Bad Thanksgiving

Photo by Patricia Leslie

The last Thanksgiving we spent together as a family before my ex and I divorced was a memorable one which makes me laugh now when I think of it.

I cajoled and pleaded with my friend, Suzanne, to come over and join us and help lighten the atmosphere.  Things were pretty tense and unpleasant at our house, and we needed a non-partisan to join our table and spread something besides doldrums.

Suzanne did not want to come.  She had her own grown children to attend to, and I can't remember exactly how I convinced her to participate in our happy meal, but she arrived nonetheless, with apprehension and fear that she was entering a snake pit.


I used to always like starting up the Thanksgiving meal on Tuesday, getting out the china and silver, setting the table, walking through the yard and finding nature's pieces for the table centerpiece.  I spent all Wednesday and Thursday preparing the dishes, the turkey, and all the trimmings, accompanied by a bottomless mimosa which I drank all of Thanksgiving Day and still do on holidays.  They taste so good!

When it came time for our Thanksgiving meal that year, my soon-to-be ex passed the word to one of our children that he needed to work on the roof right then and there, and he would not be joining us to eat.

It was a sunny day, and heaven forbid, rain would fall eventually, and although we had no leaks, it was as good a time as any to pound nails in the roof.  

Over our heads in the dining room.  

While we ate. 

And celebrated relative harmony. Without both of us at the table, there was more opportunity for conversation and less likelihood for an argument, never a good item on the menu.

Photo by Patricia Leslie

I am proud to say we as a family are from the SEC, and if you don't know what that is, you don't know the SEC.  Anybody "up here" who thinks he or she has ever been to a college football game has never been to a college football game unless it was REAL college football, namely in the SEC (and especially Ole Miss and tailgates in the Grove).
Ole Miss and Arkansas, Nov. 7, 2015/ Photo by Patricia Leslie

We were mostly (or soon-to-be) graduates of the University of Tennessee, save for Suzanne a proud graduate (and cheerleader) at the University of Georgia which, that year, was on top of the SEC (before the East/West split.  Don't ask me).  Tennessee's football team that year (as in subsequent years) was in the toilet, and the subject, unfortunately, came up at the table, amidst the hammering heard up on the roof.  

While we ate. 

And raised our voices to be heard.

The sorry state of Tennessee football may have been discussed all of 30 seconds before my son, Robert, exploded, angry at Suzanne for having attended the University of Georgia. He jumped up from his seat, pounding his way up the stairs, hollering something, never to join us again.

Well! I thought.  And Suzanne may have thought the same thing.  Could she help it she went to Georgia long before Robert was born?

I don't recall any disagreements at the table with William, our youngest child, but I do recall thinking about our daughter's fiance, Daniel (U. South Carolina), who was visiting and sharing Thanksgiving with us.  

I wondered what Daniel thought about our family and why in the world he would want to be part of it, but he did.

In a little while, his fiancee, our daughter Melinda Jane (Virginia Tech), complimented me on a new dish I had prepared:  "This is good, Mom," she said. Praise from her was rare.

Oh, I said, I am surprised you like it, since it's an oyster casserole.

With that, she leaped from her chair, ran around the dining room table and into the kitchen where she hurled her mouthful of oyster casserole in the sink and gagged.

This is a true story.

A few silent seconds passed before Suzanne turned to me and said in a hushed tone:  "I think I'll leave now."  Who could blame her? 

Suzanne did not wait for pumpkin pie with real whipped cream.  She stole silently out the side door, happy to leave our mad house.  It was.

Soon, Daniel and William left the dining room table to go watch football and soothe Melinda Jane, recuperating from oyster casserole on the den sofa.

The hammering ceased.  

Alone at the table I sat, but a lifesaving mimosa stood nearby and that, with pumpkin pie and real whipped cream, puts a magnificent finishing touch on any meal.

From Google Images

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Veterans Day at the U.S. Navy Memorial, Washington, D.C.

Photo by Patricia Leslie

The Lone Sailor statue by Stanley Bleifeld at the U.S. Navy Memorial, Washington, D.C. with the wreath laid by Veterans Day guest speaker and Vietnam War Honor of Medal recipient Robert Kerrey, 72, who was a Navy SEAL (1966-69), governor of Nebraska (1983-1987), and U.S. senator (D-Nebraska) (1989-2001).

