While traveling last weekend, I had occasion to visit Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum. Lovely little museum in a big old house. A snazzy contemporary yarn installation in the rotunda by HOT TEA led to this great picture by my friend Gretchen:
As I posted on Instagram, it’s always worthwhile to go to a new art museum anyplace you are. Whether you’re visiting a cultural hub like New York or DC (or Paris or Rome) or are in a smaller place, you will learn quite a few new things. I was reminded by the one John Singer Sargent painting in the museum that he really had the goods:
OMG those eyes!
And I was able to go through galleries of the museum that I might’ve had to skip at a bigger place, as you just can’t get through those giant ones in a half a day.
Thrift & vintage shopping:
I’m sure there are wonderful deals to be had in NY thrift shops, but not necessarily at vintage ones, and it takes a lot of effort to find them. One of the things I’m loving about being back in Texas is the used-stuff bargains. There’s a shop here in town called Laverty’s that only opens once a month, for a long weekend. They used to be open full time, including when husband and I first moved in together and got our still-favorite chairs and desk there. But the owner desired more freedom and travels and shops around the state & has an amazing sale every now and then. I stopped through the last time they were open and did a lot of ooh & ahh. Fortunately for the pocketbook, I don’t know where I’ll next be moving to and can’t justify purchases of anything bigger than a knick knack at the moment. But you bet I’ll check here for china cabinets and buffets. And there was this one lamp…le sigh.
A few weeks ago I found myself short on pants that fit and spent some time in my favorite thrift shop from high school, which remains my favorite thrift store, and found a variety of great stuff. It got me to thinking about how quickly people get rid of things (at least 4 of the things we bought had original purchase tags) and how I don’t want to buy any new clothing (socks & undies excepted) for the foreseeable future. It was also super cool being there on a Sunday afternoon, as there were families speaking at least 4 different languages while we were there.
Since I’ve been back from camping and Tulsa, I tried a new recipe and love it so much that I’ve made it twice in 3 days. Chickpea, garlic, cumin & cucumber salad. It’s like the best parts of hummus and tabbouleh put together without the frequent blender-deaths or the bulgur. (Bigger fans of tabbouleh might like to add some bulgur, I served it with couscous.)
On my plane travels I finally got to start a new audiobook in earnest, Patti Smith’s “M Train.” I absolutely loved “Just Kids” on audio. Smith reads both and has some great pronunciation quirks that make you really glad you’re hearing the author say it. This newer one is more of a ramble.
(Side note, when I went to link to Just Kids, I found a bit of synchronicity in learning that Smith optioned Just Kids as a series for Showtime because it would mean she’d get to work with John Logan, of one of her fav series Penny Dreadful, which I’ve totally been binging.)
The header photo on this post is from Navarro Mills lake, a mere 30 minutes from home, where we went camping, fishing and canoeing a couple of weekends ago. It stormed on us like crazy the second night, thank goodness for friends with travel trailers! Other shots from the trip:
Claire Sexton Arts 