BEYOND VAN GOGH

Knowing that my favorite art is Impressionism, Lou bought us tickets to the Beyond Van Gogh show for my birthday back in March. The exhibit didn't arrive in Sacramento until November and today we headed out to immerse ourselves in Vincent Van Gogh paintings according to the advertising. Claude Monet is my favorite artist, but Van Gogh is a fairly close second.

The sign depicts probably his most famous painting, The Starry Night. I saw the real deal in the New York Museum of Modern Art many years ago and sat staring at it for half an hour totally mesmerized. So simple yet so moving.

The first part of the experience is to walk along reading snippets of Van Gogh's life and thoughts. He was a tormented soul as many brilliant artists seem to be and eventually took his own life. Years later after failing as an art dealer and the "ear incident" as the text described it, Van Gogh discovered that his talents lie in painting.

This is one of those tacky displays to make it look as if you are actually in the painting. Of course, we had to partake and get our photo taken. We just hung my 25 year old framed poster of The Starry Night above our fireplace in our new house.

The main room is huge. Changing paintings and patterns are projected on all four walls and several tall pillars in the center of the room. You can see by the size of the people how large it is.

I love sunflowers and have them all over my kitchen and dining room. Guess I have something in common with this famous artist.

Van Gogh loved painting portraits. He didn't have money to hire models so he decided to paint himself which explains why there are so many of his self portraits.

The projections were constantly changing and the entire cycle took about 40 minutes.

We learned that he always signed his works with just his first name "Vincent" because he believed people wouldn't know how to pronounce his last name. Doesn't seem that hard to me - oh, well.

This was the room with Van Gogh's The Starry Night surrounding us. It was pretty amazing to be immersed in various incarnations and close ups of this gorgeous creation.

Impressionism has always fascinated me how a few brush strokes can create such beautiful scenes. I've seen hundreds now and am still in awe of the talent these artists had.

Often times the projections would morph into another painting. The exhibit was billed as a Van Gogh art exhibit without the paintings.

I love flowers and still life paintings.

This one was parts of several of his flower creations.

The simplicity of still life paintings draws me in.

I'm not a huge fan of portrait paintings but Van Gogh loved his portraits. It takes a special talent to capture a person's personality on canvas.

These were two paintings as you exited the immersion room. I'm pretty sure they were copies. I've seen this one in real life before.

This is one of his more famous self-portraits. Again, the simple, colorful brush strokes that create an image amazes me. The only thing that would have made it better for me was if it was an Immersive Monet exhibit. 

OUR NEW HOUSE!

We have been making weekly jaunts to our new house being built four miles away in Roseville to check the progress. The day we signed the papers in early June it was no more than a foundation and some framing. 

The beginnings of our 2423 square foot home in Lennar's Placer Vineyards in Roseville, California. It is a brand-new 55+ community that will have an activities clubhouse as well as a state-of-the-art fitness center with an indoor pool, tennis and pickle ball courts.

The rules are that we are encouraged to stop by often but need to check in at the office for someone to accompany us inside and to wear a hardhat if construction is actively in progress. We did that a couple weeks ago when we had the windows measured for our shutters and shades.

Lou titled this photo of me "The Foreman".

Yesterday morning on our visit, the doors were open but no workers were around. We decided to quietly and carefully take a peek inside. To our surprise all of the cabinets and many of the light fixtures were installed! It is starting to look like the house we chose.

This is where my bathtub will go in the master bath between the double sinks and vanities. That's the door to our really big walk-in closet in the back.

The kitchen looking towards the pantry and laundry room.

The great room with a gas fireplace.

The kitchen looking towards the dining room.

The space for the included double door 25 cubic foot General Electric refrigerator.

The front of our house so far. Move in date is scheduled for the end of October. Very exciting!

QUICK TRIP TO SAN DIEGO

Last week we took a short trip down to San Diego for a visit with Lou's Aunt Ella who is 88 years young and still going strong. I adore spending time with Ella and she can usually run circles around me when it comes to being active. She is a world traveler and still loves to get out and do things.

Ella and Lou in front of the famed (and expensive!) Hotel del Coronado on Coronado Island. We headed across the water to take in a play that had been recommended to Ella called "Million Dollar Quartet". It is the story of one day back on 1956 at Sun Records when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis came together for a jam session. The music was great and lots of fun but no photos were allowed. By the end the small crowd was on their feet dancing and singing - so were we!

A local sandcastle artist and his current creation.

"The Del" as the Hotel del Coronado is lovingly referred to by SoCal locals.

Another angle of the ocean view rooms at The Del.

Lots of beautiful flowers. This hibiscus reminded us of Hawaii as we relaxed before our play.

I didn't even take my camera so most of these photos are Lou's including this bird of paradise. I did take a few with my phone. 

The next day we headed to Balboa Park. Lou took in the Model Railroad Museum while Ella and I strolled through the Photography Museum then sat and talked over lunch at one of the many outdoor cafes.

The entrance to the Model Railroad Museum. I had been there 30+ years ago when Darrin was hot and heavy into model railroading.

One of many layouts in the museum. There is another layout copying the Tehachapi Loop where real trains go back over their selves as they climb the grade. 

The horticulture building with a water lily pond in front.

More of the ornate buildings in Balboa Park.

Another of the 17 museums in the park. Flowers were in bloom everywhere.

More of Balboa Park. Ella loves it even though she has been there often.

We have all been there numerous times but always seem to find something we haven't seen. None of us had visited the Automotive Museum and it turned out to be loads of fun.

The entrance to the Automotive Museum. It was a small museum but packed full of cool cars.

The Ghostbusters car. Being in Southern California there are lots of TV and movie vehicles. We don't know if they are real or replicas. Either way the memories they brought back were great.

Just some old, colorful cars from yesteryear. 

Mater from the "Cars" movies - this is for Charley!

The General Lee from "Dukes of Hazzard" - this is for Darrin!

Red Ferraris - for me!
That's a 308 in the foreground. 

This DeLorean wasn't one of the ones actually used in "Back to the Future" but it was there so everyone young and old could climb in and enjoy "the ride".

We waited patiently for the kids to clear out. Then I nudged Ella and said, "You want to sit in the DeLorean? I'll drive." She immediately said "Yes" so here we are.

Two old ladies playing in the classic movie car. Fortunately, Lou didn't film us getting out of the thing.

Lou had to get in on the fun after he saw us enjoying ourselves. He said he'd have to leave the door open or cut a sun roof in the top if ever drove one.

Our final day before flying home, we met Ella's daughter and granddaughter (who works at the sandwich shop) for lunch at Pacific Beach.

 

Robin (Ella's daughter), Lou and Ella at Pacific Beach.

These are some over water bungalows along the pier.

Looking south on Pacific Beach.

Looking north on Pacific Beach.