Brash and outspoken, traditional and gorgeous, if you love great art, North Carolina is happiness. This and this post introduced how much I love the North Carolina Museum of Art. That was in only one of their two buildings…
A second one houses a collection that dates as far back as Egyptian mummies…
Woman in the middle ancient Roman art at North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh
… and as recent as works by the artists commissioned to paint official portraits of former U.S. President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama…
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What a great time my husband and I had visiting our dear friend David Hunt in North Carolina. He’s posted on Happiness Between Tails here and here. We hadn’t seen him in way too long — all the more reason that my recent discovery of the touching PBS series, “We’ll Meet Again,” gets me blubbering.
What did we expect of North Carolina? Who knows, but it wasn’t an abundance of terrific art museums!
Horse’s Skull with Pink Rose, 1931 by Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)
Let’s start with the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh. We loved it so much that we visited it three times! No, was it four? If it wasn’t, it should’ve been! ( ! ! These ! ! aren’t ! ! understatements ! ! )
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Great art, impressive art, and terrific art! That — though foremost the wonderfulness of spending time with our dear friend in North Carolina — defines the marvelous visit that my husband and I had. In this post, I explained how we had the good fortune to catch an exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Art that featured work by the enormously influential American artist, Georgia O’Keeffe. (And here I tell about another wing of the museum.) In addition to her art, the show featured works inspired by O’Keeffe…
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Truman Capote was a genius writer and spoken word performer. He’s best known for “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Yes, the movie version that starred the lovely Audrey Hepburn but that horribly mangled Capote’s marvelous novella.
Here Capote reads aloud his heartbreakingly sweet and profound autobiographical “A Christmas Memory”…
Here, along with his “Among the Paths to Eden,” is him reading the real version of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”…
Have you read any of Truman Capote’s stories?
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“Flamenco & the Sitting Cat” is the title of the first of my soon-to-be self-published novels. The ‘Sitting Cat’ part of the title refers to the geographical shape of Iran…
Map of Iran outlined in the shape of a Sitting Cat.
I grew up with only classical music — and flamenco music and dance. My father, who left Barcelona in his mid-20s, wanted it that way. Since I left home at 18, it’s a gift to watch any type of dance I like and to listen to every kind of music that comes my way.
Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam respectfully and lovingly fuses dance cultures.
I still love classical — and flamenco! Especially fascinating to me is when flamenco is fused with the dance of Iran, where my husband was raised. Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam is an Iranian dancer now residing in France. Flamenco is as much about individuality as it is about technique — it accommodates all cultures, all forms of beauty.
If only politics were as intent on creating a climate of ‘we’ rather than an ‘us vs. them’!
For more flamenco, check out Part 3: Marvelous Madrid — Flamenco
What fusion art do you enjoy?
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Not feeling holiday cheerful? Don’t despair — holidays are merely dates on the calendar. Before you know it, they’ll be over and done with.
Here’s confirmation that Xmas isn’t always merry — but life can still be funny or at least interesting. The Davenport family holidays, as realized by John Waters, the king cult film-making, with the help of Devine who departed from us far too soon…
Are you feeling holiday-ish?
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León, founded in 29 B.C., has so much fascinating architecture that the two days we visited weren’t enough to see everything. León’s gothic Santa María de León Cathedral was constructed mostly during 1205 to 1301, its north tower and cloister during the 14-century, and its south tower in 1472. Ever see Mother Mary pregnant? (Tap on photos to see them bigger and their captions.)
Shops in historic León, Spain.
Footsteps mark the way along religious pilgrimage route El Camino de Santiago.
Seashells mark the religious pilgrimage route El Camino de Santiago.
The historic district of León features quaint parks.
Spain’s homestyle food (unlike typical restaurant fare most anywhere) is loaded with delicious veggies. I swooned when we happened into a tiny eatery that cooked like I was visiting someone’s gourmet granny — we ate there twice! Every single morning, ‘a comer’ take out restaurant owner Susana shops for the best of what’s in season, then cooks a new menu from scratch — thank you from the bottom of my stomach, querida Susana!
We’re so glad Marco and Mariu rented us a lovely room!
Our hosts, Marco and Mariu, made our stay at their home extra cozy and our visit to León extra memorable — many thanks to both of them!
It was time to hit the highway to Madrid!…
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