Airports, snow and steel magnolias

Denver International Airport

At 4:30 tomorrow morning, John will be driving me the airport for a trip to visit my parents in Cripple Creek, Colorado. At noon I'll be in Denver, where I change planes for a short and (usually) bumpy ride along the front range to Colorado Springs. Hopefully the skies will look nothing like this picture, but spring weather in Colorado is schizo-- it's 75 in Denver today but for tomorrow snow is forecast. Ugh.

In Colorado Springs I'll rent a car and then drive 45 miles up Ute Pass into the mountains around the back of Pikes Peak. When I finally reach the crest of Tenderfoot Hill at 9500 feet, I'll be happy to see this familiar and beautiful view Cripple Creek far below:

If everything goes well, it's a 12 hour door-to-door trip to a different world. My last visit to Cripple Creek was in August, so I'm looking forward to seeing my parents who are also in need of a little help right now.

I'm taking my "toy" computer along (as John calls it) so I'll post updates on the blog when I have the chance. My plan is to be back in Seattle on May 5th. Hopefully spring will finally arrive while I'm gone. In fact there are rumors of a 70 degree day this weekend. John will be at home, keeping the teriyaki takeout stand in business for a few days. Wish me luck!

Magnolias

People call them "tulip" trees, and they're blooming all over Seattle right now. The magnolia species is ancient and evolved before the first bees appeared. Fossilized specimens may go back 95 million years. Magnolias adapted to encourage pollination by beetles, so the flowers are tough as leather to avoid damage from crawling and chewing insects.

This is interesting for a tree we associate with pretty southern lawns and fluttering ladies. The magnolia is the state flower of both Mississippi and Louisiana. Remember the title of that 1989 movie? Women can be delicate as magnolias but tough as steel.

There are medicinal uses for the plant. The compounds in magnolia bark are used in China and Japan to reduce anxiety and help circulation. Modern dental researchers are interested in magnolia because the bark extract inhibits the bacteria responsible for cavities and periodontal disease.

We don't have a big tulip tree in the yard, but we do have a little magnolia shrub called magnolia stellata that I planted years ago. It's a slow-growing thing but interesting because the delicate white flowers appear long before the green leaves. If I look up now from typing, I can see it outside the window next to our rusty and weird garden ornament. It's currently being lashed by wind and rain from the latest storm. Yes, I'm getting to be a bore complaining about our bad weather, but last night it was cold enough again for lowland snow. My brother in Enumclaw sent me a picture to prove it.

My kitchen helper

Someone found the strawberries!

Helping Nana "organize" things.

What's next?

Cleopatra

The reality

Let's switch gears from babies and bunnies, and talk about Cleopatra. Yes, that Cleopatra. John gave me Stacy Schiff's new Cleopatra biography for Christmas, and you may have noticed I was reading it for a very long time. It's not a book you can blow through fast. This is a cliché, but Schiff is one of those non-fiction writers who can make history "come alive." Every paragraph is entertaining, even if you're not especially interested in ancient history.

Anthony and Cleopatra
Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Was Cleopatra beautiful? Other than a few coins minted during her lifetime, there are no statues or portraits in existence. She was spectacularly ill served by the ancient historians, who started rewriting her story hundreds of years after her death. She's often portrayed as seductive and toxic to men-- that's a less threatening way to explain away her intelligence and power. Her suicide "by asp" is just one of many myths.

But all the years of bad press can't conceal she was a capable and bold queen. She could speak six languages fluently and converse on any topic from mathematics and medicine to philosophy. She had a subtle and quick wit. She had a beautiful speaking voice. She could get her point across to men without nagging. And oh yes, she was the richest person ruling the richest kingdom in the ancient world. No wonder she attracted the attention of Caesar and Anthony.

The Hollywood version

The 1963 movie starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton cost 44 million to produce and earned 26 million, nearly bankrupting 20th Century Fox. Even the lurid press about Taylor and Burton's off screen love affair couldn't put the movie in the black. But when all is said and done, this is a very good movie for its genre. I'm addicted to old Roman film spectacles, and Cleopatra is one of the best. We were watching it the other night (4 hours long!) and realized again this isn't some dumbed-down story. The complex plot follows Plutarch's history accurately.

Easter egg fun

In a weekend filled with blessings, Nova's first Easter egg hunt was one of the highlights. What a little natural!

