Meme Monday – Art Edition

Art ala 2020.

I miss museums. A few years ago, I went to see an exhibit at a local museum with my dear friend Marilee. I paid for the admission to the exhibit, which was Degas, Impressionism, and the Millinery trade, and while we were in the gift shop at the end of the exhibit, she found out that the ticket price could be applied to an annual membership, and she paid the difference as a gift to me. I discovered that with that membership, I went more often. My step-mom, Julie, always gives me money for my birthday, and for the last couple of years, I have been considering that her gift to me, and I renew my membership with my birthday money.

There are two fine arts museums in San Francisco, plus the Asian Art Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. Not suggesting that the Asian Art and Modern Art Museums don’t have fine art, those are just the terms that they use. So the membership gets me access to the Legion of Honor and the De Young museums. The Legion of Honor is near the north west tip of San Francisco, and from it you can enjoy beautiful views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the SF Skyline. I adore the architecture and the smell of the Cyprus trees that border the small parking lot. The De Young is in Golden Gate Park, and is the larger of the two museums. It has underground parking and is safer, you are less likely to get your car broken into there (though I have never had my car broken into at either spot, it is very common out at the Legion of Honor.)

Having a membership makes me feel even more motivated than I would normally be to go and look at beautiful art in a lovely setting. I’ve gone to some especially wonderful exhibits more than once, though I prefer to go during the week, as it is less crowded, which means taking time off of work, blah blah blah.

The last time we were there was my birthday, last December. Ted had to work that day, so Maya and I went and enjoyed the exhibit, on Tissot and fashion, and then went for lunch at one of my favorite spots, The Cliff House out at Ocean Beach. You can park in a lot near The Cliff House and walk around the coast to the Legion of Honor, a beautiful walk indeed. Though we didn’t do that on this day, we drove. I love the Cliff House, the food is surprisingly good for a touristy spot, and the views are spectacular. If you like looking at the ocean, that is. Maya likes it fine, but she would have preferred that we go to Ton Kiang for dim sum, another family favorite. As it was my birthday, we did what I wanted. Now I’m sad that we didn’t go to dim sum, because Ton Kiang is one of many restaurants to shutter permanently due to COVID. So that was our last chance. Sigh. At the same time, I adore the Cliff House, so yay!

Anyway, that was the last time we went to a museum. They closed in March. The DeYoung just opened again last week, to limited crowds. The Legion of Honor is not open yet. I’ve been thinking about whether I would feel safe going to the De Young in the next few months, to see the Frieda Kahlo exhibit that is there until February. I think I would….we would be inside, yes, but we would wear our masks and not touch anything and wash our hands and so on. So maybe. I’m not a huge Kahlo fan, but Maya is, so if she is up for it, I think perhaps we will muster up our courage one day and go. Of course, indoor dining is still closed, and I wouldn’t really feel safe about it anyway. I’m not comfortable going to any restaurants yet, likely won’t be OK with it until we have a safe and effective vaccine readily available. Not even outside, unless it were to be fairly empty. It makes me nervous to be around so many people without masks. But we could get take out and eat in the park, we’ve done that before. We’ll see.