Inside the Christmas White House 2012

The hallway on the ground floor of the White House looking towards the East Garden Room, home of faux Bo/Patricia Leslie

The East Wing Visitor Entrance/Patricia Leslie

At the Visitor Entrance (outdoors)/Patricia Leslie

In the lobby upon entering. About 100 volunteers from 50 states spent a week decorating the White House which exudes an immediate and magnificent Fraser Fir fragrance to greet visitors and infuse magic, like when you get off the plane in Hawai'i/Patricia Leslie

The Armed Forces Tree where visitors are invited to sign postcards to troops and indicate the number of hours the signer is willing to commit to community service in honor of the servicemen's and women's commitment to the U.S. The White House holiday theme this year is Joy to All/Patricia Leslie

Looking out the large hallway windows on the ground floor towards "backyard decorations" and the Washington Monument in the distance, with a reflection of greenery lining above framed Christmas photos of the first families/Patricia Leslie

A life-size faux "Bo" with hanging lights and Santa hat guards the portraits of President Calvin Coolidge on the left, and President Grover Cleveland, in the East Garden Room/Patricia Leslie

After the East Garden Room, one comes to a hall on the ground floor with the Vermeil and China rooms on the left, the library on the right, and a cabinet with .../Patricia Leslie

"Part of a State Service first ordered by President John F. Kennedy" and made by Morgantown Glassware Guild, Morgantown, West Virginia in 1961/Patricia Leslie

 And another part of a State Service first ordered by President Andrew Jackson and made by Bakewell, Page & Bakewell, Pittsburgh in 1829/Patricia Leslie

First ladies Patricia Nixon, on the left, and Jacqueline Kennedy preside over the Vermeil Room  Are the gifts under the trees real?/Patricia Leslie

 The book collection in the library across the hall numbers about 2,700 volumes.  Until 1935 when it was renovated, the library was a laundry room and a gentlemen's waiting room, according to a booklet given to Christmas White House visitors/Patricia Leslie

The White House Library/Patricia Leslie

The China Room.  The White House has 54 Christmas trees. President Theodore Roosevelt, an "ardent conservationist," prohibited the cutting of trees for White House Christmases, but his cunning children sneaked one in past their papa, and decorated it with twinkling white lights (and an electrician's help), according to the booklet.  Students from Washington's Duke Ellington School for the Arts created the art for the booklet/Patricia Leslie

After leaving the ground floor and ascending the stairs, a visitor finds herself in the East Room peeking out windows onto Pennsylvania Avenue/Patricia Leslie

The East Room is the location of after-dinner entertainment, and was the scene of the soiree for guests and honorees attending Sunday night's Kennedy Center Honors/Patricia Leslie

From the East Room one glances down the hallway to Cross Hall and the North Entrance (Pennsylvania Avenue) on the right.  The entrance on the left is to the Blue Room and at the end of the hallway is the State Dining Room. More than 90,000 are expected to tour the White House during the holiday season/Patricia Leslie

But back to the East Room.  Whose portrait is behind the tree?/Patricia Leslie

A lighting fixture in the East Room/Patricia Leslie

Part of a tree in the Green Room, the next room on the tour/Patricia Leslie

The Green Room and above the mantle, the oldest publicly displayed portrait in the White House, according to a friendly, erudite White House veteran. ("We don't know what's upstairs, so it may not be the oldest one here.")  David Martin painted Benjamin Franklin in 1767, and 200 years later, Walter Annenberg gave it to the White House in memory of President Kennedy. The silhouette of a man barely visible on the left in the painting is Sir Isaac Newton/Patricia Leslie

"Bed head," a Christmas bird cage, or ? in the Green Room/Patricia Leslie

In the Blue Room, the next one on the tour, is found THE official White House Christmas tree filled with ornaments made by military children stationed with their parents around the world. The Fraser Fir is 18.5 feet tall and came from Jefferson, N.C./Patricia Leslie

 The Red Room (photos below) follows the Blue Room on the tour and next is the State Dining Room, above, anchored by George F. P. Healy's portrait of President Abraham Lincoln.  About 120 persons can be seated here comfortably for dinner, a guide said, and the president and first lady do not sit together/Patricia Leslie

The 300-pound gingerbread house at the north end of the State Dining Room.  Note the table legs.  Behind these doors is the Family Dining Room, closed to visitors/Patricia Leslie

