Unofficial End of Winter

At last!  The 10-day forecast we have all been awaiting--every single day temps will rise above 0 C, sometimes impressively so.  Winter unofficially began on January 9th, when our first real cold air descended.  It stayed for 8 weeks and 2 days.  Time to say Good Riddance!  Looking forward to walking every day again.  We recently received our gas bill for late January and most of February.  Last year, which was a brutal winter, the average daytime temp for the same time period was -2C.  This year it was -5 C.  The average norm for that period is closer to 0 C.  Yes, it's been cold.

Today was a busy day.  We brought our car in again to VW for an odour problem, related to a leaking sunroof back in October.  Last time they gave it a thorough cleaning and infused it with scented baking soda.  Didn't work.  This time they are going to strip the insides right down to the bare steel, and likely replace the under padding, and possibly some of the carpet.  It's all under warranty.  They gave us a loaner until the job is done.  Also, it was Deb's infusion day, and afterwards she had an examination by her doctor.  She is still in total remission, and everyone is happy about that.  And I got my new reading glasses; trifocals for piano, computer, and close reading.  I am very pleased with the results so far, but I only have practiced piano for an hour.  More tomorrow, but so far so good.  Reading is fine.

Friday evening, Philip Adamson is presenting his fifth concert in the complete piano sonatas of Beethoven.  After this he will have performed 19 of the 32, with several gigantic ones still awaiting.  Jenn is coming from Cambridge to hear him play.  Hopefully Randy G. will also be there.  I hoping to see hm next week for a lesson.  I need to play through my program for him.

And now it's time for another work of art from the DIA.  Following up on the last time, I am presenting another version of the Jupiter and Callisto story....

Jupiter and Callisto, Beauvais Tapestry ca. 1680.

Detroit Institute of Arts.  293 cm x 227 cm 

This time we get the beginning of the story, when Jupiter, disguised as Diana (the fiend!) seduces Callisto.  Boy, is she going to be sorry (see the previous blog).  And surprised.

 The scene is set in an impressively rich landscape.  Detail of above.  Looks like a great spot to make out with your girlfriend.

 Upper levels of the woods.  Detail of above tapestry. 

Mapman Mike

Early March

It shouldn't be a surprise when March arrives as cold as January, and then it snows.  But it sure is disappointing!  We will not even get close to 0 C. for several more days, and it's whiter than white out there, which is a challenge to my newly restored eyes.  Still, with all of the medical appts. we have had this winter, we haven't had to miss any due to weather.  At least I am now done, except for picking up my new reading glasses this week.  Last week Deb had her echo cardiogram, and this week, in addition to her bi-monthly infusion for RA, she goes for a heart stress test.  At that time she will also have a consultation with her heart doctor.  So two more appts. this week, and a stopover to see if my glasses are ready.

It's time to begin writing my next astronomy article for our club newsletter, even though it's been cloudy so far for the entire session.  New moon is Wednesday.  Very disappointing, as usual.  I am excited to try out my right eye at the telescope!

I am getting lots of reading done.  I completed 12 novels related to my work with the Avon/Equinox Rediscovery Series, and finished reading the catalogue to the Bruegel exhibit.  I read The Drowning World by Ballard, my second novel by him.  A very haunting book, it was one of the best of the month.  Next came my first novel by Barry Malzberg.  Called Revelations, if this is typical work by this author, then I think he is going to have to be an acquired taste.  My edition came autographed.  The book is confusing but readable, is more connected to media than to SF.  He was quite prolific, so I will be reading more of him, for better or worse.  Since there are two books in the series by Robert Silverberg, I read two of his for every one of the other writers.  I am currently reading his shorter fiction from the 1950s on the first Silverberg page.  He was so prolific at this time that he used other names so readers wouldn't get tired of seeing his name.  Some of the monthly SF magazines he wrote for had as much as 70% Silverberg content in a single issue!  It is pretty amazing how well he wrote, despite his speed.

Next came Spinrad's Deus Ex, a short and strange little work that involves the first female pope (she is pretty amazing!) and a lot of time spent in cyber space.  A weed-smoking Rastafarian tech wizard is the hero of the story.  Piers Anthony came next, with Rings of Ice.  It's the end of the world, a flood, and Noah's Ark this time consists of several people in a Winnebago.  This is certainly one of the better end of the world tales, with a nod to John Christopher and others who tackle the theme (Ballard's Drowning World, for eg.).  Speaking of John Christopher, I read Book Two of his Prince in Waiting series, a kids series that ties in an end of the world scenario (his favourite kind) with medieval knights.  It is really quite good.  One more book to go in that series.

