Legion of Honor

Maya had Spring Break last week, and I took a few days off to spend with her.  Originally, she wanted to paint her room, but when I told her how much work that is (moving furniture and cleaning being most of it), she decided she didn’t really want to do that anymore, and could live with the sage green color that she has previously described as ‘mucus’.  Undaunted, I insisted that we clean her room anyway.  Which didn’t involve moving any furniture, but it did involve getting mounds of dust off of her toys, pulling 2 years worth of backpacks and paperwork out of the closet, going through her books and clothes to see what’s garbage, and what should be donated.  Her room feels 100 lbs lighter.  Very nice.

On Wednesday, we decided to go in to San Francisco and see an exhibit at the Legion of Honor.  They have an exhibit, Pulp Fashion, which is a collection of fabulous dresses and costumes, made entirely out of paper.  Amazing stuff.  You can look at the artist’s website, here.  The detail in her work is exceptional.  I tried to take some pictures, but the museum docent stopped me in my tracks.  Oh well.  After ogling the dresses, we wandered the rest of the museum, from the Renaissance artists to the Impressionists.  I’ll admit to not really liking the Renaissance art as much, while I find Impressionism inspiring and amazing, and some of the more modern (late 1800s) realist paintings were gorgeous as well.

I have a few favorites in their permanent collection, that I visit every time we end up at the Legion of Honor.  This is one of my favorites, “The Broken Pitcher”, by William Adolphe Bouguereau.

Then there’s this lovely floral, “Still Life with Pink and White Stock”, by Victoria Dubourg Fantin-Latour. I love the texture, the beauty of it all. If I were a multi-billionaire, I think I might buy a few paintings like these and keep them in my house. Don’t worry, I’d let you come visit them.

I hadn’t really paid attention to this painting before, but this time I stopped and looked up close, and read a bit about the painting. “The Pyramids at Gizeh”, by Thomas Seddon. According to the blurb, Seddon went to Egypt to see the famous pyramids, and was sort of disappointed by what he saw. I suppose he was impressed, but didn’t really see the beauty of them. Then, he saw the pyramids at sunset, and he was awed by the beauty of the colors and shadows. Looking at this picture, it’s easy to see why. Gorgeous.

The last time Maya and I shopped in San Francisco, I introduced her to my very favorite little boutique, Ambiance. I started going there when I first moved to San Francisco in 1987. Nowadays I think I’m a bit too old for most of their stuff, and it’s probably a better place to take Maya than for me to do shopping. But I can still find a few things that I love and can wear without looking like one of those women who refuses to accept her age. This time, I thought I’d show her the glory that is a big city department store. We have Macy’s here in our little town. Actually, we’re probably equidistant between two Macy’s. But the San Francisco Macy’s has 7 floors, and carries designers that we don’t get out in the ‘burbs, as well as just more inventory among the more popular designers you can find at any Macy’s. Her birthday gift from me was that I would take her shopping and buy her a few things (Ted does this for me sometimes, he calls it a ‘shopping spree’, and I love it). She got two adorable summer dresses, and as soon as it warms up a bit more, she’ll be styling them in the halls at school.

All in all, it was a lovely day, a lovely, relaxing week. We all need that once in awhile, don’t we? Seems like I’ve been getting perhaps more than my share lately, with Maya’s birthday and then this. Shhh. I won’t tell if you won’t.