Day-trip to Fort Worth

After my weekend jaunt with my girlfriends last Friday, I decided that it was ridiculous that we lived so close to Fort Worth and that my kids hadn't been down to the Stockyards or hadn't seen the daily cattle drive that happens on the streets of old downtown. So today my mom and I loaded up my charges and we headed down to Exchange Street to see some longhorn cattle.
THE WHITEST MOM U KNOW
I think I'm so white, I glow in the dark. I know that I reflect sun rays onto everyone else around me, thus aiding in everyone else's tan. Hey, I do what I can. Besides, while it's patently unfair that I have to be Day-Glo White, I can lay claim to the prize of having only four or five hairs on my legs, negating any need for leg-shaving. I don't shave, I tweeze. You're jealous. But you're also tan, so shut up.


This cowboy was quite adept at flicking the whip and making it crack like a gunshot. He also had trained his horse to smile for the camera, which was a nice touch. I think my mom might've gotten a photo of that hilarity, so when I get the chance to upload her pics, I'll try to remember to post one here to show you.



I really enjoyed getting a look at this fellow's horse. I think that this particular paint pattern might qualify as a "Medicine Hat" paint, because he was almost completely white except for a "hat" spot on top of his head. I could be wrong, I didn't Google it or anything, I'm just going by what I remember from that old Marguerite Henry story about the Medicine Hat Stallion back when I was a little kid reading every single horse book I could get my mitts on.



They drive a herd of longhorn cattle down Exchange Street twice a day, every day. It's very cool to watch.

Afterwards we went to Riscky's Barbeque and I enjoyed --nay, demolished-- some beef ribs that were absolute perfection.

And then after that, we drove over to the Modern and to the Kimbell museums to take in some art. Saw several Jackson Pollocks, Andy Warhols, a nifty Rothko and an awesome Donald Judd sculpture (among much awesomeness at the Modern), and then at the Kimbell we saw one of the coolest things EVAR -- the earliest known Michelangelo painting, done by him when he was about twelve or thirteen years old. Unbelievable. The dude was incredibly gifted.

After THAT, we went over to the TCU campus to check out a little-known but very cool collection of meteorites.

It was a marvy day in a terrific town. Fort Worth is pure awesomeness. If you've never visited it, you really should.

This is NOT at my house in Texas

This is at my BFF's house in West Des Moines, Iowa, where they just got - what? - fifteen or so inches of snow. Can somebody 'splain to me why she still has to live there? Just looking at this makes me feel miserable.

I'd head for Tahiti, but I hear they're having environmental troubles in Micronesia.

Autumn Landscape

Another Tiffany window in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is Autumn Landscape, done in 1923/24. It might be the most vivid, intense stained-glass window I ever saw in my life:



I mean, really. I had never seen anything like this window in my LIFE. It was quite literally breathtaking.

The autumn landscape in Central Park was also quite nice, however:



Bright little surprises lay around every bend in the path.

I really DO love New York.

And yet not one of them said "Ni!"

Nor did I find any adjacent shrubbery. This particular room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was rather devoid of vegetation. Of course, if I'd been able to take these kuh-NIGGITS out back into Central Park, they might've just sprung to life and jousted a few joggers.

A lovely specimen Japanese maple tree (actually, this one could be a Korean maple; they always seem even more delicate than their Japanese siblings) in Central Park on my birthday, November 14, 2009.

Gorgeous stuff

Did you know that there are Tiffany stained-glass windows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC?

This one's called "View of Oyster Bay" and he did it back in 1908. It's huge and it is absolutely lovely.

And on my way up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I walked through Central Park. The fall foliage is just amazing, and even on a rainy Saturday morning, that place is a treasure.

Happy birthday to me!

My traditional birthday cake has always been a carrot cake. So last night, after the show, we stopped at Junior's and I had a carrot-cake cheesecake.

It IS New York, after all.

How old am I? Forty-three. I am not bothered by the number; it's like weight -- it's just a number. Doesn't define me.