Photo by Patricia Leslie 

The U.S. Navy Band played before and after the ceremony on a beautiful day with temperatures in the mid-60s, chirping birds, and a respectful crowd of about 200 persons who listened quietly. Behind the band is the Naval Heritage Center.

Photo by Patricia Leslie 

Navy troops stand at the ready.  Across Pennsylvania Avenue is the National Archives building.

Photo by Patricia Leslie 

The colors are presented.

Photo by Patricia Leslie 

 The colors are presented.

Photo by Patricia Leslie 

Standing at far left (without a hat) is Sen. Bob Kerrey.

Photo by Patricia Leslie 

The colors advance.

Photo by Patricia Leslie 

Sen. Bob Kerrey spoke less than five minutes at the 15-minute ceremony. He praised Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003) for boosting the Navy Memorial presence on Pennsylvania Avenue. The time the senators spent in the Navy were "the most important years of our lives," Sen. Kerrey said. Those who serve in the military "are obliged to remind those who have not, how important the Armed Forces are to our nation."

Photo by Patricia Leslie 

Sen. Kerrey at the Lone Sailor statue where he laid the wreath. Note the Navy flag dipped in deference to the American flag.

Photo by Patricia Leslie 

Sen. Bob Kerrey and a Navy officer return to their seats.

Photo by Patricia Leslie 

At the ceremony's conclusion, the troops marched away while the band played "This is My Country," and a lady danced solo in front of the podium.

Photo by Patricia Leslie 

When the music ceased, the people said "ohhhhhhh" for they wanted more, which was not to be.  

"What?" asked a man of his lady friend.  "Where's 'Anchors Aweigh'?" It just seemed natural that it should be part of a concert by the Navy band.  It was expected.

Said a bystander, "Well, maybe they played 'Anchors Aweigh' before it started," but someone else said, "They didn't."  

Well, maybe next year!

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Grammy nominee to play free noon concert, Nov. 4, St. John's, Lafayette Square

Noah Getz
Grammy nominee, composer, musician-in-residence at American University, and worldwide performer, Noah Getz will play saxophone with organist Michael Lodico in a free noontime concert Wednesday at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square.

On the program is Esprit de la Lune (Spirit of the Moon, 2012) by Australian composer Andrian Pertout (b. 1963, Santiago, Chile) which Mr. Getz co-commissioned for a performance at King's Chapel in Boston. 

Michael Lodico/Photo, St. John's Episcopal Church

Mr. Lodico, a Fulbright Scholar, is the interim director of music ministry and organist at St. John's.  He teaches at St. Anselm's Abbey School and performs with harpist Rebecca Anstine Smith as the Lafayette Square Duo who will play at St. John's March 2.

These free noon concerts are monthly presentations of the church's First Wednesday series held every month through June.

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square/Photo by Patricia Leslie

St. John's known to many Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square, is often called the “Church of the Presidents” since beginning with James Madison who was president from 1809 to 1817, every president has been a member of St. John's or has attended services at the church. A plaque at the rear of the church designates the pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by St. John's during the Civil War.  

This year the church celebrates its bicentennial, and its history and that of its stained-glass windows are told in books and booklets available at St. John's.

First Wednesday concerts begin at 12:10 p.m. and last about 35 minutes. Food trucks are located at Farragut Square, two blocks away, for those on lunch break.

Who:   Saxophonist Noah Getz and organist Michael Lodico will present Esprit de la Lune by Andrian Pertout
   
What:  First Wednesday Concerts

When: 12:10 p.m., November 4, 2015

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square (White House exit), Farragut North, or Farragut West 

For more information: Contact Michael Lodico at 202-270-6265.

Future dates and artists of the First Wednesday Concerts are:

December 2: Madrigal Singers from St. Albans & National Cathedral schools will sing seasonal music.

January 6, 2016: Concert organist Janet Yieh will play works by Brahms and Widor.

February 3: Bob McDonald and Friends will sing to celebrate the crooner's centennial in "Sinatra Turns 100."
 
March 2: The Lafayette Square Duo with Rebecca Smith on harp and Michael Lodico on organ will play a composition by Peter Mathews. 

April 6: Soloists from St. John's Choir will sing.

May 4: The U.S. Air Force Strings Chamber Orchestra with harpsichordist Brandon Straub will play Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5.