Captive Universe by Harry Harrison might be the best of the month, though it sits among a pretty high standard field of entries.  This one concerns two villages of Aztecs living alongside a river, and confined to a valley for their entire lives.  Some of them are blond, so we suspect that things are not as they seem.  One of the males tries to climb out of the valley, and things are set in motion that will rock their civilization forever.  Excellent SF writing, with a nod to Heinlein.  Demon's World by Kenneth Bulmer, another of several British writers in the Equinox series, writes a great pulp SF story, a tense Land of the Giants kind of thing.  Then came E.C. Tubb with his Mars epic entitled Alien Dust, a dated but worthwhile read spanning the first 35 years of the first Martian colony.  It pulls no punches, and could easily be updated to a great TV series.

The Legion of Time and After World's End, two short novels by Jack Williamson, came next.  I am still among his silly but fun pulp SF from the 1930s, reflecting the influence of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers (the comic strips, not the Republic serials).  This is an era of pulp writing that is almost forgotten today by SF readers.  Of course it owes a lot to Edgar Rice Burroughs, too.  The 2nd story shows the beginnings of his ideas for The Humanoids, one of his masterpieces from the late 1940s.  Williamson wrote well into the 2000s, a career almost unmatched in SF writing.   

Rex Gordon, alias S.B. Hough, wrote SF as Gordon and mysteries as Hough.  I just read Dear Daughter Dead.  His mysteries are completely off beat, and likely not to everyone's tastes.  I love his SF, and I love his mysteries.  Sadly, I am coming to the end of his works.  The final book I read in February was by Hal Clement, a novelette about aliens stopping by on Earth on their way to their honeymoon on a much nicer planet.  They need to stop as the alien male requires some blood.  However, it must be extracted without causing any harm to the humans.  Good stuff!  It is called Assumption Unjustified.  More details about these and other SF books can be found on my Avon/Equinox blog, link at left.  Along with the book reviews and discussions are the fun and colourful covers to everything I have read!

And now, on to another art selection from the DIA.  Many religious and mythological paintings gave excuses for artists to create some beautiful landscape art.  This early Italian drawing shows the mythological topic front and center, but also contains a truly wonderful background landscape.  Hope you enjoy!

 Callisto's Transformation Into a Bear After Giving Birth to Arcas.

Domenico Campagnola, ca. 1558.  Detroit Institute of Arts.

36 cm x 48 cm.

Jupiter is up to his old tricks again, and his wife doesn't like it one bit.  Sorry, Callisto.  Doesn't matter that he tricked you and appeared to you as Diana.  According to Juno, that old excuse isn't good enough!

Detail of the left side, upper.  Very Bruegelian, no?  And virtually the same date as many of Bruegel's drawings.

 Detail of the right side, upper. 

Mapman Mike

The Blue Balloon

On New Year Day I went outside to feed the birds and squirrels.  A blue Mylar helium balloon was entangled in our brush.  I extracted it and brought it inside, where I tied it to my lamp on the piano.  It happily floated to the ceiling, remaining there until just a few days ago, when it began to drift lower and lower, until it finally ended up on the keyboard.  I cut it loose, and it slowly drifted around the house today.  At one point, it silently soared over a sleeping cat, then landed in the empty cat bed right next to him.  On the side of the balloon, in marker, was written "Bugs Not Hugs," a somewhat skewed version of the popular "Hugs Not Drugs" saying, something that amused more than one student at their weekly piano lesson.  Anyway, the balloon got two more months of existence, but it has now come to the end of its useful life.  It likely originated in Michigan, floated across the river and landed in our yard.  That is the end of my balloon story.

Today I saw my optometrist, and procured a new prescription for reading glasses.  I require glasses at 50 cm for my piano music reading, and about 20 cm for reading.  I do not need glasses for distance vision.  They are going to be graduated lenses, so hopefully they will prove useful.  They will be ready in a week or so, and then I'll take a week at least to try them out, before deciding on a concert date.  The woman who assisted me at the desk was a former student, one that I remember with fondness.  She lives quite close to me, and even offered to drop off the glasses at our house when they are ready!  That's Amanda D. for you.