I'm headed out to the Metropolitan Museum of Art this morning.

Times Square!!

Me, with my BFF, on Times Square. TIMES SQUARE. On November 13, 2009, after having spent an unbelievable couple of hours watching Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig on stage in A Steady Rain. They were amazing... they had the Chicago dialect down quite well; you'd probably never guess.

Until the show was over, of course. When the lights came back up, they were both still on stage and told us they were raising money for a particular charity... and that most shows auctioned off a piece of the stage, but since the set was rather spare for this play, they couldn't do that... so the two of them BEGAN UNBUTTONING THEIR SHIRTS to reveal their undershirts, and said they'd sign the undershirts and give them to the highest bidder.

Why am I not rich? I want to know this.

Anyway, they were speaking in their own dialects for this last part, which I enjoyed very much because we got to hear them talking as themselves. They congratulated the audience for having turned off their cell phones; they said they were delighted to realize they'd gotten through the entire show without a single phone ringing. Heck, I didn't just turn mine to vibrate, I turned it OFF. There just isn't an emergency that can't wait until I get out of the theater.

The show itself was very gritty, hard-edged and ugly... the characters were not particularly nice people, and I wouldn't take a kid to this show for anything. Very rough. But totally well-played by these two incredible actors. I was thrilled to my core to be there.

I had forgotten...

I had forgotten just how congested and FULL OF PEOPLE this place (NYC) is. I woke up this morning super-early... guess I'm excited to be here or something, go figure... and called down to the desk to ask where I might be able to go get some hairspray (couldn't carry that on the plane) and a curling iron (didn't have room for it in my bag). He said there was a pharmacy around the corner, so I put on some britches and a coat and headed out.

They're not kidding when they say this city never sleeps.

The pharmacy place was very much like a CVS or a Walgreens back home, and the prices were comparable -- which surprised me.

The hotel had some Starbuck's coffee downstairs, which I am currently partaking of while enjoying Fox & Friends. Then I'm off to enjoy this wonderful city. I really do love this place. I'll send in Tweets as I discover unusual or fun things, and I'll take lots of pictures. And tonight... tonight... tonight... I'll be ON BROADWAY enjoying gazing up at Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig on stage. Please, God, let them both be there tonight. No understudies, fellows... you can't be sick. Not allowed. Not when I've come all this way to see you both.

I guess I'm weird, but I like to drink my coffee with real cream. I can't have non-dairy creamer because it's made from corn products, so I have to have milk or half-and-half. There doesn't seem to be a coffee place anywhere that offers actual CREAM to people to put in their coffee. I don't have to have MUCH, but I just like the smoothness of it. I'm suffering through coffee with milk right now, and it'll do, but folks are just missing out by eschewing real cream. Seriously, peeps.

Start spreadin' the newz...

I'm leavin' tomorrow...

Debating whether to take my laptop or go without. Mostly it's a weight issue, but I think I will bring it along. I'm hoping to be carryon-only this trip, since it costs an arm and a leg extra to check baggage (only the most seriously stoopid thing the airlines ever instituted).

We shall see. In the meantime, I'm going to go back into the bedroom and finish packing.

Another NYC trip in my future?

Yes, I'm already going to NYC next month for my birthday, thanks to my BFF. But it looks like I'm going to be accompanying a group of students to NYC next June as well.

I love traveling, and I love my students. What's not to love about a trip where everything's planned out and taken care of? I love the kinds of trips where I'm on my own, but sometimes it's nice to have someone else doing the planning and the meals and stuff.

I'd also like to take Isaac along on the trip. We shall see if that works out.

============

I have been SO STINKIN' TIRED every evening when I get home from school. I would hate this if I didn't love my job so much.

This is the first year I've really felt like my class is beginning to "gel", that I'm actually teaching art and not just treading water or staying afloat. I really love my new classroom with its closets (!!) and its sink and its tile floors. I love that it's at the front of the school building, close to all the action in the office and in the hallways.

