MoMA

 I don't need more "things."  I have told my family that for Christmas, birthday, etc., I would rather have "experiences" with them than more "things."  Last Christmas, nine year old Hazel promised me a trip to the Museum of Modern Art with her.  What nine year old picks a museum?  Last Monday was the day.

We took a train into Manhattan, then walked from Grand Central to MoMA.  Hazel chose MoMA because she wanted to see Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night painting, which is on MoMA's fifth floor.  

Mission accomplished!

She is also crazy about Frida Kahlo.  MoMA currently has a big exhibition of works by Frida Kahlo and her husband, Diego Rivera. 

We visited most other MoMA galleries.  One that Hazel especially liked had African photographs.

Fortunately, there is a hands-on place for kids to create artwork.  It gave Hazel and me some time to sit and rest for a while.  It involved putting scraps of colored cloth on a geometric pattern and then transferring them to a small square posterboard.

It was a very special "experience" day for me.  Hazel enjoyed it, too.

Declaration of Independence

 250 years ago today, leaders of the 13 states signed a Declaration of Independence from England.  

The event is captured in a large painting by John Trumbull, a New Haven born artist, that hangs in the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut.  Thomas Jefferson was so impressed by Trumbull's plan to make a big painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, that he invited Trumbull to join him in Paris, where Jefferson was the ambassador. 

 With Jefferson's support, Trumbull painted the whole committee -- John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin -- presenting the draft of the Declaration of Independence to John Hancock, rather than Jefferson alone, which would have been historically accurate.  He also included all delegates to the convention, even those who were not present and those who opposed the Declaration.

Happy birthday, America.

Flags

 The Ridgefield Library and Ridgefield Guild of Artists have a Community Flag Art installation at the Lower Level of Ridgefield Library.

Very cute.

Lounsbury House

 Lounsbury House is the former home of a Connecticut governor.  He loved the Connecticut house at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago so much he had a duplicate built on Main Street in Ridgefield.

These days Lounsbury House is primarily an event space.  I like the way it gets fitted up for holidays.

Squam Lake

 The July 1 theme for City Daily Photo participants is "water."

For one or two summer weeks for many years, my family has headed to Rockywold Deephaven Camps on Squam Lake in Holderness, New Hampshire.  We leave on Saturday for this year's visit.

It is beautiful up there.  It is where my kids and my grandchildren learned to dive.

And one of the most fun events is the Wacky Canoe Races on Thursday mornings.

Wood and Stone

 

A very neat stone wall.  A wooden gate.  A wooden barn.  And a small stone building.  All make an appealing scene with mixed textures on Umpawaug Road in Redding.

Farmer's Market

In the summer there is a Saturday farmers market on the ground of a local Ridgefield church. 

Ann Marie sells salt crystals.  I told her I like to sprinkle olive oil and salt on steaks before grilling.  She immediately recommended a merlot sea salt from Sicily.  I bought it.

A coffee vendor was VERY busy.

The Hickories is a favorite farm in Ridgefield.  I don't think we have ever passed a Hickories booth without buying something.

A flower vendor paid undivided attention to a young customer.

I remember a crowded hummus booth last year.  It was crowded again last Saturday.