. The first exhibit is on the fifth floor and when I walked down the stairs there were so many twists and turns that I thought I would wind up in the lobby but eventually I came to the fourth floor.
The main attraction was an exhibit called The Keeper which was about collectors. Since I am a collector I was curious to see what it was about. The highlight was Partners (The Teddy Bear Project) which consisted of 3000 family photographs that include a teddy bear. They are displayed in a large room, ceiling to floor, with four spiral staircases to take you up to the ceiling, as well as cases with an actual teddy bear and more photos and memorabilia. It was fascinating. Another exhibit which may be of interest to the board is Henrik Olesen’s Some Gay-Lesbian Artists and/or Artists relevant to Homo-Social Culture Born between c. 1300–1870 (2007). This was images clipped from magazines and other media all having to do with the gay experience. One small section was listed as mother’s with effeminate sons. The best among them was Edward Hughes Portrait of Mrs. Drury Wormald and her son. You can see here that he would be very much at home on the board. http://artpaintingartist.org/portrait-of-mrs-drury-percy-wormald-and-her-son-by-edward-hughes/ There were other odd collections, rocks and a closet filled with the artist’s mother’s clothing and drawings by Vladimir Nabokov of his butterflys. Nabokov was an ardent butterfly collector.
This is a link to the website explanation of the exhibit. http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/the-keeper
This is a link to the NY Times review with illustrations. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/22/arts/design/the-keeper-reveals-the-passion-for-collecting.html?_r=0
On another day I saw what I believe is the last current exhibit at the Met that I might have interest in, Aesthetic Movement in America. It’s in the same gallery as the furniture. It was enjoyable although much of what was there seemed to be left over from the very nice furniture exhibit. In the entrance they were running a video of Martha Graham’s Appalachian Spring, the television version from 1958, which I watched for a while. I’ve never really seen ballet like it before. Afterwards I wandered through the American Wing and visited old friends. I saw the Homer watercolors again as well as the Hudson River painters.
The best thing I saw all week was at the QuestRoyal gallery on 79th Street and Park Avenue, which has a very strong American art exhibit up right now. I’ve been there before and they always have quality art. This is a link to their index. http://www.questroyalfineart.com/artists?artists=all
Notable among the many fine paintings were
William Trost Richards – Atlantic City http://www.questroyalfineart.com/16385/atlantic-city-new-jersey.html I don’t believe I had ever seen a watercolor by Richards and this was a fine one of Atlantic City, well before the casinos.
Winslow Homer - Through the Fields http://www.questroyalfineart.com/16103/through-the-fields.html and A High Sea http://www.questroyalfineart.com/16192/a-high-sea.html Two drawings, the first pencil and gouache, the second charcoal and gouache. I’ve seen a few of Homer’s drawings and these are particularly nice.
Sanford Robinson Gifford – Study of Windsor Castle - http://www.questroyalfineart.com/16389/study-of-windsor-castle.html Gifford is a favorite of mine and this is a splendid oil depiction highlighted by the rainbow rising on the right side of the painting. The provenance says it may have come from his estate which to me indicates he liked it enough to keep it rather than sell it.
John Singer Sargent – San Geremia http://www.questroyalfineart.com/15310/san-geremia.html I’ve written many times about Sargent and this is a wonderful watercolor of San Geremia in Venice.
Willard Leroy Metcalf – The Waterfall http://www.questroyalfineart.com/15967/the-waterfall.html I was really taken with Metcalf’s waterfall, very impressive, comparable, if not as great as, Frederic Edwin Church’s Niagara Falls, an enormous painting in the National Gallery of Niagara Falls which when you stand in front of it makes you almost damp from its presence. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frederic_Edwin_Church_-_Niagara_Falls_-_WGA04867.jpg
And finally, Francis Silva – Moonrise Over New York Harbor http://www.questroyalfineart.com/16556/moonrise-over-new-york-harbor.html I just fell in love with this painting due to the beautiful moon suspended over the water in the middle of the painting. Another painting that I wouldn’t mind waking up to every day.
And so ends another week. Let’s see if anything is going on at the Flickrs.
Andy G.
