Teenage Moment

Tonight at dinner I was a bit taken aback by Stephen's approach to reading "The Kite Runner." (Stephen is a high-school freshman.) Apparently to make the school assignment more fun he would substitute certain words in his head for those in the text. Amir (the main character) became Avatar, Kabul became Pandora, and money became unobtainium. I hope he doesn't mix them up on the test.

This and That

Today I am in Panera's in Cherry Creek working. Well, I have spent 90 minutes trying different things to make my blog look better. I have come to the conclusion that I need more computer skills than I have or want to make my blog look great. I may have to ask for help.

I do know more pictures would be a start, so I will have to either start taking photos or raid Laurence's computer for them. Any other ideas for my blog improvement project would be welcome.

So, I'm at Panera's, near the fake fire (because it is the warmest spot in the restaurant) and trying to work. I have no ideas for today, well, I do have ideas, I just don't feel like writing about any of them. (Truly, do you really want to read about my children's piano recital? Other than they played brilliantly, better than any other children have ever played before, there is not much to tell.) I have refilled my ice tea twice, just so I can walk around and waste time. For the record, it seems to be card playing day. Lots of meetings, too. People working on computers. It's very inspiring. I think I could get quite a bit of writing done, if I could only think of something.

I would have been at the barn this morning, riding my faithful steed, Raymond, except he twisted a shoe. The farrier I use is at some horse show for the week, so unless another farrier happens to be at the barn, Ray gets to hang out in his stall and chomp hay all week. (For those of you who know horses, I (and by I, I mean my trainer, Rebecca) have removed the offending shoe so he won't tear up his hoof.) Ray messed up his front shoe, but it seems if it had been a back shoe, both back shoes could be removed and I could ride him. I think. I have no idea why no back shoes are OK, but no front shoes are not.

I discovered his twisted shoe yesterday right before our jumping lesson. Luckily for me, but not for Tracy (who was driving a parent to a doctor's appointment), she couldn't ride and I borrowed her horse, Summer. This was very fun. She (Summer, not Tracy) is a small bay thoroughbred. Very ladylike. (Come to think of it Tracy is ladylike, too.) She (again, Summer) is very light and just sails over jumps. We jumped cross rails. (Which look exactly like they sound, two rails crossed in the middle. The only thing lower than a cross rail is a pole on the ground. We started with poles.) I know, not hugely challenging, unless you are a beginner, having irrational jumping fears, or are riding your friend's horse for the first time and are worried about breaking her. (If you must know, I have experienced all three situations.) Summer did great and I did not injure or frighten her a bit.

Tomorrow, in keeping with my blog improvements, I will take pictures of Ray and Summer and add them to this post.

Later.

Update: Finally added a picture of Summer to this post.

Mondrian vs van Doesburg

In October we took advantage of a school break and went to New York City. There Laurence and I tortured the boys with trips to various museums and cultural happenings. One of the places we visited was the Guggenheim, the museum designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

For those of you who have never visited the museum, it is a giant spiral. From the atrium it looks pretty cool (it reminded me of the Baltimore Aquarium which spirals around a giant fish tank), and it's fun to walk up the ramp and into the various short halls that lead into the different galleries. Stephen and Harrison were very enthusiastic and came up with all sorts of "Call of Duty" (a video game where you hunt aliens in various settings) scenarios that could take place in it.

One of the small galleries contained an exhibit by some artist. (Honestly, I have no idea what the artist's name is. I am new to this blogging and failed to bring a notebook to write down this type of thing. I figured I could look it up on the internet, but it turns out you need more info than "some artist at the Guggenheim". I don't even know if it was a temporary or permanent exhibit. Or which level it was on, which is a problem with the ramp. Or even the artist's gender. Anyway, I'll try to do better in the future, because, of course, you are dying to know the name of this artist.) We entered and it was like a library, complete with bookshelves and books, which you could take down and read. (No, I don't remember what the books titles were or what they were about.) Part of the exhibit was roped off and it had a table and chairs, more shelves, and shattered glass (fake it turns out) all over the place.

I have no idea what it meant or what it referred to. I do know the explanatory sign made a reference to the split between Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg over their views regarding diagonal versus horizontal and vertical lines. (Please just think about that for a moment. Even if you are a serious student of art, the absurdity of it has to get you.)

These two Dutch artists became friends after van Doesburg wrote an article about an exposition for a magazine. (Apparently he could not make a living simply painting.) The exposition contained some works by Mondrian and van Doesburg was transported, or at least interested enough to contact Mondrian. They corresponded for years, then van Doesburg moved to Paris where Mondrian lived. They hung out together a great deal until "van Doesburg insisted on the diagonal's dynamic aspects." (Wikipedia) This proved too much for Mondrian, who loved the grid format, and the friendship ended. (No worries, it was only temporary. You do have to wonder, though, if they remained close.)

Above is a picture by Theo van Doesburg titled "Counter-Composition XIV." I do not have a Mondrian for comparison because he died in 1944 and his works are not yet in the public domain. (He must be dead for 70 years, so check back in 2014 and I'll have one posted.) This is not as big a problem as you might expect. Simply tilt your computer 45 degrees and you'll have an idea of what a Mondrian looks like.