Old-fashioned Easter greetings

Here's a selection of vintage Easter cards from the New York Public Library Digital collection. At the turn of then century, postage for cards was just a penny and the demand for holiday greeting cards kept many artists from starving. You have to smile at these whimsical imaginations...

We hope you're having a beautiful and peaceful Easter day.

Easter treats for a wandering elf...

Baby angels popping out of eggs...

Wonderful psychedelic eggs.

Nothing says fun like rabbit egg juggling...

Special egg delivery to the inside of an egg...

Rabbit kids playing baseball...

The Easter bunny arrives...

Frohliche Ostern and a naughty German boy...

Whoa! Big egg delivery...

Fun on the water...

Rabbit jousting match with kind wishes...

Hard-working lambs...

Loving Easter Greetings...

A cheesecake morning

I can't remember the last time the sun came up in a blue, cloudless sky. It's going to be a perfect spring day with temperatures finally in the 60's. Hopefully the bees will wake up and get busy with the neighborhood fruit trees. Weather for tomorrow is another story, but that's tomorrow. We're excited to see little Nova later today-- and of course she always brings along her mom and dad :-) I just looked outside and I think the Easter bunny came a day early to avoid the rain.

I was up early too, making cheesecake for Easter dessert tomorrow. I'm not much of a baker, and Manhattan-style cheesecake is my only claim to fame. I don't make it often for the obvious reasons: 2 pounds of cream cheese, 5 eggs, etc. John worries I'll get out of practice, but this one looks promising. Thanks Dan and Becky for the fresh vanilla extract you just sent us from Mexico.

Pretty "Flo"

She isn't pink plastic like Nova's new pony, but even in a dark barn you can tell this is a very pretty horse-- she's a 12 year old Arab mare named Flo. Like most Arabians, she's lively, sensitive and smart. I've had a wonderful time riding her the past two weeks. Although when I was tacking up for the first time, she looked like a delicate little deer compared to our hefty Quarter-horses Spanky and Sizzle. Could she carry me and a heavy western saddle? No problem! After an hour of arena work I was panting and she was barely warmed up. No wonder Arab horses dominate in the sport of competitive endurance riding.

Many thanks to Flo's generous owner and also Jen for another fine lesson yesterday. Dolly was out riding her Spanky, and even though it was chilly and muddy we took the horses back on a trail where were rode together hundreds of times. It was like the years melted away.

Today is Good Friday and also Earth Day. I hope the sun shines wherever you are. We may have one of the warmest days of the year so far in Seattle (60!) although by Easter we're back to rain. No worries, we'll have a sunny little face in the house then.

Have safe travels, Tom and Amanda!

A message for Nova

Dear Nova,
I know you look at the blog in the morning with your mommy. I love the new pictures she sent. But did she let you have one of those Peeps?

Grandpa John and I can't wait to see you this weekend. Your Nana has been busy getting ready for Easter. Look what she found at the consignment store! A pink pony with an Easter bonnet is waiting here for a little girl...

What will you name her?

Techicolor

I spent yesterday afternoon in the Museum basement with my nose in a spreadsheet. But when I left the building at 4, the world had turned to eye-popping Technicolor. Lo and behold, the sun came out after weeks of overcast and the colors were just brilliant from months of rain. It was like suddenly going from a black and white to color TV. (If you're old enough to remember that.)

I stopped the car a few blocks from home to take a picture of this magnolia blooming against the sky, and a garish red-tipped photinia hedge:

Our friends and family in Colorado and Montana will wonder-- how anyone could complain about this climate?
After dinner when the sun was setting, I dashed outside and just happened to catch these tulips at a perfect moment. Light is everything...

Fancy ham glazes

Are you making ham for Easter? Ham tastes good now and then, but it isn't a "strut-your-stuff" dinner for the cook. It's more the thing to make on busy family holidays or for old friends you don't have to impress anymore. Like Terri and George, who came over last Saturday night :-)

I made a plain, on-special supermarket ham, but with a pineapple and chipotle pepper glaze that really perked it up. As usual, the recipe was plucked from the Internet. If (like me) you usually just mix some mustard and brown sugar in a cup and smear it on, this is more work. But everyone liked the warm spiciness of the flavor and the way it coated the entire ham without running off in the pan.

Baked Ham Glazed with Pineapple and Chipotle Peppers

1 cup brown sugar
1 (10 oz.) can crushed pineapple
2 canned chipotle peppers seeded and diced (I used 3)
2 tbs. of sauce from the can
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 tbs. cornstarch dissolved in a little water

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a small saucepan and simmer slowly until thickened.

