Now What Was I Saying?

This happy scene made me start singing Three Coins in the Fountain. Except I was singing it to the tune of Red Sails in the Sunset.

Next time I throw a coin, I'm wishing for a better memory.

Cool Art

Want a great spot to escape the August heat? Head on over to San Marino to The Huntington Library and Art Collections. Last week I ducked out of the 100 degree blast and into the cool, comforting European Art gallery. (Gainsborough portraits! French marquetry pieces! Really icy air conditioning!!!)

Figurative art lovers, be sure to check out the latest exhibit of 16th and 17th century drawings: Royals, Courtiers, and Confidants: Early English Portrait Drawings on display until October 29th.

Just Next Door...

San Marino may be the official city of the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, but South Pasadena is so close it feels like our very own backyard garden.

Our very own biiiiiiig backyard garden!

It only takes me about ten minutes to drive there, but once inside it's like being transported to another dimension.

Summer butterflies are fully aflutter in the Rose Garden, the sunflowers are about to bloom in the Children's Garden and the orchids are peeking out among the rocks in the recently renovated Japanese Garden.

I think the name should be changed to The Huntington Oasis.

Rebel Artist (#2)

"Mommy, how come we almost never go to the Huntington anymore?"

I wasn't sure how to answer that question.

Little Bit and I used to treat nearby San Marino's Huntington Art Gallery like our own personal hideaway. That membership fee was the best money I could have ever spent on early childhood education. Instead of preschool, my daughter spent hours with me learning about art and architecture. (Plus, she spent a lot of after-gallery time looking for fairies in the clover and splashing her hands in the fountains of the Children's Garden.) Her dad and I didn't go in for the Teach Your Baby to Read movement. We didn't know then that with the new educational model, preparation for rigorous academic standards starts around age 2. We were more into a philosophy along the lines of Let Our Baby Think, Feel and Explore.

Although we regularly made our rounds through all of the Huntington buildings, studying the soft blur of Mary Cassatt as well as the sharp form of Arts and Crafts furniture, Little Bit always liked the 18th Century figurative works best of all. Pinkie, by Thomas Laurence, is still one of her favorite portraits.

"So," Little Bit repeated. "Why can't we ever go anymore?"

"We don't have time during the week since you started first grade," I said. "We have to do your homework, and with the sight words, the spelling words, the spelling word sentence drill practice, the timed math test practice, the math worksheets, the spelling worksheets and then the work you couldn't finish during school hours, that means we can't..."

"I know, I know," Little Bit interrupted. "But some of my homework was about art the other day and I think the school needs to come back to the Huntington to learn something about it."

"Learn what?" I said.

"They need to learn that silver is a cool color. We were doing a worksheet on warm and cool colors and they were talking about Monet's haystack paintings. I got mine marked wrong because the sheet said that blue, green and purple were cool colors and I colored silver too. I just thought they knew that Monet actually used silver in those haystacks, too. Of course it's a cool color. Cool like moonlight and shadows. But I think they didn't even know that."

"Why didn't you say something?" I said.

"I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings," she said.

(Try registering that on a standardized test.)