Approaching Year's End

December 28, 2014 – Approaching Year’s End

It’s hard to believe that it’s the end of December.  We’ve had several recent days where the temperatures reached 60 degrees – and it’s officially winter!  Now, I’m not complaining.  I’ve enjoyed being able to spend more time out of doors.  I can get my exercise by walking through the neighborhood, or even by taking a long walk in DC, which is how I spent the day after Christmas. 

On the morning of December 26, the sun was shining brightly and the air was mild when my friend Cheri and I hopped on the Metro.  It was a perfect day for an urban hike. Right away, we noticed the absence of cars on the roads and the paucity of passengers on the trains.  Our first stop on our agenda was the Sackler Museum of Asian Art, a gem of a museum that is often overlooked by the hordes of tourists who throng the more imposing Smithsonian structures on the National Mall.  As a result, we were able to view two very interesting new exhibits without having to battle crowds.  

The Smithsonian Castle, decorated for the holidays with birch trunks

The first exhibit we saw, called The Traveller’s Eye, presented over 100 works from the museum’s collection that were created over a 500-year period.  They ranged from Chinese scrolls to Japanese woodblock prints to contemporary photographs from the Indian subcontinent.  Through these works, we gained an insight into both commercial and tourist travel across Asia over the centuries.  

A Japanese print from the exhibit, The Traveller's Eye

The second exhibit, Unearthing Arabia, offered a fascinating window into early civilization in the southern Arabian Peninsula.  It focused on the archaeological expedition of a team organized and led by Wendell Phillips.  In the early 1950s, Phillips and his crew unearthed the ruins of an ancient capital of the Qataban kingdom in Timna, located along the Biblical spice route in modern-day Yemen.  Unfortunately, the volatile and dangerous political situation in Yemen forced the group to abandon their work prematurely.  It wasn’t until the late 1990s that a team returned to the area to carry on the work of Phillips, who had died in the interim.  It was especially interesting to see the carvings of South Arabian writing on many of the sculptures.  South Arabian had 29 letters but no vowels, much like Hebrew.  The South Arabian script (where a character represents a syllable) was abandoned on the Arabian Peninsula with the advent of Islam, but survives to this day in Amharic, the language of Ethiopia. 

Outside once again, we finally saw crowds along the Mall – a huge line dominated by families with children, waiting to get through the security entrance for the Air and Space Museum.  We continued on in the direction of the Capitol, stopping at the National Botanical Gardens to see the holiday exhibit.  We skipped the snaking line (more families with more restless children) waiting to see the model trains and headed straight into the moist tropical heat of the main hall.  The airy space was decked out in a refreshing palette of hot pink (poinsettias with tiny leaves) and cool silver and blue (ribbons and sparkly balls).  We stayed just long enough to snap a few photos.  

Part of the holiday exhibit at the National Botanical Gardens

Since our goal was to combine museum-going with exercise, we kept walking over Capitol Hill and then down Pennsylvania Avenue to Eastern Market, a walk of close to 2 miles from the Sackler.  The Hill was pretty deserted, and it turned out that Eastern Market was closed for the holiday.  There were certainly no tourists in sight.  But the restaurants near the market were open, and we treated ourselves to delicious galettes de sarrasin (buckwheat crepes) filled with salmon, cheese and veggies at Montmartre, a charming French restaurant on Seventh Street SE. 

When I got home, I was so energized from being out in the fresh air that I sat down at the computer and tackled a job that I’d been avoiding for weeks, i.e. writing our annual letter.  The task had taken on a sense of urgency because Elliott, tired of my procrastinating, had shown me a 3-page draft that he’d laboriously penciled.  The problem with his letter was that it dealt exclusively with his medical issues, in great detail.  I managed to write up a more positive and balanced overview of our year and sent it out before the day was over.  It felt wonderful to check that off the To Do list.   

The good weather and my energy level lasted a couple of more days.  We set out to run some errands on Saturday morning, and found both Costco and Wegman’s relatively deserted.  Obviously, a lot of local residents were out of town for the holidays, which made shopping an unexpected pleasure.  In the afternoon, Elliott and I went off once again in search of a push broom, and finally, after several unsuccessful attempts, located a suitable specimen at a small family-run hardware store in Falls Church.  As you can see in the photo, he is delighted with his purchase. 

We spent a very productive day at home on Sunday.  With Marshall’s help, we moved the flat file and drafting table from the garage into the rec room.  I’m very excited to have a comfortable, spacious studio downstairs where Matt and I can work on our fused glass.  In the photo above, you’ll notice two paintings propped up on the brick ledge.  The one on the right is my painting of an interior scene in our home in France.  The painting on the left is a still life by Elliott Thompson, painted when he was living in Paris back in the 1950s.  

Mon atelier (my studio)