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TURRELL DEMANDS ANOTHER LOOK AT LACMA

What an excellent exhibit!  This time we took in Turrell, Part II, in addition to visiting the first part at a leisurely pace, fully embracing our two-hour time slot.

It was a pleasure to see again.  Well worth paying for, IF, you are interested in art, light, and perspective of color.

I might return for a third time.  Perhaps THE MUSE might join me, again.  Perhaps…

img_5175_medThe most precious moment of my day was catching a glimpse of the brilliant head of LACMA, the dashing, Mr. Govan, purely by chance.  I attended this exhibit and paid for it, this time, because I wanted to see it with my darling and handsome scientist and super creative husband, the talented and amazing, Hartmuth C. Kolb, sometimes known as Hutch.  Hartmuth has had a strong interest in photography, film, and technology since childhood.  His teenage family vacation movies, from northen Italy, where the family summered at their tiny villa, are a visual delight!  He made super-eight films and framed every shot right and steady.   To relax, he makes holograms at home.  We had a blast walking into Turrell’s dazzling rooms of pure color, together.   We were bathed in light, bright and white, like the tunnel to heaven.

The significance of art as “religion for atheists,” as the celebrated author, Sarah Thorton, of the bestseller, “Seven Days in the Art World,” is made clear in the temple models of Turrell’s famous, Roden Crater.

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TAKE THE CHILDREN TO ART

Recently, we had the pleasure of a visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art which never fails to impress. The museum’s collection, particularly of French impressionists, Modern, Post-Modern, and Contemporary visual artists is first class.  The staff is in all departments friendly and helpful.  The press support is excellent.  Each visit, provides opportunity upon opportunity for learning and delight.  Here is a video by artist/art critic Ron Schira of Frau Kolb and Mr. Brian Goings, deep into what Schira called, “Active Looking,” of Paul Cezanne’s  “Woods and the Mill Stone,” one year ago at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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This time was particularly special because the two youngest members of the Talkinggrid Creative Circle, the Llittle Kolbs, came along and experienced the fabulous collection of visual art masterpieces, ranging from the glorious Edouard Manet (1832-1883),  “Le Bon Bock, / “The GOOD Beer,”one of my favorite paintings, because the pleasure the character takes in his beer is timeless, eternal to the sumptuous bath of geometry, landscape painting, and elegant figure study, “The Bathers,” by Paul Cezanne, and Andy Warhol’s iconic “Brillo Boxes.”

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The children were vociferously critical of Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain,” the famous urinal signed R. Mutt and sent in as a game-changing lark to the Society of Independent Artist’s first exhibition in April 1917.  “That’s not ART!”  They shouted in unison.  I had a good laugh. Then they took another look and noticed that the urinal was signed… hum… perhaps…. the children got to thinking.  This moment before the replica of Duchamp ready-made, was a great moment in our family history.

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The experience of sharing with one’s children the jewels of contemporary culture, the thought-provoking objects of Dadaist Man Ray (1890 – 1976), whose work becomes more and more mysterious as time renders the “ordinary objects,” of his day into rare and evocative treasures to behold with some awe.  Another highlight of the collection are the tender intimate paintings of Mary Cassatt (1844 – 1926). Seeing the mother and child caress, a moment of pure love and caring, my children were delighted.  In the same vein, my daughter’s drawings of dancers have a sudden depth, which I attribute to her recent experience of Edgar Degas’ Ballerinas.)

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We also saw spent a long lingering moment with Mommy going on and on about the the abstract expressionist masters, Barnet Newman, Clifford Styll, and Robert Motherwell.

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A young Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973) gave my son a stern talking to.

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Piet Mondrian was there to reassure us:

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Brancusi’s Bird in Space and The Kiss reminded us of how little is required to say a lot…

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Nov 6, 2013, 4:37 AM

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CAPITAL TIME: WASHINGTON D.C.

Dearest Talkinggrid Readers,

img_1574_medTravel, to the nation’s capital is a monumental experience.  It is very impressive, to say the least.  This was our children’s first visit.  It mirrored a pilgrimage I made to the capital with my family as a child.  Both times, we saw so much.  The nation’s rich history and power are amply displayed and unequivocally palpable in this vital core of the American Nation’s judiciary and administrative branches.  It is awe inspiring, the wealth, and might, expressed in thunderous scale in buildings designed to remind visitors just how venerable the nation is and will always be…  Timeless beauty assaults the eye with its unwavering reminder that Justice, and Order are the goal of all our political systems. The LAW and its righteous advocates, seem to reach out and demand correct behavior, moral rectitude from the insignificant masses, among which we scampered.

Today, we share with you the highlights of the utmost pleasure that is visiting The Smithsonian Gallery of Art and the National Portrait Gallery, there we had the privilege of viewing the newly unveiled “The Four Justices,” by artist Nelson Shanks.   The children admired the painting spending time taking in the implications that it is only recently that women have attained the degree of respect required in posts of significant power.