Heat oven to 350. Score the skin of a ham and place it cut side down in a roasting pan. Bake for just 10 minutes, then spoon on the glaze. Add a cup of water to the pan, cover with foil and bake until it reaches temperature of 160.

It's not our imagination

Plum blossoms and a cold sky...
where are the bees?

The smart bees are still asleep. Our Northwest weather guru Cliff Mass wrote a post on his blog titled Are Northwest Springs Getting Worse? Here's an excerpt:

So it is not your imagination that this was an absolutely abysmal spring...one of the worst ever. Now part of the blame can probably be pinned on the strong La Nina of this winter, but not all, since this year is so extreme. Eventually, global warming will change the trends upwards, but the coastal Northwest is one of last places on the planet that will experience warming because of our proximity to the slow-to-warm eastern Pacific.

The forecast for this weekend? Just showers, but considerably cooler than normal with temperatures dropping into the 30s on Sunday morning. Don't even think about putting any tomato plants out until June.

Well, being the "last on the planet to experience global warming" feels like not getting invited to a hot party. On the other hand, we watched a PBS Nature program last night about the bush fires and scorching temperatures in Australia. So having a cold ocean in the backyard might not be such a bad thing these days.

I ignored Cliff's advice and planted tomatoes this weekend, but they're in dark pots against our south wall. The warmest spot on our postage stamp mini-climate. One Roma plant (for John) and a Sweet 100 Cherry (for me.) I was looking back on the blog and last October 12 we had so many Roma tomatoes I roasted them in the oven. And that was a chilly summer. Come to think of it, we've had about a year of cool weather! Time will tell.

Artist at work

Nova

She’s got everything she needs
She’s an artist, she don’t look back.
She can take the dark out of the nighttime
And paint the daytime black...

from, "She Belongs to Me"
Bob Dylan

Thoughts on tax day

April is National Poetry Month. One morning last week while I was folding laundry, I happened to turn on the radio and the poet Billy Collins was a guest on our local NPR station. How can you put a price on a program like that? But we do. And since today is April 15, I wonder if even one penny of this household's tax bill will help support the National Endowment of the Arts.

The New York Times calls Collins "the most popular poet in America." He's won countless awards and was the Poet Laureate of the U.S. from 2001-2003, but he also has a large following from appearing on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion. Collins is a distinguished teacher. One of the things he spoke about on the radio was how most people can't live with ambiguity long enough to think through a complex problem, or for that matter read a poem. Our first reaction to art is often frustration, and we demand to know "what does it mean?"

Even so, Collins doesn't like poetry with intentional vagueness. Complex structure. Elevated diction. Obvious sentimentality. So when you take these gimmicks away, what makes a good poem? The best poets can move the reader from the everyday to the universal using plain language, imagery and metaphor.

Introduction to Poetry
by Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide.

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to water-ski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with a rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

Billy Collins

Mucha's spring ladies

Alphonse Mucha
1860-1939

When Alphonse Mucha died in 1939, his work was considered outdated. Even worse than that, his art was condemned by the fascists in the 1930's. When German troops invaded Czechoslovakia, Mucha was one of the first to be arrested by the Gestapo. During interrogation, the old artist became ill with pneumonia and never recovered.

Mucha's art style finally had a long overdue revival in the 1960's. My first encounter with Mucha wasn't in an art book or museum, but in a shop on the Ave. in Berkeley where I splurged on a poster I couldn't afford. Of course I couldn't afford a frame either, but I tacked it up for years wherever we moved. Art Nouveau was something novel back in the 70's, and hippies were entranced with it.

Mucha working on the Slav Epic

A fine Mucha museum recently opened in Prague, managed by his grandson. About time. It showcases his life's work and the masterpiece called The Slav Epic, twenty huge paintings Mucha gave to the city of Prague in 1928.

Many Mucha illustrations have seasonal themes, like this painting called "Spring."

Spring, detail
1896

Here's another one with a mythological spring theme. I'm not sure what's going on here, but it has to do with flowers.

Spirit of Spring
1896

This is Mucha's poster design for a wonderful sounding event called the Spring Festival of Music and Song, Prague 1914. And the actual model sitting:

The season panels below are famous and have been reproduced thousands of times:

Here's his preliminary sketch of the models:

This is from a beautiful and intriguing blog called The Pictorial Arts.