Happy Birthday The Husband!

Happy, Happy Birthday to The Happycrow!
...
and to his evil twin, of course!

What The Frag Is Happening To My City??

I am speechless..My beautiful city of birth is rioting. This is NOT what I remember...I guess I must be out of touch with reality in Hungary (if that's the case, my whole family is out of it bacsue we did NOT expect this...) The Husband has two comprehensive posts up on his much more political site...I used to walk past the places most of the violence in Budapest the past two nights took place almost every day the last five-six years I lived there.

Sigh. Not happy today.

Shrinkwrapped!

Our house is shrinkwrapped through the inside...
They are working on the foundation for the second day, you see. I came home last afternoon, and I found the entire interior enwrapped in plastic sheeting: walls, furniture, doors, closets, floor ...When I tried to get clothes out of my closet, I had to remove more plastic sheeting than Christo used to wrap the Eiffel tower. Then carefully put it back. Then I unwrapped the whole thing again when I realized I forgot to take out a pair of pants for The Husband...Then again this morning when I had to get a pair of shoes our I forgot...
They start leveling this afternoon and will hopefully in the finishing stages of cleanup when I got home. I owe The Husband big; also to The Lizard Queen and her hubby who put us up for the afternoon and night: thanks guys!

Remembrance

Leonard Cohen: On That Day
( from 'Dear Heather', 2004)

Some people say
It's what we deserve
For sins against g-d
For crimes in the world
I wouldn't know
I'm just holding the fort
Since that day
They wounded New York

Some people say
They hate us of old
Our women unveiled
Our slaves and our gold
I wouldn't know
I'm just holding the fort
But answer me this
I won't take you to court
Did you go crazy
Or did you report
On that day
On that day
They wounded New York

Back in town

Back in town, back in business. Memphis was fun, a lot of learning and a lot of good conversation with my friend Virginia...she is one of the most cheerful persons I've ever met, and it's largely contagious around her. And it's a good thing.

I also managed to squeeze in to the new exhibition at the Kimbell Museum (thanks to Sciolist Salmagundi catching it on a billboard while we were driving to Pendery's spice shop in Ft. Worth). The Kimbell is the last stop of the Metropolitan's traveling exhibit: Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh. Of course, I missed the opening lecture series and we kinda managed to rush through the whole thing betwen 1600 and their closing time of 1700, but I snagged the catalog and hopefully someone from my household is wiling to go back with me to enjoy it again at a slow pace. I almost became an Egyptologist while declaring in Archeology, so anything that is Egyptian is good for me--but this exhibition is particularly fascinating as it explores the person whose reign poses almost as many questions as that of Akhenaten's, the heretic pharaoh's, except that her era is much less studied. The artifacts they brought to FTW are truly top notch, and while no doubt that this is a 'pretty art' type of exhibition, the organizers managed to give a great overview of the events, the art, and the everyday life of the Eighteenth Dynasty's elusive member, her predecessors and her co-ruler and succesor, Thutmose III as well. Some of my personal favorites from the exhibit included a rare maned sphinx with the Queen's face, her famous sitting sculpted image where she weard a woman's dress but a male pharaoh's headdress (she must have been a strikingly beautiful lady from that statue alone), a hedgehog-shaped tiny vase and a little bottle shaped like a woman nursing her child. Well, yes, and the jewelry was rather spectacular as well, I must admit.

So I had culture this weekend as well. And The Husband tok me for brunch Monday in the pouring rain to the amazing little place called Le Peep where you can still get real Hollandaise sauce on your Eggs Benedict...You know, with real eggs, butter and cream. M-m-m...