Yesterday I saw my retina specialist.  It had snowed again overnight, and the school buses were cancelled.  The roads weren't bad by the time of our travels (my appt. was at 9 am), but due to the eye drops I was given to make my pupils large, it sure was bright coming up, with all that fresh, new fallen snow.  No drops today, just a quick checkup and eye test.  Yesterday Deb was able to get her bi-monthly blood test in the same building as my retina exam.  All is well with my retinas for this year!

Tomorrow Deb has an echo cardiogram in  Windsor.  Before that we will head to Detroit for lunch, and a mailbox visit.  I have four SF books awaiting.  Yes, I order a lot of books.  However, in the short month of February I managed to read and review 12 books!  The next blog will talk about the February reading highlights.

And now on to today's painting!

 The Window, by Matisse, 1916.  Detroit Institute of Arts.

146 cm x 117 cm.  

Most of our own landscape viewing is through our two front picture windows.  We see the Detroit River in all of its moods; bright and sparkling, grey and menacing, with white caps, calm and reflective, ice-covered, ice flowing, with huge ships, with small sailing boats, and especially at sunset, like just now.  In front of the river from our vantage point is a Native American cemetery, with its trees, and our own grass and trees.  Dozens of times each day we look outside, often to see which birds or squirrels (or ducks) are feeding at the bird feeders.  We have a small flock of goldfinches that have been around lately, too.  The ducks usually arrive during the first week of March, and have been coming for years now.  They come for the corn and the drinking water, and frequently nest in the creek bed.

Most of us view landscape through windows, whether from our homes, cars, trains, buses, or even airplanes.  And most of us view urban landscapes.  Very few of us get to observe the wilderness, and experience it first hand.

Matisse also seems interested in urban landscapes.  His carpet has leaves or trees, there are fresh flowers on the table, and a tree and some lovely green growth can be glimpsed outside.  I can't wait to look out our own windows and see green things again.  There has been a lot of white this winter, with yet more on the way for Saturday.  I guess I chose this work because I need some green in my life.  It is coming.  Slowly.

Mapman Mike

An Odd, Very Wild Winter Continues

It has been an odd winter, following upon an odd autumn.  The odds are in favour of an odd spring.  I am less than fond of odd weather patterns.  As I type we are enduring yet another raucous wind storm, which began early Sunday morning and will continue overnight.  We get the full frontal blast right off the river, and sometimes it seems as if the entire house shakes.  The is the 6th or 7th major wind storm here since January 9th, when it all fell apart.  Last night we had heavy rain.  Today there is blowing snow and falling temps, again.  With winds this strong hitting us directly (nearly 50 mph gusts), the house leaks.  Drafts come in everywhere, except through our newer windows.  It's all growing somewhat old now.  Really cold temps are coming yet again, followed by a small warm-up, followed by another blast next weekend.  This also happens to be early in the late winter astronomy session.  I had hopes of getting out three or four times over the next two weeks.  If it does clear up, it will likely be too cold to go out, and/or too windy.

Medical mayhem continues here.  Last Friday Deb went for her heart check up.  They gave her two more appointments, on the next two upcoming Fridays.  One for an echo cardiogram, and then another for a stress test.  Routine stuff, which she hasn't had done for many years now.  Next Wednesday I see my retina specialist for my annual check-up.  Thursday I see my optometrist for my one month post-surgery check-up.  Then Friday it's back to Deb's heart clinic.  And that is just this week.  Oh, Deb also needs to have her blood work done on Wednesday.  And she may need to go to the clinic Monday for another small problem.  And we are still waiting impatiently for her MRI appointment, for her shoulder injury.  It's only been one month-likely two more to go....

Back to paintings:  I first really fell in love with Venetian art when I got to study paintings at the Prado Museum, in Madrid.  We spent a summer there in the mid-80s, taking courses.  We had a free pass to the museum whenever we wanted, and we went about 20 times.  I wrote an essay on the Venetian painters based on their vast holdings, including Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, and the rest of the boys.

Giovanni Bellini was one of the greatest innovators of using paint, and enriching the colours available.  His general direction influenced many Renaissance painters.  He, in turn, was influenced by paintings from the northern (Flemish) school.  Detroit has a masterpiece of his that I admire for several reasons.

Giovanni Bellini, Madonna and Child, 1509.  Detroit Institute of Arts.

