Saturday, April 13, 2013

Bad Day 277--Not that lady, the other one

We were accidental tourists today. We didn't mean to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival parade, but it was happening when we went to the National Gallery of Art, so it was a bonus. We had wondered why there were so many people on the metro, most of them wandering around lost not understanding how to use the metro and eating bananas, which there are signs all over the place saying eating on the metro is illegal. Yes, that's right--illegal. Not just frowned upon; you can actually get arrested for eating on the metro and their are signs that say so. Nevertheless, people were eating bananas and the entire car smelled like bananas and that is not my favorite scent.

We went to the gallery with Artemis and Mom because there is an exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite paintings there and one of my favorite paintings in the world is The Lady of Shalott. Artemis had been previously and said it was there and I didn't go to the Tate Gallery in London when I was there because I thought all of my favorite paintings were at the Smithsonian for the moment anyway. So we went and I saw Dante Gabriel Rosetti's Persephone.

 

And then we saw the Millais painting of Ophelia. And then we went through the entire exhibit and at the end I said to Artemis, where is the Lady of Shallot? And she said there and pointed to a painting I had never seen before which was this one.


Now, that is a nice painting and beautifully done and full of symbolism and I do like that she has red hair, but it is not the painting that I dragged the children down to the Mall to see--the one that Child 1 kept asking how many other paintings did she have to look at and which one was the one I wanted her to see so we could go home? No, that painting is still in the Tate Gallery I assume, and is this one, which wasn't there.

The Lady of Shalott by JW Waterhouse

So then we looked at some photographs and some lovely American furniture, and we had lunch and went home. It was still a lovely day and I had fun in spite of the migraine that I have been fighting since 5 am and the fact that we had to get the car inspected because I didn't realize it's sticker expired last month because this is the car I don't drive. Thankfully, the place down the street did it in 30 minutes.

The people riding in this airplane to Bali all had a worse day than me, and it is easy to see why.


It was apparently raining and the plane overshot the runway and crashed into the sea. Luckily, no one was seriously injured and the passengers all got out. I am very glad that everyone is OK, and really, if you have to be in a plane crash, this one didn't turn out too badly and they all did manage to make it to Bali. And to be honest, if you are afraid to get on another plane for a while, Bali is not a bad place to be stuck. So thank you, Crash Survivors, for reminding me to be grateful that I have actually been to Bali and didn't crash, although you know, if we had, it would totally have been worth it. Bali is an amazing island and is one of the places I close my eyes and dream about when I am looking for serenity and peace. Bali, Bali, Bali--it's working. I'm feeling all relaxed and drowsy just thinking about it.

2 comments:

  1. Anne Shirley would have been disappointed, too, my Dear Kindred Spirit. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

    xoxo,
    Artemis

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Darling Artemis, how could that be your fault? I, myself, did not realize it was so popular a subject with the Pre-Raphaelites. Even Waterhouse painted two very different versions. Now, let's go find a boat and I'll send you across the Tidal Basin just like Anne did with her own Artemis. I think she definitely would have liked the boat version, too.

      Delete