From the State Dining Room is the Red Room with the Blue Room on the other side/Patricia Leslie

In Cross Hall at the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance /Patricia Leslie

The Red Room from the Entrance Hall.  Normally, Dolley Madison reigns over the Red Room, however, her portrait is on loan to the National Portrait Gallery until late winter, a guide said/Patricia Leslie

One of many first lady ornaments which decorate the four first ladies trees at the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance. More than 60 percent of the White House ornaments have been "re-purposed" or recycled/Patricia Leslie

One of the state ornaments hanging at the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance/Patricia Leslie

In the Entrance Hall with a tree reflected in the mirror/Patricia Leslie

The reflected tree and out the window is Pennsylvania Avenue/Patricia Leslie

It was World AIDS Day (and Night)/Patricia Leslie

Not to be overlooked next door is the gracious and imposing David Eisenhower Executive Office Building/Patricia Leslie

For a look at last year's White House decorations, click here.

Feliz Navidad!

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Movie review: 'Anna Karenina' is looong and boring

Focus Features

The duration just seemed like five hours.  For a while I wondered if I were sitting through a Russian version of GWTW, but where was the intermission? 

Anna Karenina is a ballet in slow motion, with words and exquisite music and breathtaking cinematography (Seamus McGarvey) which moves, nonetheless, at the speed of snow falling.  Had the words been omitted entirely and the producers promoted the movie as an art film, it would cater to the appropriate audience. 

And had I only consulted Rotten Tomatoes first (a 60% favorability rating), but, at least, I still have my life which might have been lost had I dragged my son to see the movie over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Moviegoers: Anna Karenina is a definite "chick flick," however, Gentlemen:  If you're into costuming, jewelry, and millinery, you may dig it.

Yes, the music is fantastic, the presentation is unusual and unique, but that's not why moviegoers pay to see movies. 

Rather than spending money and time seeing this repetitive go-round, you are better off reading Leo Tolstoy's 1877 novel which William Faulkner called "the best ever written," and Fyodor Dostoevsky said was "flawless as a work of art," and/or go see Silver Linings Playbook.  Now, that's a movie with pizazz and sparkle and action (90% favorability rating).

With this said, I would like to propose the following American Academy nominations, please, for Anna Karenina:

Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran

Supporting Actor: Jude Law who, in outstanding delivery, plays the cuckold

Original Score:  Dario Marianelli  

Production Design: Sarah Greenwood

 

Set Decoration:  Katie Spencer

P.S. This is not even worth a rental unless you're into jewelry, millinery, etc.

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Thanksgiving at Great Falls Park

Great Falls Park, McLean, VA, Thanksgiving Day 2012/Patricia Leslie

About half of Northern Virginia (or what seemed like) turned out to walk off pumpkin pie at Great Falls Park on Thanksgiving Day.  It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood with temperature soaring to 60 degrees, and the sun shining brightly.  How many more days like it do we have this season?

 

Plus, two kayakers were on the water to give onlookers a free show which earned the performers hearty applause and a standing ovation. 

At Great Falls Park on Thanksgiving Day, two kayakers turned out to give onlookers a thrill/Patricia Leslie

 

They cruised down the Potomac until reaching the falls where they stopped a minute to let the audience catch its breath/Patricia Leslie

 

They plotted strategy/Patricia Leslie

 

 

And plotted some more.../Patricia Leslie

 

Blue gets ready to make a flying leap while Green waits in the background/Patricia Leslie

 

Blue ponders the meaning of life/Patricia Leslie

 

Wait!  What's this? Sufferin' succotash!  Greenie snuck by us all, and there he is at the bottom!/Patricia Leslie

 

Back up at the top, Blue gets ready to go over.  Dear Blue:  It's too late to turn around/Patricia Leslie

 

There he goes/Patricia Leslie

 

"Ahoy, matey!  We made it!"/Patricia Leslie

 

Onlookers applaud the Potomac Olympians/Patricia Leslie

 

Meanwhile, back on the Patowmack Canal Trail, the passing lane is a mite overcrowded.  Even a dog has a hard time getting by/Patricia Leslie

 

 

But these four Mallards have plenty of room on their double date/Patricia Leslie

 

And so does the ? A Demoiselle Crane?/Patricia Leslie

 

Fun and dangerous games on the Potomac at Great Falls Park.  "Daddy, when is my turn?"/Patricia Leslie

 

/Patricia Leslie

 

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An elegant exhibition ends Sunday at the National Gallery of Art

Robert Caney, Stage Set With a Statue of St. George Slaying the Dragon, 1870/1890. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Joseph F. McCrindle Collection

When Joseph McCrindle (1923-2008) was five and growing up in a New York City mansion, his socialite mother dumped her husband and her son and ran off with a count to Europe leaving Joe in the care of her wealthy parents who treated their grandson probably like most treat their grandchildren: “Whenever and whatever you want.”

