The Week that Was (16 cents)

This was actually a fairly eventful week, but the lack of air conditioning in my home office has hampered by computer usage and blogging. Why the air conditioning went out, we don't know. Our regular air conditioning company came out and said that the air conditioner seemed OK, but that it was getting any electricity. We need an electrician. The electrician is coming on Tuesday, so here (on a Saturday) I am, without air conditioning in the room in which I do most of my homework.

Last Saturday, we picked up our new car, a silver Toyota Prius. Our first Toyota; our first hybrid. It is the 'greenest' car on the American roads, and according to this morning's paper, Toyota sold three times as many Priuses in May 07, as they did in May 06. It drives very comfortably and, in fact, is a relaxing car to drive. You don't have the sensation that you should be revving the engine up continually (in fact you can't), and you try (even subconsciously) to over accelerate. It is odd, in that the car has no key (you have a block shaped key-like thing that you can keep in your pocket), no starter (you push a button that says 'power'), and no gear shift (just a small vestigial toggle that protrudes about 2" from the dashboard). It also is low on trunk space (it is a hatchback), unless you pull down the back seat, but then your storage space, although more than ample, becomes visible.

We tried out the car on Saturday in Loudoun County at the Hunt and Stable Show, and then we drove it to New York, leaving our house Tuesday during rush hour and returning by about 11 p.m. Wednesday night. We went to see the Barcelona exhibit at the Met, closing this weekend), which proved very worthwhile, and a good primer for our August trip. We stayed on the way up at a more than satisfactory Best Western in Burlington NJ, and ate at a Ruby Tuesday's (or was it a Friday's or was it an Applebees?) across the parking lot, where the tilapia turned out to be better than the salmon.

We drove into the city (HollandTunnel was not fun) and followed the sign to the Met and the Met parking lot, where for only $26, we could park for five hours. The garage is under the museum, something that seems vaguely dangerous, although they do check your trunk (or what passed for our trunk) upon entry.

The Barcelona exhibit deals with the period from 1881 (when a newly textile-prosperous city decided to become a center of culture and art) until 1939 (when newly installed General Franco decided the opposite), and had sterling examples of art, jewelry, crafts, furniture, architectural models and more. We were lucky enough to catch a tour guided by one of the three curators of the show. We hope to see many of the exhibited items back in Spain in August.

Coming back (we left the museum about 4) and spent almost 2 hours trying to get through the Lincoln Tunnel, and onto the NJ Turnpike.
The drive back was quick, except that we had a two hour stop in Mt. Holly, an unknown (to us) old town, with buildings going back to the early 18th century. Everything was closed when we got there, and we ate at the Robin's Nest, an upscale restaurant where the highlight was the 3-soup appetizer: cold strawberry, cream of spinich and Md. crab.

The car did very well, and averaged the promised 50 miles per gallon (and it takes regular gas at that).

Since our return Wednesday night, I went to the National Museum for Women in the Arts to see the exhibit of paintings by women from the Italian renaissance, which was very enjoyable. Particularly the portraits (there were fewer still lifes, religious subjects, or historical subjects), some of which were up there with the best of the portraits of the time. I also saw Harry Benton's photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, which spanned a 50 year period of time from the 1950s until today. Benton is a Scottish photographer, who has worked for a number of periodicals and newspapers. While I do not think that all of the photos on display were of display quality, many clearlly were. Perhaps I will get time to talk about them later.

Finally, after a dinner at Bua Thai on Thursday, we saw again Either/Or at Theater J, which seems to have matured in the weeks it has been performed, and is now an excellent show, making it all the sadder that it has to close this weekend, and that the reviews were based on the first few performances. The show was good then (and the reviews positive), but seems to have improved dramatically (no pun intended). I guess this happens with some shows, particularly when they are premieres and were undergoing continual changes until just before opening night. The talkback with cast and director was also interesting.