85 cm x 106 cm.  

The painting is nearly divided in half by the green curtain, which gives the portraits a degree of intimacy, and the naturalistic landscape.  The intense colours are one of the innovations that Bellini brought to painting, as well as the vast amount of single colour that he used in a picture.  The colours in the painting seem as rich as the day they were painted, too, so he obviously was on to something.

 Detail of above.  

One of the things I love about this painting is that the Virgin is a redhead, and she is quite the aristocratic beauty!  Jesus has quite a head of curly red hair, too, and the same aristocratic expression as his mother.  The detail above allows the viewer to focus on the colours, without being distracted by the landscape.  They also share the same olive green eyes, much easier to see in person.

Detail of the faces.

 Right side detail, showing the full landscape.  That is a Venetian sky!

The landscape certainly echoes northern paintings, but as we are in Italy, at least there are mountains here.  However, it is more likely that the landscape in fictional, like many of them from this time.  Still, it is a wonderful place to wander about, an idyllic place certainly in harmony with the painted figures and what they represent.

Upper part of the landscape, minus the sky.

 Bottom of landscape, with sleeping shepherd and nose-to-nose rabbits. 

At this point I am not certain when our next visit to the DIA will be, but I hope it's soon. 

Mapman Mike

Finally a Power Blackout

We lasted through some of the worst ice and wind storms we've had down here in a while.  but all it took yesterday was a light drizzle in calm winds, and everything went dark.  I was just finishing up with Januda, a piano student.  He was on the last page of a piece by Debussy.  I held the flashlight while he finished it.  My next student arrived with her mom, but I had to send them back home (their house was dark, too, but mom thought it might come back on as they drove here).  So I have some more teaching to do tonight, rescheduled from yesterday.  Even though it was pretty mild yesterday (around +1 C), after 90 minutes of having no working heating system the house temp dropped from 68 to 62 F.  But then the power came back on, and life resumed.

Our Detroit day was last Tuesday.  I had to return a pile of empty beer bottles, ones I had purchased returning from NM last September.  I also had two classic SF novels waiting at the Dearborn mailbox.  We dined at La Shish, splitting an epic portion of Rice/Almond salad, and topping it with a side of baba ganoush.  An inexpensive lunch, and delicious.  They certainly don't stint on the slivered almonds, either.  Then it was off to yet another new coffee shop, this one on Michigan Ave. not far from the old Tiger Stadium.  A totally decrepit 2-story building has been completely renovated.  The cafe is upstairs, with large windows offering fantastic views towards downtown.  I enjoyed the house Costa Rican coffee; Deb had a Kenyan peaberry pour over, which was really delicious and bodacious!  We split a vegan chocolate raspberry granola bar thingy, made it Detroit.  Filling and delicious!

Deb's new eyeglasses were ready, so on the way home we stopped and picked them up.  She is able to read again!  She is currently reading a book by John Sladek called "The Reproductive System."  It's a very funny SF book, one of the Avon/Equinox series.  I am reading a book by E.C. Tubb, covering the first 35 years of colonizing Mars.

On to art:  The Detroit Institute of Arts currently has over 60,000 of its objects on-line.  This means that paintings that are not currently on show can be seen on-line, as well as many other things, too.  Such as graphic arts.  Prints, drawings, and the like rarely go on exhibit, and when they do it is usually for a brief period.  This is due to their fragile nature when exposed to light.  So browsing the graphic arts department is a lot of fun, and I will be including many of these images as long as I continue this blog and art project.

If you visit the DIA website, and find "Search the Collection," and type in Winter, you get over 100 things that have the word "winter" in it somewhere.  There are some lovely artworks in this category, including today's image.  Hope you enjoy it!

 Large version.

 Winter Morning, Walter Koch, ca. 1900.  Woodcut, 37cm x 26 cm.  Detroit Institute of Arts.

Full image version.

This is one of the more beautiful winter images I have ever seen, and that would include many Japanese woodblock prints.  Koch captures the quiet beauty of being in the woods on a slightly foggy day.  It reminds me of where Deb and I snowshoe, when there is enough snow.  So far this year, we have not had enough snow. 