Birthday plans

Okay, so my BFF calls me up and suggests maybe we should try to score tickets to see Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman on Broadway this fall for my birthday.

Holy cow! I like the way this girl thinks.

Well, the tickets for "A Steady Rain" are hard to come by, so we had to grab some pretty fast. But now we're in debt.

So we're going to start selling stuff on eBay to raise the cash to do this.

If you're interested, here's a link to the first item up for bid. I will post all the other stuff as I get it uploaded.

Me & my teacher pals at the Smithsonian

The Smithsonian's photographer posted this pic on their Flickr account, so I grabbed it to use here. This is the group of teachers who participated in the Clarice Smith American Art Education Initiative this summer at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. That's me standing (yes, I'm standing) on the back row, third from the right.

What an awesome and wonderful experience that was. I don't want it to be the last; I'm scouring the Smithsonian web sites frequently to see what they're offering in the way of continuing ed for teachers. I mean, why not? Might as well do cool stuff, since I have to do continuing ed anyway. Wasting time on stuff I personally don't need like Classroom Discipline -- not anymore, dude. I'm going for the big stuff. Life's too short.

The traveler returns

I arrived at Dee Eff Dubya this evening at about 8:30pm. The plane rides were only about half full and were not plagued with the usual turbulence and mayhem that seems to follow me. Very smooth, and both legs of the trip arrived about twenty minutes earlier than scheduled.

I'm plumb tard. I still have to print out the worship programs for tomorrow morning's church service, but that'll be okay.

I don't know if it's just a result of being on the airplane, or whether there's something blooming here now that wasn't blooming when I left... my sinuses are burning. With all my Metro rides and plane rides, it sure would suck to have come home with H1N1 or some other sort of rot. Yecch. That's precisely how I want to begin my school year.

Monday morning I'll be back at school, hopefully working on moving into the other classroom. Y'all just pray I get a computer projector this year. [fingers crossed expectantly]

Moonraker

I thought this satellite thingy up on the ceiling looked very James Bond-ish.

History maker

She's bigger in person than I expected. Like, WAY bigger.

This is not one of my own photographs, but I wish it was. It's the Jefferson Memorial at sunset, from across the Tidal Basin, taken by a guy whose Etsy profile just describes him as "photome" from Brooklyn. I wish I knew more; I'd attribute this to him. I love his work.

I am disappointed and dismayed by the choices of the people who are in charge here in Washington, DC, but I love this place. I haven't taken a single picture yet, but expect to see some soon. In the meantime, enjoy this oil painting by Nancy Merkle:

Getting ready

I'm getting geared-up for my next visit to Washington, DC. This time I get to bring along the Real Camera -- last time I couldn't bring it because it isn't mine, it belongs to the school district. But this time I'm going to a teacher workshop at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and they specifically request that we bring along a digital camera. Yay!!!

I will take my laptop along with me, since there's wi-fi access at the museum and at the place where I'll be staying, and I will share some of my experiences. I am really stoked about this workshop; it's going to be intensive and busy and I expect to come back with a LOT of good ideas about incorporating art into the entire high school curriculum at Ballyhoo.

I'm leaving a few days early and meeting my BFF there. I had to use up the last of my American Airlines airmiles by August 1 and I had enough for two round-trip tickets, so she's flying in and we're going to spend a couple of days together before school starts up again. She's the very best companion for a DC visit, since she lived and worked there back in the 90s.

Next time I come to DC, though, I'd really like to bring my kids and show them around. I'd like for Isaac to be just a tad older, though, and for him to have some idea of what we're looking at when we go. I'd also like to bring a group of students to DC and spend a week going through all the Smithsonians and Capitol Hill and the monuments and stuff.

But not this time. I have work to do, and there won't be as much time for wandering and sightseeing this time. There will be some, of course... I'll have The Camera, and it would be a travesty not to use it. Right?

And besides, there will surely be more opportunities for amusement, like seeing a guy walking around with the dry cleaning tag still sticking out of his shirt.