June 1: Concert organist Roderick Demmings, Jr., will play virtuosic works by Bach, Wammes, and Widor.

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Free choral concert Oct. 7 opens St. John's First Wednesday series

The U.S. Army Chorus

The United States Army Chorus will usher in this season's First Wednesday Concert Series at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, at noontime Wednesday, October 7.

Formed in 1956 to accompany the U.S. Army Band, the U.S. Army Chorus regularly sings with the National Symphony Orchestra on Memorial Day, Independence Day, at other patriotic events, and for visiting heads of state. It performs with many symphonies across the U.S.

Also called "Pershing's Own," the chorus is one of the few professional male choruses in the nation, and its members speak more than 26 languages and dialects. Most of the singers hold advanced music degrees. 

In their repertoire are traditional military music, pop, Broadway, folk, and classical tunes. 

Next year the singers will celebrate their 60th anniversary with former members, many who have successfully transitioned to Broadway and opera stages around the world.

Accompanying the singers at St. John's will be organist and Staff Sergeant Dan Campolieta. Captain Curtis Kinzey will direct.

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

St. John's is known to many Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square, and often called the “Church of the Presidents.” Beginning with James Madison who was president from 1809 to 1817, every president has been a member of St. John's or has attended services at the church. A plaque at the rear of St. John's designates the pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by the church during the Civil War.  

Last weekend St. John's began a year of celebration in honor of its bicentennial.

First Wednesday concerts begin at 12:10 p.m. and last about 35 minutes. Food trucks are located at Farragut Square, two blocks away, for those on lunch break.

Who: The U.S. Army Chorus

What: First Wednesday Concerts

When: 12:10 p.m., October 7, 2015

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square (White House exit), Farragut North, or Farragut West 

For more information: Contact Michael Lodico, St. John's associate organist and choir director, at 202-270-6265.

Future dates and artists of the First Wednesday Concerts are:

November 4: Saxophonist Noah Getz and organist Michael Lodico will present Esprit de la Lune by Andrian Pertout.

December 2: Madrigal Singers from St. Albans & National Cathedral schools will sing seasonal music.

January 6, 2016: Concert organist Janet Yieh will play works by Brahms and Widor.

February 3: Bob McDonald and Friends will sing to celebrate the crooner's centennial in "Sinatra Turns 100."
 
March 2: The Lafayette Square Duo composed of Rebecca Smith on harp and Michael Lodico on organ will play a composition by Peter Mathews. 

April 6: Soloists from St. John's Choir will sing.

May 4: The U.S. Air Force Strings Chamber Orchestra with harpsichordist Brandon Straub will play Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5.

June 1: Concert organist Roderick Demmings, Jr., will play virtuosic works by Bach, Wammes, and Widor.

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The last 'Rainy Day' in Washington at the National Gallery of Art

Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street, Rainy Day, 1877, The Art Institute of Chicago.  This work anchored the exhibition at the National Gallery of Art.

Dear Readers, I regret to inform you that I am late posting about this magnificent show ending today at the National Gallery of Art, and I can only hope this brief description will provide a glimpse of the French artist, Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894)  the man who would be lawyer,  engineer, collector,  feminist, and an Impressionist realist artist himself whose works increase in stature, interest,  and reputation with every passing year. 

Fifty of Caillebotte's paintings prove it in The Painter's Eye.

Family money allowed Caillebotte to collect art, and that he did, at a time when Impressionism was in its infancy and still quite controversial.  He bought art by Pissarro, Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Degas, Manet, and Cezanne, among others, and gave many to museums and to the French government which vetoed some of his gifts.  (Years later, when the government came calling, Caillebotte's sister-in-law refused to give the government the art pieces it had initially rejected.)

Caillebotte did not need to sell his own works to eat, and he seldom marketed his paintings.

Gustave Caillebotte, Luncheon, 1876, Private Collection.  

Caillebotte drew Luncheon not long after his father died.  The viewer becomes a guest at the table where Caillebotte's younger brother, Rene, dives into his food, not waiting on the butler to finish serving his mother.  A year later, Rene was dead at age 25 which led Gustave to write his will early, including disposition of his art collection.

