Friday, December 4, 2009

Last Bits about the SoCal Trip

I mentioned our visit to The Getty, but didn't talk much about what we saw there. It would take days and days of exploring to see it all, and we only had one afternoon, so while The Wonderful Genevieve and the kids explored the kids' activities, Son, Husband, and I wandered through some of the painting galleries.

I know absolutely nothing about art (I barely even know what I like... heh), but some of the paintings spoke to me in a way that made me want to camp out and stare. For hours.


This little girl, painted by Fernand Khnopff in 1885, had me mesmerized. Why is she so sad?



This little image of a painting by Lawrence Alma Tadema, does nothing to indicate how amazingly large and beautiful it is. Each figure lives and breathes, the flowers are so real that you feel like you can reach out and pick them. (not that I recommend trying that- there are People Watching. Everywhere).



I had to be dragged away from Maria Frederike van Reede-Athlone (who could, perhaps, be Dakota Fanning's ancestor)



And the lighting in this painting held me spellbound.

Next time we go to SoCal (and there will be a next time, in the not too distant future), I'm going back to gaze some more.

In between sight seeing, and expanding my cultural horizons, we did a lot of eating (no restaurants- but many excellent take-out meals from small stores and eateries. Lots of Mexican, which was wonderful), and hiking (every direction is uphill in Camarillo), and smelling of the ocean (which was only 8 miles away- though in CA miles, that's about 20 minutes). I also finished reading The Wyrm King, with Voracious Reader.

We've read all of the Spiderwick books together, and so it was nice to finish out the series the same way. I have never been particularly fond of the characters or stories in either Spiderwick cycle- I find them far less likeable than the Hogwarts Crew, or Percy Jackson's Demigod Buddies, but the series did wrap up satisfactorily, and VR loved it (and the signed copy that I got from Mysterious Galaxy Books).

We laughed and talked, and had some Serious Gramma Time (which I needed). I was surprised by the cool evenings (sweatshirt weather) and total lack of clouds and bugs.
What didn't I do in CA?
I didn't get my knitting needles out. Even once.

But I'm making up for that now.

3 comments:

quiltcontemplation blogspot said...

beautiful paintings

Anonymous said...

Having lived in both South Dakota and southern California, I've enjoyed reading about your trip to California. I appreciate your comments about no bugs, having also lived in Georgia. Loved the food, hated the bugs and humidity. I visited the Getty Museum once. It was memorable and impressive. One of the first things my arthritic knees appreciated were the wide, shallow steps up to the plaza. Why aren't all stairs built that way? The view wasn't bad either. I pretended I was eating my lunch at a hillside villa in Italy.

kaykatrn said...

My daughter is in total agreement that every direction in Camarillo seems to be uphill. I love your choice of paintings from the Getty. Kathy Sue.