Anniversary trip to Cleveland, part 2 of 2

Click here if you missed Part 1 of our trip. 

After completing our visit to the Cleveland Botanical Garden (nee Garden Center) with lunch, Dear Husband and I walked over to the Cleveland Museum of Art, which is free! (As it should be: CMA is the 4th richest art museum in the country.) It's had multiple building configurations since its founding in 1913; currently the original building has newer wings that enclose a light-filled courtyard with a lofty glass atrium. Apparently it stands in as the SHIELD headquarters in the Marvel University movies.

In the atrium are two intriguing statues, an installation called "Strata" by Native American artist Rose B. Simpson (b. 1983).

We were too late to join the 1pm docent-led tour, so I decided to focus on one corner of the second floor, beginning with the Tiffany glass and Faberge objects and ending with the armor.

To the left: marble column looking up to a beautiful glass dome. To the right: marble statue of Terpsichore, Muse of lyric poetry and dancing.

To the left: a Tiffany stained-glass window that used to be in someone's parlor. To the right and below: Faberge. Kudos to the Museum for turning otherwise wasted space on the flanks of this entrance hall into mini galleries.

They have several artifacts from Jewish history scattered around the museum, such as these beautiful silver pieces.

To the left: This wealthy woman has an extravagant outfit and what is likely her own real face; Peter Paul Rubens had the "radical" idea to represent the sitter him- or herself and not just the trappings of their station (often the conspicuous consumption of the nouveau riche). To the right: a nautilus shell goblet made possible by Dutch trading and imperialism that reminded me of the Grünes Gewölbe in Dresden. Below: an amount and variety of foodstuffs that only the best tables could provide.

To the left: Meissen porcelain! To the right: the most ridiculous thing we saw: a silver soup tureen with a lobster climbing over a fish for a handle. Below: a couple making beautiful music together.

We rested our sore dogs and tired lower backs on the benches in front of these enormous paintings of Apollo and the Muses by Charles Meynier (1768-1832) from 1798-1800. To the right (above) is Clio, the Muse of History. She clearly cares less about her raiment than about her writing; we tried to decipher the various relics in the shadows and debated why she has wings. ("The wings of history," as per Walter Benjamin on Paul Klee's Angelus Novus?) My favorite, composition-wise, was the one of the left, of Erato, Muse of Lyric Poetry. Apparently someone had painted a modesty veil over cupid, probably in the late 1800s. All told, it took conservators 5 years to restore the 5 paintings after they were discovered moldering in a Swiss castle.

It was...sobering to look at the evolution of metal armor and to see the hundreds or thousands of hours and finesse in the handiwork that went into protecting men and animals from each other.

Our last stop was an immersive video display about a Korean silk screen, Seven Jeweled Mountain. It was told like a fantastical travelogue, and indeed some of the mystery stems from the fact that the mountain range exists in what is now North Korea, so it is as unreachable as a peak in a fairy tale.

After a couple of hours to cool off and rest in our hotel room, we took the bus to Playhouse Square, where we ate dinner at a diner, Yours Truly. Then we joined the crowds streaming toward Progressive aka Jacobs Field for the Baltimore Orioles at Cleveland Guardians, the two best teams in the American League East. Alas, the O's were outmatched, as the hometown pitcher had a great outing, beating us 10-3. However, the rain and thunderstorms that had been forecast earlier in the week largely held off, and we only retreated up under the awning for an inning or so before regaining our seats in a delightful cross breeze behind home plate.

A talkative Lyft driver got us back to the hotel, where we promptly fell into bed to catch the end of Simone Biles's floor routine before an early morning drive back to Pittsburgh in time to make it to work by mid-morning. Happy 19th anniversary, DH!

San Diego Day 1: Do you want to be the pretty or strong today?

Instead of an August lake trip, this year Dear Husband and I flew to San Diego, CA, to celebrate my youngest brother's wedding and have a week of vacation. I wanted to do a whale-watching boat ride, but it was the wrong time of year, so on our first full day, I booked us a morning of sea kayaking at La Jolla to look at the birds and sea lions. My Awesome Parents (MAP) came with us. Photos courtesy of my new SIL lending me a waterproof sleeve for my phone.

When we were ready to get into our kayaks, the guides advised that "the prettier" person should sit up front and "the stronger" person in the back, so I asked DH which one he wanted to be that day. Unfortunately, he quickly got quite seasick, and neither of us had thought to pack Dramamine. My father offered to go back to shore with him, as his bum shoulder didn't really tolerate the paddling. He and I switched kayaks without capsizing, much to the guide's surprise, and my mother and I continued on. 

We learned about spotted leopard sharks, the 4 different marine environments, and the 7 La Jolla caves. Sunny Jim's is the cave that was dug from the surface and is now a tourist attraction. Our guides took us into Clam Cave, which had deep green water and purple rock marking the high-tide line on the walls.

