A Pre-Vacation Catch-up
Jun. 13th, 2022 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fauxkloreHirshorn: After I got back from New York, I had one day where I had nothing scheduled so could run errands. On Saturday, I was off to the Hirshhorn Museum (which is the Smithsonian’s modern art museum) to see an exhibit of works by Yayoi Kusama from their collection. This was free but required tickets given out that day. We took the first Metro train into the city, so got in line for tickets at about 8:15. When they started giving out tickets (at 9:30) that enabled us to get in the first group.
The exhibit was actually pretty small - just 5 rooms, which included two infinity mirror rooms. The first room had this pumpkin sculpture.
Here is me in the first of the infinity mirror rooms. Only two people at a time could go in and you only got 30 seconds inside.
You got a minute and a half in the other infinity mirror room, where there was a path to follow through what seemed like a lot of disco balls.
The whole thing took only about a half hour to go through. So we continued on to the Laurie Andersson exhibit upstairs. There’s not much point in trying to photograph something which relies on multi-media so much, though I did get part of one of the graffitied walls.
The rest does have interesting stories and some rather strange conceptual art, e.g. a series of photos of her sleeping in various public spaces.
We adjourned for lunch at Jaleo, where we ordered too much delicious food. (This is a tapas place, part of the Jose Andres empire. It’s pricy, but he does such great work through World Central Kitchen that I don’t mind spending money at his restaurants.)
Washington Folk Festival: Sunday was the Washington Folk Festival in Glen Echo Park. I was telling stories at 3:30 in the afternoon, so I had time to get lunch (included for performers), browse the crafts tent, and listen to some other storytellers. Jane told a (slightly different version of) a story I had been planning to tell, so I made a last minute substitution. I mostly told stories from the U.S., Mongolia, Poland, and the deep twisty corners of my mind. The audience was very responsive and I had a good time. I left right after my set to minimize the amount of driving right into the sun I’d have to do to get home. (I have a lot of glare issues, alas, which can make for a headache trigger.)
Decluttering: Decluttering is an on-going process but has to be accelerated a bit when I have company coming. I have not made as much progress as I need to. But I have gotten rid of things like coupons that expired two or more years ago, newsletters from events five or more years ago, and assorted scraps of paper with mysterious notes to myself. Why on earth would I have written the phrase “artisanal (cobalt) mines” on a sheet of paper?
More Storytelling: Thursday night I went to the Auld Sheen for a storytelling show I was not performing in. Andrea Young and Jessica Robinson opened the night, with Andy Offutt Irwin from Georgia as the main attraction. Andy is extremely funny and I love his stories, particularly those about his (fictional) Aunt Marguerite who went to medical school in her 80’s. His work is full of character-based humor with insights into southern culture and is delightful. And, of course, there is no substitute for live entertainment.
By the way, there was also a Voices in the Glen story swap (over zoom) on Saturday night. I particularly liked Tim Livengood’s original story about why dogs howl.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood: Speaking of live entertainment, I went to see The Mystery of Edwin Drood, put on by The Britihs Players, on Friday night. This musical won several Tony awards in 1986, but that was not, frankly, a great year for Broadway musicals. It’s based on an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens, which provides an opportunity for the gimmick of having the audience choose the ending. Several of the performers were difficult to understand and there was little humor, aside from predictable jokes told by the chairman of the music hall. I thought the strongest performance was by Meghan Williams Elkin as Princess Puffer, the proprieties of an opium den in London. Overall, I thought it was too long and I drifted off several times during the first act. (The second act was, mercifully,, shorter.) I’ve enjoyed the Old Time Music Hall performances the British Players put on, but this show just didn’t work for me.
By the way, we had dinner at The Tombs beforehand. That’s a Georgetown University hangout and I thought the food was just so-so. The banh mi I got did have good papaya salad, but the baguette was bordering on stale. So, overall, a disappointing outing.
Party: One of my friends had a party on Sunday. He lives in a condo with an excellent view of National Airport, so the big attraction is hanging out on the balcony watching planes (and trains and boats). There was, of course, lots of travel related conversation. And lots of food. My contribution was white chocolate cheesecake in an oreo crust, which is an easy no-bake dessert. (You blend two packages of cream cheese, a can of sweetened condensed milk, a cup of melted white chocolate chips, and about 1/3 c. of sour cream. Then just pour into the oreo crust and refrigerate overnight.) It was good to see people I hadn’t seen in a while and the weather was lovely for sitting outside.