Umm... it ain't just speed, dudes. I'm just sayin'.

Police launch I-35 enforcement campaign

The stretch of I-35E being targeted runs from Corinth north to the I-35 east-west split in Denton. It is a dangerous highway — 125 accidents happened along this section last June, July and August. Most crashes were the result of speeding, driver inattention and aggressive driving.

Hey, guys. I'd just like to mention that Denton's microscopic acceleration ramps MIGHT be part of the problem as well as speedy folks. I don't speed through Denton because it's just too dadgum dangerous. If you try to merge onto I-35 while you're in Denton, you're literally taking your life in your hands because the acceleration ramps (without exception, I've found) are about ten feet long. I wish I were exaggerating. Who can dash in between all the semis running sixty-five mph with no acceleration room to do so? I worry to death about my elderly grandparents when they come visit my parents and have to drive on the freeway in Denton.

Interstate 35 through Denton needs a complete overhaul, I'm not gonna lie. It'll probably be even more of a pain-in-the-arse than the interminable 75 project a few miles to the east of us. But it really really really needs to be done. Needed to be done ten years ago, actually. But better late than never.

Do it, guys. Just do it.

The Best Weekend EVAR

I went somewhere absolutely awesome and cool this past weekend.



You just WISH you were me.



That gorgeous babe sitting on the stone wall next to me? That's only my bestest friend in the whole wide world. My bestest friend who I almost never get to see in person anymore because we live hundreds of miles apart.





Still thinking about where my bestest friend and I met up? Just look UP.






No, I mean go OUTSIDE and look up. Way, way UP.






Yep, you got it now, I'll bet. We went to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC.

Believe me, if you've never seen DC at cherry-blossom time, you are missing out. The pink-white trees are phenomenal... and the numbers of people are astronomical... which drove us inside to my favorite building on the mall, the National Gallery of Art... where I once again got to see my favorite marble sculpture EVAR:



That's Carpeaux' "Girl With a Shell." I want to take Shelly-Girl home with me. If she ever turns up missing, it might be a good idea to check my living room.

There's also this wonderful painting by Mary Cassatt:



"Little Girl in a Blue Armchair"... isn't she just deliciously bored?

But WE weren't bored. Oh no, sirree. Not even once.

Okay, there was this once, but it was because we decided to go to a Palm Sunday church service and picked the wrong church -- that place was D-E-A-D -- but it was okay because it only lasted a little while and then we got to leave and go eat lunch.



Eat!



O frabjous day, callooh, callay, did we ever EAT. We ate some fantabulously scrumptious things like Burmese beef in coconut cream gravy, Chinese pork dumplings, scallops with roasted garlic, and Russian cabbage rolls. That's just a small sampling, believe me. I love food and so does my bestest friend. Food, glorious food! And the DC area is a super-fantastic place to sample many, many cuisines, even on a budget.

We also visited the National Cathedral, a place I'd never had the opportunity to see:





What a spectacular place:





A choir was rehearsing Bach with a period-accurate orchestra while we toured the interior, and the sound was heavenly.



We also visited Arlington National Cemetery and saw the Eternal Flame on JFK's gravesite:





Arlington is a beautiful, somber place.





We got to watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns:











I can't even begin to tell you just how great this was. I *so* needed to spend time with her, and we both desperately needed to get away like this. It was an unforgettable trip, and my companion was infinitely compatible. We shared breathless laughter, awesome wonder, and a couple of tears as well. Friends like her just don't come along very often; I pity people who never find one.




I love you, Cindy!!! Thank you for coming with me!!

P.S.: Thanks, JoeMama, for picking up the kids at school and taking them for part of the time, and thanks to hubby Rick for nursing vomiting children Sunday and Monday (yuggh -- I confess I'm not sorry to have missed THAT).

Blogging will be light

Or more likely nonexistent for the next few days. I'm going to be doing something really fun. And I'll tell you about it when I get back.