Reta's 93rd Birthday

 The Burlington Skyway was gloomy and wet when John and I rode over it on our way to St Catharines to celebrate my mother's 93rd birthday.

But things brightened up immediately when we joined the glowing birthday girl for lunch in the dining room of Niagara Gardens Retirement Manor.

Reta is wearing our birthday gift, a brooch made by Toronto jewelry designer, Andrea Nellis.

The food and service in the Niagara Gardens dining room is great and we were soon having our usual good time.

Back in Reta's room, Mom and I discussed some financial matters before John opened the champagne and then we tucked into ginger/saffron cookies from Clafouti and dark chocolate from Ikea.

 We watched Wes Anderson's delightful pre-teen love story, Moonrise Kingdom. It fit our mood perfectly.

When my sister-in-law, Merla, and my sister, Kathy, and her hubbie, Brian arrived we whisked off to a favourite family restaurant, Fortis, for hearty birthday fare. Happy Birthday, Reta!!

36 Bourgeois Drawings

Bill and I came up the escalator at the Museum of Modern Art and were pleased to see this installation of drawings by Louis Bourgeois.  

We weren't familiar with this series -- The Fragile, 2007.

Archival dyes on fabric.

The MOMA website has uploaded a great collection of Bourgeois drawings.

Meanwhile, back at the Met

John and I have finally had time to get back to our New York pictures from last October. Here are the rest of the pictures we took visiting the fabulous Metropolitan Museum of Art.

We passed these casually attired Upper East Side ladies as we neared the Met. Later we noticed that they were headed for a Saturday art lecture.

We loved the fellow tourists preparing to go in,

and the swirl of activity when you enter the Great Entrance Hall.

In a show of digitally altered photographs we liked this vision of exotic, urban crush by Robert Polidori.

An exhibit of the influence of Andy Warhol's work on American contemporary artists, Regarding Warhol: 60 Artists, 50 Years, ended with a reconstruction of one of his shows from the 60's with it's charming, playful, Silver Balloons and cow wallpaper.

Then we wandered almost aimlessly through the endless galleries of exquisite artwork. We both admired this elegant Bronzino, Portrait of a Young Man, c. 1530

and this trio of Renaissance profiles. That's Fra Filippo Lippi's Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement, c. 1439 in the center.

As usual, the visitors are as interesting as the artwork. The Honorable Henry Fane with Inigo Jones and Charles Blair, 1761-66, by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

This group were being guided by a docent through the collections highlights. They're studying a Tiepolo here.

John loved this vivacious guide explaining an African sculpture.

Must be great to study amidst the gorgeous Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas galleries.

How hip is this fantastic pot! Dough Bowl, 1994, by Diego Romero.

This young couple were being moved by a Giacometti.

John couldn't resist going in for details of this lovely Cubist painting.

Pablo Picasso, Still Life with a Bottle of Rum, 1911.

The Contemporary Art galleries are very grand. That's Chuck Close's Lucas, 1986-87 to the left and one of Warhol's Mao paintings in the centre.

 Morris Louis' Untitled, 1960.

Andy Warhol's Ethel Scull 36 Times, 1963.

Jennifer Bartlett's Five P.M., 1991-92.

The oh so American Jackson Pollock. Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950. At this point we decided to brave the forecast wet outside.

But first a stop at the Bookshop so I can scan for new postcards

and John can wallow in the art books.

Ah, the rains have stopped. 

Now to catch a 5th Ave bus down to Union Square.

New Year's Day

Bill and I started the new year with lunch in Chinatown.

We went on to the Art Gallery of Ontario for the Rivera/Kalho show. Bill caught a stranger sitting in front of these Day of the Dead effigies of the artists.

Since Frank Gehry's renovation it's always a pleasure to walk around the AGO.

 I'm an old fan of Michael Snow so we checked out his Objects of Vision show. This is our buddy Shelley Savor looking into Snow's Zone of 1982..

That's me sitting in his Seated Sculpture, also of 1982. 

We then had a good look at the Josef Sudek show of photographs before we emerged at the back of the building by the rear elevators. 

A rest in the sculpture atrium before we go to our reward -- the bookstore. 

 

 Interesting to see these two new books on Caravaggio.

Then we headed into Chinatown. Good art always makes the world look more arty.

 Shelley wanted to buy some carrots for a pea soup she was making out of a hambone from last night's roast. Bill took this picture while we waited for Shell outside the Hua Long Supermarket on Spadina.

Bill dutifully wrote down the name and address of the market in case he might want to post it later.

Julia Child

Bring on the roasted potatoes!

Comfort Food

Tonight Bill baked penne with three kinds of sausage and sweet peppers. When it came out of the oven he called me in to take an official picture. Yum!

One hot Italian, two Great Canadian and one wild boar sausage -- all from Sanagan's Meats in Kensington Market. Romano and smoked mozzarella cheeses -- Bill has found this very tasty mozzarella at Cheese Magic next door to Sanagan's. Red, yellow and orange sweet peppers in tomato sauce.

Bill served it up with swiss chard. It was fun having different kinds of sausage. Good Yuletide grub.

Ed Hanley Restrapping a Tabla

Our friend Ed Hanley, tabla player in Autorickshaw made this fun video. That's Ed on the soundtrack.

Our Home Featured on Etsy

Christine Domanic of Etsy just posted a profile about Bill and my apartment on her Etsy decorating blog: "Get the Look Decor". Not all that stuff is ours -- some of the details are ads linking to various Etsy sites, but it's a nice profile. http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/get-the-look-decor-the-artists-library/

Two Goyas

 On our last visit to the Met Bill and I had time to have a good look at this popular Goya. I see from the tag that it is now only attributed to Goya. Majas on a Balcony, c. 1810. Oil on canvas

Below Goya's Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga, 1784-1792