Category Archives: Art

Reigning Men

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Ensemble from the Revolution
Men’s Party Wear
At-Home Wear
Men’s Swimwear
Men’s Suits

I didn’t have high expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised by the current exhibit at the Saint Louis Art Museum, entitled Reigning Men: Fashion in Menswear, 1715–2015. This show is composed of 150 mannequins dressed in fashionable menswear from the past three centuries. My selection of photos from the exhibit skews towards the modern, but the full show adequately portrays all periods. Dress is arranged by type, grouping similar wear across the centuries together. The following list details the menswear in each of the photos:

  1. Ensemble from the Revolution collection, Walter Van Beirendonck, 2000
  2. Johnson Hartig, 2009; Zoot Suit, 1940; New Era by Jeremy Scott, 2013
  3. 1720 French at-home robe; 1880 English after dinner wear; unisex caftan, Rudi Gernreich, 1970
  4. Fastskin XZR Racer swimsuit, Speedo, 2008; thong swimsuit, Tom Ford, 1997; The Thong swimsuit, Rudi Gernreich, 1974; Topper swimsuit, Jantzen, 1935
  5. Sapeur Suit, Italy, 2005; Ensemble from the Lust Never Sleeps collection, Walter Van Beirendonck, 2012; Ensemble, Ozwald Boateng, 2013

Baby Mergansers

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Baby Mergansers

We made it to the cabin, convoying up with Bubs and Harry. Anne rode with them, while I flew solo. Except that I wasn’t alone, because I had an excellent audio book to keep me company. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance is a tough love appraisal of the electorate that voted for Trump. A conservative, Mr. Vance, recounts his eastern Kentucky family’s personal history that epitomizes the trail of tears that has befallen white blue-collar America over the past half-century. That he spares them nary a drop is in part a testament to his own Horatio Alger’s story. He is a Yale Law grad, a Marine and an Iraq War vet who has pulled himself up by his own boot straps. Rising in spite of a mom addicted who was addicted to ‘hillbilly heron’, This memoir has been hovering in the top ten on both Amazon’s and the New York Time’s bestseller lists. I ran out of road today and look forward to finishing the book tomorrow on the beach. 

Sand Island Petroglyphs

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Sand Island Petroglyphs, Bluff City Utah, Established 600 AD

We arrived at Sand Island at about the time that the check engine light came on in the Prius. We were a little worried about it, but there wasn’t much we could do about it, so we went on with our day. At least the light wasn’t blinking. That would have been really bad. Sand Island is on BLM property. There is a boat launch, campground and about a hundred feet of rock wall covered in Anasazi petroglyphs. There is both figurative art and symbols. The nearby town of Bluff City, Utah boasts on its city limits sign, “Established 600 AD”.

Anne has been busy this week making home visits. She and the teacher that she will be long-term substituting for in the fall have set up appointments with as many of their students as they can. These home visits are something new to me. They certainly didn’t do this when our kids were in school. The idea of them is to give the students and the teacher a chance to meet each other, before school begins. These meetings are being conducted in the home. This sets them in a more neutral setting and gives the teacher a chance to meet the families too. Discipline is not much of a concern with these kids, but Anne can always tell them that she knows where they live. 

Headed Home

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Desert Mallow

We started our day with a stroll across the road from the motel, to the Taos Diner for breakfast. Afterwards,it was time to hit the road again. Firstly, there was was another mountain range to cross. On the way, a male elk jumped across the road right in front of us. We drove by Philmont scout ranch, which reminded me of my own scouting adventures of yesteryear. We came back down again in Cimarron, where the mountains meet the high plains. I must complain about Siri’s love of Bob’s roads, as we wound our way through eastern Colorado and western Kansas. Along the way, we listened to xkcd author’s “what if?” It’s good to be back in the Central time zone. We crash landed in Hayes, KS for the night. Anne bought some desert colors yarn in Taos. When she was looking at patterns with the proprietor, the owner mentioned that she had made a particular pattern for Julia Roberts. Anne thought, “Doesn’t she knit?” To which the other woman replied, “Yeah, but not very well.”

Taos 

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Indy-Anne-a Exploring Aztec National Monument

We added New Mexico to our list of western states on this tour. We dropped down from Durango to Aztec National Monument, an ancient Pueblo ruin. Compared to Hovenweep and even Mesa Verde, this place is Iike the Big Apple. From there, we took US 64 into the Rockies. Anne topped 10,000 feet in the pass, where we saw snow patches, before we descended into Taos on the other side. Just before we made Taos, we stopped at the gorge of the Rio Grande River. It was a fantastic view. In Taos, we got a quaint old motel that was a little rundown, but more than made up for that in charm. Once installed, we started walking and shopping in this desert artist’s community and after the stores all closed, had a nice dinner outside in the cooling night.