Some Random Thoughts and a Report on the Weekend Activities

So I have been watching this show about Ryan and Tatum O'Neil on OWN. It is a very good show about a troubled parent child relationship- and I can't decide if it is good for me to watch or if it is not helping me at all. The father is a charismatic angry man- who can't see the affect of his temper, abuse and abandonment on his children at all. A little familiar no? And this is a show about them mending their relationship. And I am in limbo a little with my mom right now. I am at the spot I have been dreading- Chemo is over and now what? Where do we go from here. I don't think we are ready to really work on our issues that need some resolution if we are to go forward. But I don't really want to do that work with her. We are being pleasant for one another- doing our fake friendly thing. But this hasn't been a great place for me in the past. So I am at a cross roads and while I watch this show- I just keep thinking do these people really ever change? And how much do I have her stay in my life?

And on another note-(no pictures because I was camera cursed this day).

Alma wanted to go to San Francisco this weekend- but it was just too much for me. I was just too overwhelmed with everything I am trying to juggle right now- kids- work- trying to get the contractor to finish the remodel- the house- and getting away for the weekend just felt like more work. So at the last minute I canceled the weekend. So when we got up on Sat morning Alma informed us that we were going to have a family outing to the Railroad Museum in Old Town Sacramento. After we looked at trains, and climbed in trains, and played with trains we walked a little in old town. And by this I mean we went to the first of the thousand candy in a barrel stores and let the boys pick out stuff to their hearts content (except I put half of the stuff back after they picked it). The man at the register noticed that Beckett always picked things for him and his brother or tried to get one for the whole family. He told Beckett that he noticed how thoughtful he was and it made him happy to see such a good boy and gave him two pieces of chocolate as a reward. Wasn't that nice of him? And why are there so many candy in a barrel stores in four square blocks? Really! That is what people want?

At this point we got some water and walked to the Crocker Art Museum. There has been an Impressionist show there that I have been wanting to see and since we were so close the family indulged me. I was happy to see the special exhibit (why were they scattered hither and yon in the museum!?!) and play in the tot land with the boys while Alma tried to get a little time in the permanent collection. The Crocker Museum is having this great literature and art series with all these great educational and discussion programs that look so good- but they are all on Thursdays- the one day of the week I work all day. That was a little disappointing. But I got the book and will read it (3 chap. down) and have discussions with myself. Or Alma. But so far he thought I was saying Dr Goddard when I was talking about a famous womanizing OBGYN. So not exactly stimulating thoughts. And as usual my very favorite art- California landscapes- are always well represented at the Crocker. There was one of the visiting pieces from the Brooklyn Museum that Alma and I just loved of three women (I like to think sisters) in profile- breath

taking.

On the Heights by Charles Curran

And while the boys played in the tot room we discussed where to go for now for our private art collection. Alma and I both love art but our tastes are different- I like landscapes and some modern art- Alma likes portraits and very classical pieces. Museums are easy for us we wander and comment and disagree on aspects. We normally walk around separately and then meet to point out the pieces that moved us or made us think. It is interesting how often we both have something to say about the same pieces- or having my attention drawn to something I passed over. Any ways- it was a great day and we of course enjoyed seeing what the boys liked as well. One of the most interesting paintings was in the Impressionist American Landscapes- it was of an industrial complex by some water and rolling hills. The really interesting thing is so many of the landscapes painted during the industrial revolution ignored the changes in the landscape- they idealized the dream of the landscape that once was. Hudson River School especially typifies this. So it was interesting to see this painting.

This was one of my favorites from the show of Franz Bischoff. An Austrian born California painter. I really liked the allegorical painting titled A Spring Poem. But as usual my favorites were really his landscapes. This really typifies all the things I love about these early California landscapes- now if I only had a couple of hundred thousand dollars to buy one or two. Carmel Seascape:

A Spring Poem:

And this was Alma's favorite- End of the Working Day by Jules Brenton (french)

He actually liked this one art nouveau bronze cast that I can't find an image of. But he did come home and found

out what the last one sold for- and decided that we could have afforded it- hmm really we could afford a $10,000

statue in our house? Really?

So then we went out for dinner and drove home. Where we watched a funny movie Alma had put on netflix

because he thought I would like it and it had a bunch of actors I liked- he was right but now I can't

remember what it was called. And the best part of the day- Beckett wore big boy underwear all day and

stayed dry!!!!!!! Oh and I had a great hair day.