Don't Mess With Texas

We are in Texas and are having a great visit with Katy Kathryn and the Gibbs. We have eaten, shopped, and visited. We spent a morning with Katy visiting her friends at the tax firm where she worked and also made a stop at the house where she lives in the Woodlands.

We had a rainy art afternoon in downtown Houston visiting the Rothko Chapel which is essentially a place for meditation and personal worship built by some Rothko-loving connoisseurs. You may not be a Rothko fan, but the space meets its intended purpose very well.

Nearby is the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, opened in February 1997 with a display of masterworks from the 13th century. These frescoes were stolen out of a chapel in Cyprus in the 1980s, cut into 38 pieces, and shipped to Germany by thieves prepared to sell them in the arts black-market. The 38 fresco fragments were bought from the thieves by the same art lovers who built the Rothko chapel, restored in London, and placed in a black box of a building with a spectacular chapel of frosted glass.

A couple of blocks away is the Museum of Art, Houston, where we visited an impressionist exhibit on loan from the National Gallery in Washington. The museum is very good, and the exhibit was excellent.

The final stop of the day was at the water wall, a spectacular urban water feature near the Galleria. It is most impressive with a huge quantity of water rushing down a sheer face of stone like a waterfall. It isn't Iguaçu Falls, but is awesome (in the true sense of the word) nonetheless.

Katy's Pollackesque room

A drive-by view of Houston from the 59

Lunch at Hugo's: Mexico-City-style Mexican food

Every dish was unique and delicious

The Rothko Chapel in the rain

The Rothkos

The Byzantine Chapel

Thick frosted-glass walls set the frescos off beautifully
and create a moving space

The girlies at the Byzantine Chapel

Katy Kathryn admiring a Modigliani

I love this Matisse

Art lovers at the Museum of Art

Katy at the water wall

The photographer at work

Katy and Alison

This is being posted from the Fairfield Inn in San Antonio; we are off to the San Antonio Temple this morning. We had some great adventures yesterday and will have more today. I will post about those as soon as I am able. The Gibbs were having some internet issues before we left, so we shall see.

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Arizona: Stoned

We arrived home from Virginia on Tuesday, 3 May, with a kind pickup by Uncle Stephen. We spent a day and half washing clothes and repacking for Arizona and Texas. At 5:45 A. M. on Thursday, Cinco de Mayo, we headed out of Provo once again, for a visit with the Youngs, Grandmother, Katy, and the Gibbs in Arizona and Texas respectively.

I received a GPS for Christmas, not because I get lost -- I never do -- but because it tells me lots of other cool things that I like to know. (I am the only person I know who can watch the GPS on an overseas flight as if it were a good movie.) The voice we selected is that of a refined British man, so we named him Giles. Giles Poppleton Smythe (G.P.S.). Giles was a great accompaniment to a gripping book on CD, and we made the journey to Peoria in 10 hours flat.

It is good to see Maren, Gavin, and family again. We have had a bit more relaxing schedule than we had in Virginia, but fun nonetheless -- for the most part.

Supper with the crew at the local Smash Burger

Beckham Gavin Young is a most pleasant little guy

Last night I awakened with a killer back ache. I am sleeping on some really good pads, which I have used happily and successfully several times before, but this time I thought my back had given out when I awakened a 1:00 A.M. and was unable to stem the pain by changing position or stretching. I took some ibuprofen and applied an ice pack to no avail. I checked symptoms online and they matched those of a kidney stone. When the pain become intolerable, I awakened Kris and Maren, got some directions to the hospital, and had Kris drive me as I writhed in pain. It took two and a half hours to confirm what I already knew from a previous stone over 20 years ago. The little booger was on the small side, 2 millimeters; I saw the CT scans thanks to a very nice doctor and staff (I thought kind thoughts about Doctor Rob). When I told the doctor we were flying to Texas he said it was safe but might be uncomfortable, so I guess we will continue with our plans. We were discharged by 5:00 A.M. and went in search of meds to manage the pain in an ongoing fashion.

These places are helpful when one is pacing
madly and writhing in pain

Fashionable hospital accessories

Young Beckham has stolen my heart: a cuddle
and he looked at me and said "Pop Pop!"

This evening we drove to Mesa and had a Mothers Day celebratory dinner at the local Big Fat Greek Restaurant. Grandmother is very well and it was so nice to see her.

Dinner in Mesa

I am pleased to report that the kidney stone appears to have passed: the pain was gone by noon and I feel great. The timing was perfect -- a miracle. So we are off to Houston tomorrow morning early. We will keep you posted, but that's all for now.

OXO

D.

Shenandoah

This morning after the kids left for school, we drove north to Front Royal, made a quick stop at Target, and continued on to Shenandoah National Park with its Skyline Drive. We saw beautiful vistas of the Shenandoah Valley to the west and views back in the direction of Warrenton and Washington to the east. We took a hike down to the falls on a creek called Lands Run. The hike was not difficult, but we certainly felt the humidity, and we enjoyed the wildflowers along the path to the falls. We had some burgers for lunch by the river in Sperryville, made a quick detour through Little Washington, and headed back home in time to meet the school bus. After Anders' soccer practice we went back to Nora's (where we started our Virginia adventure) for supper once again.

Lucy and Anders waiting for the bus

View of the Shenandoah Valley and the Shenandoah River

The wandering grandparents

Skyline Drive along the top of the Shenandoah Mountains

Wildflowers in the forest

Wild geraniums

No snowpack; must be ground water

Beautiful green spot

Charming girlies

Falls on Lands Run

Slippery business

Sweaty business (very humid)

Burgers in Sperryville

Lebanese food at Nora's

Today was our last day in Virginia. Tomorrow we will head for home to wash clothes and repack before heading to Arizona and Texas. So our spring fling is still under way.

Many thanks to Rob, Anna, and the kids for a super visit. It couldn't have been better.

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Washington Again

Today Anna, Kris, and I drove to Vienna and caught the Metro into D.C. to see and do a few more things: Arlington National Cemetery, The National Portrait Gallery, lunch at Pret a Manger, shopping at H&M, a failed attempt to visit Ford's Theater (closed for tours because of a play), The White House, and Lafayette Square. Rob juggled a buttload* of soccer games and we three traveled alone. *"Buttload" is not a coarse current teen/20 something usage but an old English shipping term meaning two barrels full of something.

Anna and Kris on the Orange-Line train

Arlington National Cemetery

JFK's eternal flame with Arlington House above

Arlington House is a well-arranged home with well-proportioned
rooms -- one of the best designed (though run down)
houses we have seen on this trip -- a pleasant surprise

The view of Washington from Arlington House

The girlies at the amphitheater at the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier

Waiting for the Metro

The National Portrait Gallery

Shepherd Fairey's Obama collage that became
the famous "Hope" poster -- very cool

Not all portraits, not all American: David Hockney

Pret is as good as the memory

"Passionate About Food"

The White House looking very calm

Not all that calm, really

Lafayette Square was an important venue for us
after all our presidential-history reading

It was a spectacularly beautiful day: crystal clear, sunny, but cool. We had a great time. Thanks to Anna for today's excellent management.

That's all for now.

OXO

D.