Mapman Mike

Winter's Death Throes

Winter is trying to hang on.  A little snow here, a little there; pity the poor beast.  It's death is so near.  We currently have no snow on the ground, but for the 15th or 16th time this season, that will change this evening.  Yesterday morning we awoke to a "snow globe" snowfall, as if someone had shaken the Amherstburg globe.  And then it melted.  I managed a number of chilly walks this week, and hope to continue on into Spring.  Not much to report around here.  Deb has completed another episode in Yorick's adventures; I continue to struggle with my piano pieces due to eyesight reading problems.  The 28th can't come fast enough.  I suspect that I will need a different strength for each eye, as no reading glasses seem to work for me.  However, I am able to read books.  It's the mid-range computer and piano music distance that is causing me grief.

We still have no travel plans, other than a short jaunt to Cleveland in April, and another to Sudbury in early May.  If Deb is accepted into their film festival again, we will return to Cincinnati in August.

Today's offering from the DIA is a Gobelin Tapestry, from around 1535.  Hope you enjoy! 

Winter, Gobelin Tapestry (17th C.) from The Seasons of Lucas Series, designed ca. 1535.

7 m x 4 m.  Detroit Institute of Arts. 

This is one big tapestry!  Unfortunately, it is rarely on display.  Created 30 years before Bruegel's famous Seasons landscape series, there are some people who believe his painting was strongly influenced by such tapestries.  This is easy to believe, as there are many details in there that remind us of Bruegel, including skaters on the frozen moat, a fire in the background, with people rushing towards it with ladders, and that ominous stormy sky approaching the castle.

Detail of right side, showing the barren forest.

The busy central area, with skaters, a grand castle, and views into the distant background.

 Detail of the left side, showing a large number of people in the foreground, 

and others rushing to a large fire in the background. 

Mapman Mike

Staff Luncheon

One of our retired teachers group had a 60th birthday today, so there was a considerable gathering at a local restaurant for a long lunch.  Because there were no classes this afternoon, a number of still-working staff were able to attend.  Deb and I just went to chat and have tea.  As Deb said once we got home, we were greeted like royalty, or long lost friends or relatives.  I guess we need to get out more.

Well, it's mid-February and the weather looks quite reasonable for the next ten days.  Colder than it should be, but not bad.  Some snow, but nothing major.  Maybe we have turned the corner.  Cities like Ottawa, Montreal, Sudbury, and many others are solidly buried beneath near-record snow.  Ours has melted yet again, but more is coming Sunday and next week.  As we approach the full moon (this coming Tuesday), I am beginning to look forward to the late winter astronomy session.  I'm hoping for three or four good nights, clear but not too cold, with no snow on the ground (it reflects upwards and brightens the sky).  That session officially gets underway next Friday night.  I'll be ready!

Back to paintings for a minute.  One of the first styles of painting I connected with back in the day was early Flemish.  The colours, the precision, the clothing, and especially the background landscapes got me interested ahead of most other styles.  One of my favourite paintings from this period and style housed in Detroit is the one shown below.  Called "Virgin of the Rose Garden," it is by an unknown painter working in Bruges in the 1400s, who is called today The Master of the St. Lucy Legend.  Though he paints in the style of van der Weyden, very few works are attributed to him.  His namesake altarpiece is in Bruges, and I would like to visit there someday soon.

 Virgin of the Rose Garden, ca 1475-80, by the Master of the St. Lucy Legend.

Flemish, 79 cm x 60 cm.  This is a truly remarkable and very beautiful painting, and I've had the good fortune to have known it well for several decades now.  It seems fitting to enjoy this picture as winter comes to an end, though it will still be some time before we see roses here.  Not even any snowdrops yet.

 Detail of above, showing in the background the artist's depiction of Bruges.  I also love the landscape backgrounds in early Flemish paintings!  Note the English-looking hills!

 Detail of right background, showing horse and riders emerging from the city, fantastic mountains, a church, a castle, and a stately home, as well as the ocean, way back.  

Last night was Lupercalia, now known as Valentine's Day.  We enjoyed a fire, take-away food (vegan pizza with all the trimmings), and some beautiful songs by Brahms (Op. 59).  To us, this date represents the beginning of the end of winter.  Feb. 2nd, or Imbolg, is the traditional Celtic celebration, but we are usually still mired in misery at that time.  By delaying it by almost two weeks, however, we seem to hit the proper weather nearly every year at this time (note: for much of Northern Ontario, March 21st is a better bet--we are very fortunate living as far south as we do, at Latitude 42 N.). 

Mapman Mike