Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
It was so cold today anyone would think it’s winter! It’s been so mild of late that even though the weatherman warned me about it I still felt a shock to my system. It was in the 30’s when I awoke and didn’t get above 40 degrees this afternoon. But our warm weather will return and hard as it may be to believe they are predicting that it may be in the mid 60’s on Xmas day. No white Xmas this year. The other prediction for the season is that it will be a wet one although the prediction is for rain, not a lot of snow. One can only hope.
I started my new work schedule this week, going forward I will physically be in the office on Mondays and Tuesdays but I will work from home the rest of the week. I’m already enjoying it as I knew I would. The only down side is it makes it that much harder to get up and make the commute on the other two days. I’ve settled into a new routine which is a joke to anyone who knows me as I am the most routine person anyone has any met. I seldom deviate from my daily procedure and on those rare occasions that I mention considering doing so, I always laughingly add, “not that I’m rigid!” For years I could never understand how small children can watch the same video over and over hundreds of times, but it finally occurred to me that there is comfort in routine which probably explains a lot about the way I live my life. And I do like being home. Whenever I go anywhere, whether into the City for the art or to visit friends, I always have a good time but I’m always equally glad to be home. It really is true, there’s no place like home.
My sleep continues to be spotty, staying asleep is the biggest problem. I usually get up about 2-3 hours after I fall asleep and then the rest of the night is iffy. I’ve been getting up around 3:20/3:30 AM but now on the days I work from home I will get up around 5AM which sounds like a much more reasonable time. Actually the first morning I was up at 4:40 AM. Came downstairs and turned on my timer to remind me to take my pills. Did my exercises and came back downstairs to discover that I hadn’t turned on my timer, I had set the automatic oven! I learned I shouldn’t set the timer in the dark. Went for my 1.6 mile walk and then sat down at the virtual office. Not having to take the bus and schlep into and out of the City is very pleasant.
Continuing on about my sleep, I was chatting with a friend and she mentioned buying a new mattress which she likened to buying a car what with all the different models and aspects of construction. It made me wonder if some of my sleep problems stem from my mattress. Which wouldn’t be really surprising as I think I’ve had my mattress for close to 40 years and it wasn’t the best model when I purchased it. So I’m contemplating getting a new one. I looked into the different kinds but I discovered that my options were limited by the fact that I sleep in a platform bed. My current mattress is 7 inches thick and when I sit up in bed, my head is about 4-5 inches from the ceiling. Most of the mattresses I looked at are 12 inches which means that every morning when I sat up I would hit my head against the ceiling. There are times I want to bang my head against the wall in frustration but waking up to a bump on the noggin every morning isn’t something I look forward to. So it looks like my best bet is a memory foam mattress as they all appear to be 8” high. Don’t know when I’ll act on this as it’s not something I would buy online which is now my preferred method of shopping. Hate going into stores and dealing with the crowds and salespeople. Maybe on my next vacation.
Despite the cold weather and the wind which it made it seem that much colder I walked up to the Metropolitan museum this morning to see the first rotation of Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection. The Chinese is very much like the Japanese in style but without the woodblock prints. This show is mostly scrolls, long ones that roll out from side to side and others that hang on the wall. The first room is filled with calligraphy which isn’t really of much interest to me not speaking the language but there are images interspersed as well and they’re lovely. But when you move into the other rooms that’s where you come across the really beautiful items.
The very last gallery has two large scrolls which are fabulous. They are both called “The Emperor’s Inspection Tour,” but by different artists and in very different styles. These scrolls are huge and immensely detailed. There’s a vast landscape and you follow a trail of people and horses through mountains, across rivers and lakes, and into very busy towns. They’re very colorful with so much to see. This is a link to the Met website showing one of the sections. Even when you click on it to enlarge it’s hard to appreciate its magnificence on the small screen. Below it you can also view each of the other screens as well. To walk from one end of the cabinet to the other viewing this is truly a marvel
http://tinyurl.com/gloteef Another scroll is Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao Entering the Tiantai Mountains. This is a fable about two friends who enter the mountains and encounter a group of beautiful women who seem to know who they are and welcome them to stay. They greatly enjoy themselves but then after half a year they find themselves thinking about their old life and decide to leave the mountains and go home. When they arrive home they don’t recognize anyone and they determine that what they thought was half a year turns out to have encompassed seven generations. They decide to go back to the mountains and look for the women but spend two years without success before disappearing. It’s an allegory to the feelings of the people after the fall of the Song Dynasty. I’ve seen this scroll before or one like it, perhaps in the Japanese collection. It’s also wonderful and reads from right to left. This is a link to the website and as with the previous scroll you can see all of them below the image. In this case, as they are much smaller than the Inspection tour, enlarging them is worthwhile and you can really get a sense of how they look in the case.
http://tinyurl.com/q95qe4h Then there is the Stag Hunt. This scroll shows a rider on a horse galloping with all four legs off the ground in pursuit of a deer. He’s already wounded the deer with his first arrow and is drawing the second arrow to finish it off. It’s such a vivid depiction of the event that you hardly need a narrative. This is a link to the website
http://tinyurl.com/zjhzw5o This is a link to all the images in the first rotation.
http://tinyurl.com/j9qswf4 The Times hasn’t reviewed the exhibit as yet but I found this 3 ½ minute video for Sinovision which is very nice as it interviews the Met curator who speaks to them in Chinese and then takes you through the exhibit. I’m pleased I found it because it shows the collection in a much better light than the images on the Met website, especially if you go full screen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXjbHUFpKYY Well I guess it’s time to leave China and head over to Flickr.
Andy G.
POSANDO PARA LA FOTO
https://www.flickr.com/photos/51204813@N03/8159702655/ 
<3 <3
https://www.flickr.com/photos/128043907@N06/15211884739/ P1020814
https://www.flickr.com/photos/21236187@N07/22453358169/ My schoolgirl outfit.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/38745560@N07/22480541618/ Nancy Ball
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nancyball1/15830400631/ Even back then I liked wearing a nice hat! This is another one courtesy of @g.hubbard. Little four year old Andy from 1978 in Ohio. My cousins liked dressing me up and I had fun letting them
https://www.flickr.com/photos/16953040@N08/23312072979/ Cocktail Gown Contest # 3
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rebecca_george/21826362461/ Untitled
https://www.flickr.com/photos/leihia1/23013128626/ Simon Says....
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124114562@N08/22905663706/ ready for my sissy dollification now..
https://www.flickr.com/photos/131111227@N04/23197671636/ when you wish upon your teddy...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/131111227@N04/22863866410/ The Return of Emily
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephsdressingservice/22729342858/ 
Betty's Pub 20.1
Topic: I’m wearing long pants again so I guess this is the Fall Flickr (Read 24332 times)
