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...