The exhibit was actually pretty small - just 5 rooms, which included two infinity mirror rooms. The first room had this pumpkin sculpture.
Here is me in the first of the infinity mirror rooms. Only two people at a time could go in and you only got 30 seconds inside.
You got a minute and a half in the other infinity mirror room, where there was a path to follow through what seemed like a lot of disco balls.
The whole thing took only about a half hour to go through. So we continued on to the Laurie Andersson exhibit upstairs. There’s not much point in trying to photograph something which relies on multi-media so much, though I did get part of one of the graffitied walls.
The rest does have interesting stories and some rather strange conceptual art, e.g. a series of photos of her sleeping in various public spaces.
We adjourned for lunch at Jaleo, where we ordered too much delicious food. (This is a tapas place, part of the Jose Andres empire. It’s pricy, but he does such great work through World Central Kitchen that I don’t mind spending money at his restaurants.)
Washington Folk Festival: Sunday was the Washington Folk Festival in Glen Echo Park. I was telling stories at 3:30 in the afternoon, so I had time to get lunch (included for performers), browse the crafts tent, and listen to some other storytellers. Jane told a (slightly different version of) a story I had been planning to tell, so I made a last minute substitution. I mostly told stories from the U.S., Mongolia, Poland, and the deep twisty corners of my mind. The audience was very responsive and I had a good time. I left right after my set to minimize the amount of driving right into the sun I’d have to do to get home. (I have a lot of glare issues, alas, which can make for a headache trigger.)
Decluttering: Decluttering is an on-going process but has to be accelerated a bit when I have company coming. I have not made as much progress as I need to. But I have gotten rid of things like coupons that expired two or more years ago, newsletters from events five or more years ago, and assorted scraps of paper with mysterious notes to myself. Why on earth would I have written the phrase “artisanal (cobalt) mines” on a sheet of paper?
More Storytelling: Thursday night I went to the Auld Sheen for a storytelling show I was not performing in. Andrea Young and Jessica Robinson opened the night, with Andy Offutt Irwin from Georgia as the main attraction. Andy is extremely funny and I love his stories, particularly those about his (fictional) Aunt Marguerite who went to medical school in her 80’s. His work is full of character-based humor with insights into southern culture and is delightful. And, of course, there is no substitute for live entertainment.
By the way, there was also a Voices in the Glen story swap (over zoom) on Saturday night. I particularly liked Tim Livengood’s original story about why dogs howl.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood: Speaking of live entertainment, I went to see The Mystery of Edwin Drood, put on by The Britihs Players, on Friday night. This musical won several Tony awards in 1986, but that was not, frankly, a great year for Broadway musicals. It’s based on an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens, which provides an opportunity for the gimmick of having the audience choose the ending. Several of the performers were difficult to understand and there was little humor, aside from predictable jokes told by the chairman of the music hall. I thought the strongest performance was by Meghan Williams Elkin as Princess Puffer, the proprieties of an opium den in London. Overall, I thought it was too long and I drifted off several times during the first act. (The second act was, mercifully,, shorter.) I’ve enjoyed the Old Time Music Hall performances the British Players put on, but this show just didn’t work for me.
By the way, we had dinner at The Tombs beforehand. That’s a Georgetown University hangout and I thought the food was just so-so. The banh mi I got did have good papaya salad, but the baguette was bordering on stale. So, overall, a disappointing outing.
Party: One of my friends had a party on Sunday. He lives in a condo with an excellent view of National Airport, so the big attraction is hanging out on the balcony watching planes (and trains and boats). There was, of course, lots of travel related conversation. And lots of food. My contribution was white chocolate cheesecake in an oreo crust, which is an easy no-bake dessert. (You blend two packages of cream cheese, a can of sweetened condensed milk, a cup of melted white chocolate chips, and about 1/3 c. of sour cream. Then just pour into the oreo crust and refrigerate overnight.) It was good to see people I hadn’t seen in a while and the weather was lovely for sitting outside.
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Date: 2022-06-14 11:37 am (UTC)