Oct. 1, 2010

Well, this trip is winding down.  I took Andrew to the airport very early this morning, and Jim yesterday.  But there are a few things to come on the way home, like my visit with a former teaching colleague in Tucson, AZ and a stop at the construction of a medieval castle not too far from Branson, Missouri.

This morning I almost added one more exciting event.  At the Comfort Inn where I/we've been staying, I've been hearing since Wednesday (in the breakfast room) a bit of ... Norwegian!  I didn't know it was Norwegian until a woman turned to me at the cereal counter and asked me a question.  I apologized and explained I didn't understand her language and asked if she was speaking German.  She switched to very fine English, explained proudly that she was speaking Norwegian, and tried to ask the same question in English.  We eventually figured out she was looking for a bowl.  Andrew, Jim, and I put our skills of observation together: Andrew said they'd come in late Tuesday night in a huge bus; Jim noticed that the bus was pulling a huge trailer; I heard accordion music being played while Jim and I were sitting outside at the motel.  Bingo!  We speculated that this was a musical tour of some sort ... perhaps like in the movie "Forever Young."  Well, this morning at breakfast, I asked the woman with whom I'd had the "bowl" conversation about the purpose of their trip.  Guess what?  The group is an amateur accordion group (Lindesnes
Trekkspillkklubb), and they are touring in the southwest and midwest, their last performance being in Chicago.  I think most of their performances are in Lutheran churches.  I hoped I might be able to catch them on my way home, but they are going to be a bit behind me.  Anyway, it was fun doing the research to see if it might work, and it was fun to chat with some of the people.

But yesterday!  Yesterday Jim returned to Alexandria on an early afternoon flight.  In the morning, I dropped him at Emily and Matt's so he could visit with Emily and Isaac while I took Andrew to the beach.  When I got back, I got a good picture of Isaac and Jim.  I've had trouble getting good photos of Isaac because he moves a lot and in the house my camera is too slow.

Isaac and Jim ... I think Isaac had just wakened.

After I dropped Jim at the airport at about 11:30, I went to pick Andrew up from the beach.  We then bought some sandwiches, which Andrew, Em, and I ate at the apartment before packing up the boy and all of his necessary equipment and heading to the Getty Museum.  Everything went smoothly; parking was easy, the tram pulled up just as we walked into the loading zone, volunteers were gracious in pointing out elevators.  The Getty Museum is so beautiful; visitors wouldn't even need to go into any exhibit in order to be satisfied.  The architecture is exquisite ... you feel as if you are on an Italian piattza (sp).  The views of the city are magnificent, sometimes framed through a wall opening so that it looks like a painting itself.

Such a soft sculpting of the roofline

The Plaza 

I got some great shots of Emily, Andrew, and Isaac, too, while we were there.

Andrew and Emily in Sunglasses!

Emily, Isaac, and Uncle Andrew with diaper bag!

Emily and Isaac (mittens are to prevent scratching the spot on his chin)

We went separate directions though Em and Andrew started off together.  I saw illuminations and a terrific explanation of how bronze castings are made.  Em and Matt went to see impressionists and then views of the city.  We didn't stay long actually, but it was a nice afternoon.  While I waited at our meeting location, I saw evidence of the arrival of fall even with the high heat and the penetrating sun.

A maple of some sort

A potted planting that looks autumnal

On our way out of the museum we learned that the stones that compose the exterior walls are from 1 to 5 inches thick and are held in place with brackets.  They use this technique, rather than grout, because of earthquakes and repairs.  If an earthquake occurred, grout would crack and need to be replaced, and if one stone were damaged in some way, brackets would make it easier to replace it.  The difference in depth of individual stones gives a wonderful texture to the walls.  And what's really amazing is that the stones can be "played" like a xylophone; Andrew tried it out and it's true, they do have a tone, not loud, but audible.  Someday, someone will program a concert on the walls of the Getty, I am just sure of it!