His grandmother, an "assiduous collector" of art, schooled her grandson from a young age in its purchase.

Thomas Rowlandson, A Soldier's Widow, possibly 1815/1820. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Joseph F. McCrindle Collection.  Does she remind you of the Wife of Bath?

Joe traveled on the family yacht on frequent trips to Europe where he learned other languages (he was later a translator) and his grandmother took him to art auctions and encouraged him to bid (at age eight).  

In his diary entry on June 3, 1931 while in Paris (and noted in the exhibition catalogue), Joe wrote that his grandmother became "furious" with him for a purchase along the Seine of a "Catholic prayer book in a terrible state."  "Mademoiselle" made him take it back to the dealer, and "I exchanged it for a guide of Dieppe written in 1905." 

John Singer Sargent, Spanish Church Interior, 1880. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Joseph F. McCrindle Collection

Joe spent his allowance on rare books and, during his life, bought more than 2,500 works of art.  To the National Gallery of Art, he left more than 300, and 71 which cover the 16th through 20 centuries are on display on the ground floor in the Gallery's West Building in an exhibition entitled The McCrindle Gift: A Distinguished Collection of Drawings and Watercolors.

Guiseppe Passeri, Aurora's Tryst with Time Interrupted, c. 1700. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Joseph F. McCrindle Collection

According to National Gallery curators Margaret Morgan Grasselli and Arthur Wheelock, the show includes works which have never hung together and many which have not been studied.    

McCrindle was a "connoisseur and collector of beautiful things," said Mr. Wheelock. A label at the exhibition calls the art enthusiast a man "who admired works not because of the names of their makers, but for the verve and rhythm of the line and, often, the whimsical nature of the image."

Edward Lear, Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, at Sunset, 1865 or later. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Joseph F. McCrindle Collection

McCrindle traveled constantly, collecting art "like [on] a nonstop shopping spree.  He bought to please himself rather than to accumulate an investment portfolio," wrote William Grimes in the New York Times' McCrindle obituary July 18, 2008.

Pavel Tchelitchew, Tree into Double-Hand (Study for "Hide and Seek"), 1939. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Joseph F. McCrindle Collection.  This is an example of a "metamorphic composition" when two objects combine to form something else. You may know some people like this.

In 1991 to commemorate the Gallery's 50th anniversary of its founding, McCrindle bestowed his first gift to the National Gallery, a painting by Luca Giordano whose Diana and Endymion hangs in Gallery 30 on the main floor.  Other paintings the philanthropist donated to the National Gallery are found in galleries on both floors of the West Building. 

Much more detail on his life (he was the founder of the Transatlantic Review) and the exhibition are found in the distinguished color catalogue available in the National Gallery's gift shops

What:  The McCrindle Gift:  A Distinguished Collection of Drawings and Watercolors

When: Now through Nov. 25, 2012, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday - Saturday; 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sunday, and closed on Christmas Day

Where: The National Gallery of Art, West Building, Ground Floor galleries. (The closest entrance is Seventh Street, NW.) The National Gallery of Art and Sculpture Garden is located at the National Mall along Constitution Avenue and between Third and Ninth Streets.

How much: Admission is always free

For more information: (202) 737-4215

Metro station:  Judiciary Square, Navy Memorial-Archives, or the Smithsonian

Ippolito Caffi, Interior of the Colosseum, c. 1843. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Joseph F. McCrindle Collection

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Bike the Virginia Creeper Trail

The Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

It's called "the best rail-trail in the east" and "among the best in the U.S.," and I'll bike to that.

The Virginia Creeper is a lovely trail, down in southwest Virginia, about 360 miles or six fast hours (with few breaks) from Washington, D.C., close to the N.C. border.  It's headquartered in Damascus where you bike round and round, down and down from Whitetop Station.