16 723w
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mariaclare/28264583092/
Minidress in the sun
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dianalondontv/27928278046/
DSC07584CK3
https://www.flickr.com/photos/117560929@N03/28228908491/
f23951488
https://www.flickr.com/photos/29982139@N05/9761840636/
Summer Dress
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135749866@N08/27843605563/
Another Jackie K. look
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132986144@N05/26686503294/
Princess of July
https://www.flickr.com/photos/meagancrickett/28002599020/
flashing my new tits
https://www.flickr.com/photos/59762335@N03/27943378973/
Dude in a skirt
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fordfanjpn/28202657610/
Transformación.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/shirleystonyrock/28310532302/
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Our weatherman said today would be outrageously hot, unusual for almost mid-September and much like the dog days of August we experienced. But while it was hot it wasn’t as humid as they predicted and there was a breeze which helped so for me it wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as it’s been. Came home from my walk damp but not soaked. My friend, who has retired to Arizona, scoffs when I talk about hot weather as he lives where 100 degree days are the norm. As for me, whether officially or not, Summer has passed and I’m not terribly happy to see it go. I can live with Fall but I hate Winter. I’m hoping not to have to deal with the commute in the dead of Winter.
I did something fairly stupid this week. I sent an email to a friend with the subject line, I’m an idiot to describe it. I started by noting it wasn’t the first email I had sent with that subject line. On Wednesday morning I was in my kitchen getting ready to do my exercises when I noticed a coffee spot on the linoleum and bent down with a wet sponge to wipe it away. My exercise regimen consists of stretching exercises, knee bends and pushups. Then, before I go upstairs to ride the stationary bicycle, I run around the first floor of my house. I start in the living room and run along the perimeter as I head into the dining room and kitchen to circle back to the living room. Just as I was finishing, coming out of the dining room, my foot hit the tiny wet spot I had created, my foot went right out from under me and I went down like I had been shot. I skidded along the floor and hit the wall. Let me count the ways I injured myself. Put a bump on my head, opened up a bb sized hole just below my shoulder, cramped my the fingers on my right hand and banged my left knee. The next day I noticed skid marks on my right hand. And my shoulder and knee are still sore. Other than that no damage. If I see another spot on the linoleum I will wait until after I do my exercises to deal with it. Wiping it dry is probably a good idea as well.
This morning I walked up to Christie’s auction house for a preview of their Chinese Paintings. I was a little disappointed. The first floor was filled with objects that the Metropolitan Museum of Art was deaccessioning, porcelain and ceramic vases, dishes, bowls etc. which are beautiful but a little goes a long way. There were also Himalayan and Indian wall hangings which nice but not remarkable. The Chinese paintings were on the second floor and even they were a bit of a disappointment. There weren’t that many of them and many of them were contemporary. I’m not a knowledgeable person on the quality of Chinese painting but these didn’t strike me as being in the first tier. It wasn’t like being at a preview of European paintings, there were no artists I could seek out and none of the names meant anything to me.
Here are a few of the things I liked, click on them to enlarge:
Gibbons Playing - http://tinyurl.com/zkwnmxo
Winter Landscape - http://tinyurl.com/zav4s4c
Lady - http://tinyurl.com/zeaz9w6
This is a link to all the paintings: http://tinyurl.com/hutkqwh
Sotheby’s also had their Chinese preview and I had to choose which one to visit as I didn’t want to do both of them today. I chose Christie’s for its proximity, Sotheby’s is a hike across town to the far East side. But in looking at the Sotheby’s site I see it wouldn’t have been very different, maybe a larger selection. Of course when I retire I will be able to go to both. But it was a pleasant diversion for a Saturday morning while waiting for exhibits to start opening. Next week I will go to the Morgan Library for their just opened Memling exhibition.
I think on that note we can now tiptoe over to the Flickrs.
Andy G.
Throwback Thursday!! Pic on the left is me at about 8 years old playing my favorite game of "dress up" at my cousin's house…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/143793198@N08/29116246152/
I scored on this outfit!!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/143366935@N04/27717384644/
Sissies on Parade
https://www.flickr.com/photos/msemilytv/2832764903/
Susie543
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24899087@N05/28469332141/
Shelley Jayne - Double Tree - Sparkle 2016
https://www.flickr.com/photos/shelley_uk/27965691830/
Dating with MISAKKY 002
https://www.flickr.com/photos/misakky/28481601286/
Guessing game. Like it? Did I buy this?