Then it was back to the hotel for warm showers and a quick lunch before the wedding rehearsal. After another rest, it was time to head to the Old Town Tequila Factory for amazing views, excellent margheritas, and meeting (up with) friends and family. By way of explanation, the bride's friend from Annapolis brought the fantasy football belt she had won last season, which she is showing off here.

We ended the day with my New Jersey aunt and uncle at the St. Louis Cardinals vs San Diego Padres baseball game. The Padres had won the previous 7 games, so Petco Park was sold out. It was a fun atmosphere, especially since the game was close, and the Padres pulled off the win!

One of these years I will remember to put my chin down for selfies.

May I Remember, 2023 edition

I've been having too much fun to make time for blogging, so here's a photo essay to share the highlights from May 2023.

In March, Dear Husband got a new job as the music director and organist at Sewickley Presbyterian Church. In May, he produced a beautiful service with choir and orchestra called "Word Sung." You can watch the whole performance here, and his sermonette explaining everything here. (Think of it like spoken liner notes--it's really good.)

Our second spring in this house, we are still enjoying the garden, and even adding a little to it, mostly native plants, but hopefully also some raspberries, if the dryness doesn't kill them.

For Memorial Weekend, DH drove to his family in Ohio, and I went to mine in Maryland.

We celebrated my father's birthday / retirement at a brewery that used a butterfly for its logo.

I got my brother a new boardgame for his birthday: Trekking the National Parks. Reminds me a little of Ticket to Ride but with some of its own twists. Easy to learn, hard to master.

And we got a whole big group of us to attend a Baltimore Orioles game (they won!). The best part was that I managed to score seats with old family friends, and one of us got a baseball. It was hot, so I treated myself to Rita's chocolate Italian ice topped with the orange and vanilla custard swirl = Orioles gelato.

When it got back it was time to write a grant proposal for external funding, and then I attended a pediatric clinician-educator symposium over at the children's hospital, where I gave one of three podium research talks (and won the award for best presentation). I also took a lot of notes!

Phoenix, AZ, Take 2

Last March, Dear Husband and I enjoyed our trip to Phoenix, but we missed out on Cactus League baseball due to the labor dispute that wiped out Spring Training. So we made the rare decision to return to a place we had already visited. I booked us in the same AirBnB in a quiet neighborhood on the eastern edge of the city, but otherwise our itinerary was almost completely different.

Even though DH has some loyalty to the Cubs and the Guardians, I got us tickets at the two stadiums in Scottsdale to cut down on the time we would spend in traffic. Also because Cubs' tickets start at $30 to sit on the grass, and $60 for an actual seat.

No pictures of the Scottsdale Stadium exterior, because we underestimated how long it would take us to find parking in the city center and were consequently 10 minutes and 2 lead-off homeruns late to the game between the Milwaukee Brewers and San Francisco Giants. As a long-time Baltimore Orioles fan, it was disorienting to see so much black and orange unaccompanied by the familiar bird.

We had bleacher seats in the sun and were quite warm, finally moving into some shade from the grandstand as fans starting leaving toward the end. It was the more exciting of the two meet-ups we saw in terms of baseball (a rundown! a player who started an inning with a bunt single and proceeded to steal second and third base!), but the stadium experience was duller: no organ player, few inter-inning games (they did have two kids in cactus costumes race on the warning track), and so many advertisements--including on the massive light poles--that there wasn't even room for the batting lineup on the jumbotron.

For the Texas Rangers vs Colorado Rockies match at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, not only did I splurge on tickets behind home plate, but I reserved parking in the "home plate lot." Best $25 I spent all week, as it meant we we could zip in and out with little traffic, walking, or fuss.

According to their website, "Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) partnered with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies to build the award-winning Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, which opened in 2011 as the first Major League Baseball Spring Training facility to be built on Indian land in the nation."

"Salt River alerts baseball fans that they are visiting the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.  Fields refers to the 12 practice fields located within the facility and also the Community’s rich agricultural history.  Talking Stick is an historical reference to the traditional Pima calendar stick on which carvers recorded historical events and milestones."

"The Salt River Fields at Talking Stick Logo was designed by local Pima artist Royce Manual and refined by Dallas-based design firm, FocusEGd. Manuel incorporated a rattlesnake to symbolize the Arizona Diamondbacks and the role the rattlesnake plays in Native American legend. The logo emphasizes a mountain to symbolize the Colorado Rockies and the scenic mountain ranges that surround Salt River Fields."

We enjoyed the cheesy live theater organ themes between plays, and there were the usual trivia and shell games between innings. No t-shirt cannon, though.

It was rather chilly in the shade, so for the sixth inning we walked around the ballpark to get some sun and enjoy a 360-degree view of the action.

As I rarely make the time to concentrate on a jigsaw puzzle at home, I decided to do this succulent puzzle a little bit at a time such that, almost like a magical charm, the vacation would be over when I finished it.