Gustave Caillebotte, Self Portrait, 1888-1889, Private Collection

Gustave Caillebotte, The Floor Scrapers, 1875,

Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Gift of Caillebotte's heirs through the intermediary of Auguste Renoir, 1894

The Floor Scrapers, a scene the painter may have drawn from his own studio and considered Caillebotte's first masterpiece, was rejected by the Paris art establishment in 1875 because the workers were considered "vulgar," and not acceptable as representatives in art of the working class.  Only peasants and farmers were sanctioned.

Gustave Caillebotte, Man on a Balcony, Boulevard Haussmann, 1880, Private Collection.  In 2000 this sold for more than $14.3 million.

Gustave Caillebotte, Interior, Woman at the Window, 1880,  Private Collection 

I like to think of Mr. Caillebotte as a feminist.  Compare Man on a Balcony with Interior, Woman at the Window.  Note the man's cavalier stance, his debonair position of strength and confidence as he gazes out upon the Paris scene below.  "Harrumph," he seems to complain:  "What manner goes here?  I do not know if I approve." Perhaps there are too many floor scrapers idling at lunch, 

Meanwhile, in contrast is the woman, above, in funereal garb, standing in her "cage," the railing which is much higher than the man's, mind adrift, thinking, perhaps, "what if?" while looking out beyond to the figure in the window across the way.  Adjacent there in the chair is her keeper and bored husband:  "Shhhh!  Can't you see I am reading?" his position suggests.

The Gallery wall label says these two paintings may have been a pair. 

Gustave Caillebotte, Interior, a Woman Reading, 1880, Private Collection 

And what in the world do you make of this little shrimp of a man lying on the sofa, about half the size of the woman in the chair?  He reminds me of The Incredible Shrinking Man, and maybe that's what he is to his mate.  The same couple pictured in Interior, Woman at the Window (above)? As the length of their relationship grows, his importance diminishes.

Gustave Caillebotte, The Bridge at Argenteuil, 1883, Private Collection

Gustave Caillebotte, The Fields, a Plain in Gennevilliers, Study in Yellow and Green, 1884, Collection of Frederic C. Hamilton, Bequest to the Denver Art Museum

You see what you missed!  

Alas, not all is lost, however, since a fine catalog, Gustave Caillebotte:  A Painter's Eye of almost 300 pages is available, and you may wish to see the show at

the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth where it opens November 8 through February 14, 2016.  The Kimbell and the National Gallery co-organized the exhibition.

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Pictures of a thousand thoughts close today at the National Gallery of Art

Andrew Moore (b. 1957), Palace Theater, Gary, Indiana, 2008, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Before it closes today, a photography show at the National Gallery of Art certainly makes a visit worthwhile to see the second of three celebratory exhibitions of the 25th anniversary of the Gallery's vast photograph collection, this one entitled The Memory of Time:  Contemporary Photographs at the National Gallery of Art.

If it is peace and solace you may be seeking, however, this is likely not a good place to drop in since the renderings will leave you anything but calm. Many of the photographs will engage your mind in a tumultuous way, especially two by Andrew Moore (b. 1957): Palace Theater, Gary, Indiana, 2008, and Model T Headquarters, Highland Park, Michigan, 2009.
 
Palace Theater, a large color picture, is a haunted house, the den of the Phantom of the Opera, a graveyard of old pieces which I loved for its magical effects and the ability to lose myself in what was.   

It is full of objects and stimulation, and once you see the photograph, it shall not be  forgotten.

Moore's works described in the exhibition's catalogue are photographs of "places which have undergone accelerated cycles of growth and decay, transfigured less by the slow march of time than by sudden catastrophe  or cataclysmic change."  

The son of an architect, Moore studied photography at Princeton and spent thirty years taking pictures of buildings which have seen their uses change, their facades decay and, in some cases, disappear, like a tree in the forest which eventually withers, bends, and dies. Like an old person in a nursing home with no one to attend to her, sitting, waiting to totally collapse into a heap of death. But those are living things and buildings are not.  Or, are they?

To see the Palace Theatre in its last state, one of decay and ruin, one can easily imagine the grandeur and beauty it claimed when it served Gary as a center of activity and performance, color, and vitality.  The "before and after."  The theater was built in 1925 for vaudeville acts, then it became a theatre, and now...What is it now?

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
   Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
   Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, 
   The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
   And nearer he’s to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
   When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
   Times still succeed the former. 

Then be not coy, but use your time,
   And while ye may, go marry;
For having lost but once your prime,
   You may forever tarry.

 Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

Andrew Moore (b. 1957), Model T Headquarters, Highland Park, Michigan, 2009, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

And then there is Moore's Model T Headquarters, half consumed by a grassy green carpet where moisture and mildew odors seep through the picture, and almost ooze out onto the gallery floor, enough to practically smell the putrid odors.  The open door in the photograph leads to past human interaction, while isolation and loneliness are what remain. The curvy lines of the grass contrast with the lines of the door and the wall which mean...what?  In a previous life, I saw many empty scenes like this one in empty, vacant buildings.

In the exhibition are 76 photographs by 26 international artists, presented for the first time at the National Gallery of Art. Curators are the Gallery's Sarah Greenough and Andrea Nelson.  

We the people are grateful to the Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund which made it possible for the National Gallery to acquire these photographs. 

The third and last exhibition of the photography series is Celebrating Photography at the National Gallery of Art:  Recent Gifts, scheduled November 1, 2015 through March 27, 2016.  

The first was In Light of the Past: Twenty-Five Years of Photography at the National Gallery of Art which closed July 26, 2015.

What: The Memory of Time:  Contemporary Photographs at the National Gallery of Art

When: Sunday, September 13, 2015, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Where: Ground Floor, West Building, National Gallery of Art, between Third and Seventh streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall.  (Closest exhibition entrance is on Seventh Street.)

Admission: No charge

Metro stations: Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: 202-737-4215 

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Phillips' photo show ends this weekend

Louis Faurer, Broadway, New York, N.Y., between 1949 and 1950, printed later. Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in. Gift of Jerri Mattare, 2013. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC 

Street scenes, modernism, and documentary works are among the 130 photographs by 33 artists which are on view through this weekend in American Moments: Photographs from The Phillips Collection.

It's a modern American history lesson told in pictures, capturing everyday people at work and play.

Louis Faurer, Times Square, New York, N.Y. [Woman with Umbrella], c. 1948. Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in. Gift of Randy Kohls, 2013. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

 Esther Bubley, Girls Entertaining Their Guests, Card Room, Women’s Residence (Arlington, VA), 1943. Gelatin silver print, 10 3/8 x 10 3/8 in. Gift of Kenneth Polin, 2014. The Phillips Collection, 

 Washington, DC 

Some of the artists whose works are included are Harry Callahan, Paul Strand, Margaret Bourke-White, Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, Brett Weston, Edward Weston, Lewis Hine, William Christenberry, Bruce Davidson, Alfred Eisenstaedt, and Lee Friedlander.

They photographed more than just the bigger cities and New York.

 

Clarence John Laughlin, Grandeur and Decay No. 1, 1944. Gelatin silver print, 13 3/8 x 10 5/8 in. Acquired from the artist, 1945. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

 

Arnold Newman, Marcel Duchamp, 1942, printed later. Gelatin silver print, 20  x 16 in. Gift of Lisa Finn, 2012. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

Esther Bubley (1921-1998), a "people photographer," who, early in her career,  quickly abandoned a  job at Vogue because she didn't like it, traveled the world, taking pictures for Life magazine, Ladies Home Journal, and for the federal government's Office of War Information, among many employers.

She documented everyday scenes, and a series of her pictures at the Pittsburgh Children's Hospital led to her inclusion in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1952.

Two years later Bubley became the first woman to win first place in competition at Photography magazine, winning a trophy which featured a male photographer. 

Another woman included in the Phillips' display is Berenice Abbott (1898-1991), known for her stark black and white shots of New York City in the 1930s.  

Is it true that the works of most great artists stem from miserable childhoods?  

Ms. Abbott credited hers for her independence, self reliance, and determination, according to the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum where she was inducted in 2000.  The museum notes her achievements "are wider ranging that anyone else's in the history of American photography."  

The Phillips presents the exhibition "in celebration of recent major gifts," many on view for the first time at the museum.

What: American Moments:  Photographs from the Phillips Collection

When: Now through September 13, 2015, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., with extended hours on Thursday until 8:30 p.m., and Sunday, 12 - 7 p.m.


Where: The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St., N.W. at Q St., Washington, D.C. 20009

Tickets: $12, $10 for students and those over 62, free for members and for children 18 and under.

Metro Station: Dupont Circle (Q Street exit. Turn left and walk one block.)

For more information: 202-387-2151

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