Permanent Collection

Saturday was one of those lovely grown up evenings, when you realize that the whole world isn’t focused on kid things…I mean, I am home with Maya every day, and the blogs I read are mostly mommy blogs, so my life is very much kid focused. I wouldn’t change that…I love her madly and love the life that I have because of being a mother. Still. There are times when a parent, when a couple, needs to get out and remember a bit of what life was like before there were kids in the picture. And really, Maya’s happier when she’s not along on such ventures, because she finds them BORING.

My good friend Cherry came over, and she and Maya made pizza, Caesar salad, and ice cream (all from scratch! FUN!), while Ted and I went out for a lovely dinner, and then a play. We went back to Zax Tavern…we have been there once before, and really liked it. Well, happily, we really liked it again. I had a beet salad, which was beets, green beans, a vinaigrette, and some wonderful goat cheese, called, Bermuda Triangle goat cheese. Boy, that stuff was good. I want more. I wish they sold it at BevMo or Trader Joes, or even Andronicos, because, um…YUM. Ted had a Caesar salad, which was good, but he kind of wished he had tried one of their more signature dishes, I think. Then he had the duck, while I had a very yummy pork chop, which was served with arugula and polenta. (Not a fan of polenta, but the arugula was very good.) For dessert, I had perhaps the best raspberry sorbet I’ve ever had…it was just bursting with raspberry flavor. Really good. Ted had a blueberry gallette, which he really enjoyed as well.

After dinner, we went to see a play. I’m not sure when the last time was that I went to see a play that wasn’t at school, either Maya’s or Ted’s nieces, and I liked it. I like those school plays too, but it was great to be in the presence of professional actors, who make their living at this craft, and really know what the heck they’re doing. The play was called “Permanent Collection,” and it was written by Thomas Gibbons. It is based on real events at the Barnes Foundation, which is a pretty amazing small museum in the suburbs of Philadelphia. When we lived in Philly, we lived on “City Line Avenue”, which bordered the town of Lower Marion, which is where the Barnes Foundation is currently located. We were fortunate enough to go and see it a few times while we lived there. It is a pretty amazing collection of art, considering it was amassed by one man, Dr. Barnes, and there is a very strict will stipulating the layout of the art, when people can visit the museum, etc. Well, in the mid-late 90s, the Barnes foundation became embroiled in a legal dispute with some of the neighbors, and the legal costs of this struggle have forced the foundation to make some difficult decisions, one of which is that it is likely that the museum will move from it’s home in the suburb of Marion, to downtown Philadelphia, where more money can be made, and hopefully the foundation can stay afloat. The play was about a fictional account of this legal dispute. I’ve got to tell you, that didn’t sound very interesting to me, except that it was the Barnes, where we had been, but Ted really wanted to see it, so that was my anniversary gift to him, that we would go. I loved it. The two hours pretty much sped by, and it was a moving, interesting, riveting play. If you live in the Bay Area, it’s at the Aurora Theater in Berkeley, ending August 5th. (That’s soon, so get going!). If you’re from elsewhere, keep your eyes open, because playhouses around the country have been putting on this production, and it’s worth seeing. And if you live near Philly, and you like impressionist art, get over to the Barnes before they move, and then again afterwards….I’m hoping a lot of the treasures that are hidden away in storage, a lot of African Art specifically, will be on display in the new location. It would be interesting to compare the effect of the old layout with the new.