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Today is an absolutely beautiful day. Started out cool, in the 50’s, so I wore my long paints and flannel shirt in the early part of the day but when I came home from the City I was able to go back to my shorts. I probably didn’t need my flannel shirt but the weatherman told me to take a jacket and I’d rather be warm than cold so it wasn’t a problem.
I walked down to the Morgan Library this morning to take in two new exhibits. The first was a small show, Hans Memling: Portraiture, Piety, and a Reunited Altarpiece. It revolved around a Memling altarpiece which had been separated many years ago and was finally reunited for this exhibit. It’s a triptych and the Morgan owns the inner wings. The center panel is owned by Musei Civici in Vicenza, Italy, and the outer wings by the Groeningemuseum in Bruges, Belgium. The outer wings were meant to be seen when the altarpiece was closed being on the other side of the inner wings. At some point in the altar’s history, the outer wings were sawn off and removed. The exhibit shows through radiography how Memling changed and repositioned aspects. Additionally there were drawings from his contemporaries and several portrait paintings of his, one from the Frick which has always been a favorite of mine, as well as one in the Morgan collection, Man with a Pink, and one from a private collection. Always exciting to see something from a private collection as your opportunities to see it are rare. And the art was more accessible to me being hung at my eye level. The Morgan pieces come from Mr. Morgan’s library and usually hang above his bookcases which make them harder for me to see. This was a wonderful exhibit, so much great art in such a small room, the cube. This is a link to the Morgan website description of the exhibit which has illustrations of some of the art. http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/hans-memling This is a press release for the exhibit. http://www.themorgan.org/sites/default/files/pdf/press/MemlingPressRelease.pdf And this is a review from the NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/02/arts/design/review-hans-memling-morgan-library-museum.html?_r=0
Afterwards I walked over and enjoyed a second visit with Rembrandt’s early masterpiece, Judas Returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver. I wrote about this wonderful painting on my previous visit a few months ago. The exhibit closes tomorrow and I’m glad I got to see it again. Then I went upstairs for the Charlotte Bronte exhibit. This was filled with original manuscripts, letters, first editions, original artwork from the three sisters and their brother Branwell and all in all was very interesting. The National Portrait Gallery in London loaned the iconic chalk drawing of Charlotte by George Richmond for the exhibit, http://www.themorgan.org/sites/default/files/images/exhibitions/galleries/1-George-Richmond-portrait.jpg as well as the portrait that Branwell painted of his three sisters. http://www.themorgan.org/sites/default/files/images/exhibitions/galleries/13-Branwell-Bronte%CC%88-portrait.jpg He had included himself and then painted himself out of the picture. It’s creased and damaged because it sat, folded in four, on top of a wardrobe in the home of Arthur Bell Nicholls, Charlotte’s husband. It was discovered by Nicholls second wife and given to the National Portrait Gallery. It had never traveled previously. This is a link to the Morgan website description of the exhibit with illustrations of some of the objects http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/charlotte-bronte This is a link to the press release for the exhibit http://www.themorgan.org/sites/default/files/pdf/press/BrontePressRelease.pdf This is a link to a NY Times review of the exhibit http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/09/books/she-was-no-bird-jane-eyre-manuscript-on-first-trip-to-america.html?smid=pl-share
Hope you enjoyed today’s art discussion, I’m still waiting for the Fall preview of upcoming exhibits.
Let’s fly over to the Flickrs now.
Andy G.
Ready for the Grand National
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22092915@N05/26325945075/
always so lovely...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/madeleinelabelle/25885664550/
DSC_0143
https://www.flickr.com/photos/swisstabby/27929281846/
another tgirl classy look
https://www.flickr.com/photos/125361336@N05/24586741562/
Dressed up for my date
https://www.flickr.com/photos/74475326@N08/28645606636/
IMG_4496
https://www.flickr.com/photos/144292514@N08/28498096082/
old tricks
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124219044@N07/28537062786/
More Maids at BWBG
https://www.flickr.com/photos/shonajones1/28328300900/
Ahem!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sissyfifi/16412192428/
Evenin' all
https://www.flickr.com/photos/starrynowhere/28042800894/
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Thanks Andy for another great gallery review with links I can follow. Of course we all love the pics that follow in your weekly post as well. When you retire for good will this be a daily post (can we hope ) LOL. Thanks again.