The Virginia Creeper Trail starts here at Whitetop Station, home of baby Christmas trees/Patricia Leslie

It took us about 3.5 leisurely hours to bike 17 miles from Whitetop to Damascus (stopping by woods for lunch and for other picturesque scenes) which is half the trail, with the remainder stretching to Abingdon.

The Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

You don't find any of the racers like those serious types who like to sport their latest dress and zoom along the W and OD Trail. Virginia Creeper may have too much nature for them.

It was mid-fall when practically all the leaves are down, and those remaining are not real bright but mostly browns and dull oranges without those flashy yellows and reds you associate with this time of year, but we weren't beholden to leaves anyway since it was the ride down Whitetop that took us there, and it was gorgeous even without much color.

Even over icy bridges.  Yeekers, yikers.  (Wear a helmet! Provided at the Damascus shops if you don't have one and are renting a bike.)  I hung on the handle bars and sailed over that ice like I was a biker on ice which, strange, I guess I was.

 

Icy bridges on the Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

It's not only ice which forces both hands on the handle bars, but look out for large rocks, too, and keep your eyes on the path or you might wind up underneath one of the bridges like the recent rider who missed a bridge entrance, careened down the ravine into the creek, cracked her skull, and had to be airlifted out, but she's okay now, our shuttle bus driver on oxygen, who lifted all 14 bikes off the rack, told us.

It's important to ride eyes open wide and keep your head down at times on the Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

Look out and listen for falling timber on the Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

The view from above on the Virginia Creeper Trail which had quite a bit of snow left from Hurricane Sandy/Patricia Leslie

Along the way maps on plaques describe the history of the area including information about one area surveyor named Peter Jefferson, the father of the president.

In-season, ample snack shops along the way provide nourishment, and you won't starve off-season either, but you're better off taking your own treats. The trail has plenty of restrooms, too (excluding the outdoor ones).

The leader of our pack was a seven-year-old who made no complaints about anything the whole day and served as excellent guide when it came time to finding just the right picnic spot.

 

Lunch on the Virginia Creeper Trail.  That's our trail leader, Will Burris, on the right, with his grandmother, Anne Burris, and friend Nancy who almost missed lunch due to a falling limb/Patricia Leslie

This is a ride made for those who enjoy scenics and chatting along the way. It was a glorious afternoon made gloriouser by the sounds of rushing water from the adjoining creek which followed us most of the way down Virginia Creeper.

The Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

Time for respite on the Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

Along the Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

Bikes are available for rent throughout Damascus, a biker's vacation dream spot with lots of big vans and racks to cart riders and bikes up to Whitetop on a 30-minute shuttle ride before riders embark on the downhill slope. Damascus has plenty of free nearby parking.

We were unable to get reservations during leaf peak in October but given the crowds, we probably enjoyed the trail more in early November anyway.

What: The Virginia Creeper Trail

When: Bike all year, seven days a week

Where: Damascus, Virginia ("Trail Town USA")

How much: $26 for a bike rental (with water and helmet) and a shuttle ride from Damascus to Whitetop Station with weekday discounts.  Of course, you can arrange your own transportation and take your own bike and not pay anything, but without the shuttle, it would be a pain. (The $15 for the shuttle is well worth it.) Prices run about the same from one shop to another, but reservations are highly recommended, especially if you are coming from a distance.  patricialesli@gmail.com

Hacking on tap at the Goethe-Institut today

At a lunch talk today at the Goethe-Institut, a panel of artists and experts will discuss political and digital activism on the Web, the open source movement, Twitter, and hackers.

The enormous technological and communications changes embracing the planet and "hacker culture" are primary foci of the discussion which is co-sponsored by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and the Embassy of Switzerland.

Other topics include online petitioning, "Anonymous," Wikileaks, and opportunities and pitfalls of digital media.  Are digital contributors artists?  (This is only a two-hour session?)

Scheduled panel members are:  Hans Bernhard, artist and founding member of Ubermorgen.com; Steven Kurtz, professor of visual studies at the State University of New York, Buffalo; Frank Rieger, author and representative from the Chaos Computer Club, Berlin; and Mark Tribe, artist and assistant professor of modern culture and media studies at Brown University.

 

RSVPs are required.  Call to save a seat.

What:  Activism (and Hacker Culture)

When:  12 – 2 p.m., Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Where:  Goethe-Institut, 812 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

Cost:  No charge

For more information and to make a reservation:  202-289-1200

Metro station:  Gallery Place-Chinatown or walk from Metro Center

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