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The idealized portrait of George Washington got the children’s full attention.

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Afterward the children had a moment of deep chat, consultation, and meditation with the portrait of Abraham Lincoln.

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Machines and quirky inventions of another age also were found to be extremely intriguing.

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I got a kick out of Chuck Close’s painting of former President Bill Clinton.

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Yet, for me of the political portraits, Alice Neel’s intimate and intense, fierce portraits of Civil Rights activists which worked to make needed changes during her lifetime were especially touching.

Nov 12, 2013, 7:01 AM

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James Turrell at LacMa

Dear Talkinggrid Friends,

Thank you LACMA!  The James Turrell (b. May, 6th 1943) exhibition is a singular experience.  It is eye opening, to the most extreme degree, to engage in a visual dialogue with silent and pure color.  LIGHT, which re-frames and re-invigorates the interest in perception, is here the subject.  Thereby, altering the expectation of “meaning,”  to arrive as a gift from the outside.  Instead, the gift is within, in the dazzling ability to perceive, to deduce, to share in Turrell’s focus on light as a truth to be embraced, cherished in a darkened chamber, for as long one can bare its enduring brilliance.

The invitation to reflect on seeing, and on its effect on knowing, is extended to the audience of the art inclined   to admission into circle(s) of enlightenment, described and delineated by the artist’s scientific study and methodical exploration of light’s value.  One must dart and dive into darkness, blackened rooms which beckon the viewer into sacred–––contemplative–––corners of neon, “Emergency Exits,” unreal Portals to raw Potential, and tangible understanding(s).  Holograms gleam and blink inviting us to reach into two-dimensional space and pull out a jade triangle, or a square piece of blue opiate glass or the ellipse of the moon, a—shimmering—circle, cut deep in the projected phenomenon of fabricated and condescend time.  One must think of Kazimir Malevich (23 February 1879—15 May 1935), the great pioneer of abstract art that broke the barrier into the world of Objective Art, replacing the Russian icon with the glow of pure form.  Wandering from glowing pink room to dark wine sea of burnished light installed and projected via discrete sources and enticing one to walk into walls, blind…walls which become infinite halls, winding down the bunny-hole of masterful aesthetic manipulation.

California, home to the great film industry, and all things flashy and intoxicating, in their projected glamour is fertile ground for art, which takes light, seriously.  Making it the STAR, rather than a tool of production.  Turrell’s slicing and dicing of building(s) to create architecture in which viewing is the ONLY purpose, totally shifts the scale of typical visual art experience, which was traditionally, until Modernism, was limited to “the framed window,” of the painted surfaces (Yet… come to think of it, the red-wall mural paintings of Pompeii were… unframed, precedents… to the spectacle of the lighted Zimmer, living room feel, of Turrell’s LACMA installations remind one of other key moments in art history.  The Impressionists, for example, showed off, a corner of their discoveries of light’s properties, and of color’s possibilities, when they incorporated tube paint into an outdoor light focused plein air technique of painting which used points, tiny chunks, dots, and/or strokes, of industrially produced, for the first time in history (!), color as a means of creating shifting, living, vibrant painted surfaces depicting slices of live in early 20th century France.

The interest in light is palpable in all successful works of visual art.  The understanding of color, a function of light, is essential in most visual art practice.  This Turrell exhibit provides a means of relating anew to the art of the Renaissance and its particular interest in light.  The works of Carravagio and his followers, for example, dealt with the darkness abounding, shadowy figures of vagrant types he collected on streets, and cast in the role of saints and sinners in his highly emotional works.  Masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn, (July 15, 1606-October 4th 1669, whose famous Chiaroscuro, was the signature understanding of light as a substance, precious, and essential in the construction of worldly value with dirt, crushed stones, and pigment.  Similarly, Giovani Bellini, (c.1430 – 26 November 1516) also painted the features of light, in his painting of St. Francis, in (The Frick collection), soaking in the almighty sunlight, Bellini deftly recorded the brilliance of man’s expanding architectural prowess, thereby making a powerful record of light’s potential to speak volumes and thus influence everything from mood and radical changes perspective or epiphany.

Turrell has enjoyed a long career and a stunning success as an architect of landscapes, which seek to “Bring down the sky,” not by altering it but by changing the context in which it is seen.  The artist’s crowning work, is the Roden Crater, in Arizona, pulls the sky from its far-away place and makes it a manageable square of pleasure.  The retrospectives at LACMA, brings home the visual feast of the majestic desert light, which defines, the American West.

What a triumph for Los Angeles and the Art World that this retrospective of local-home-grown art, many of the early works created in Santa Monica California.  This exhibition reveals that the actual subject of ALL visual art is, LIGHT, as is elegantly and effectively exhibited in the Eli Broad Center for Contemporary Art in the Los Angeles Contemporary Art Museum Compound. Right NOW!

LIGHT, as topic, as material, as the means by which we perceive and are perceived is treated with all the respect and majesty it deserves by temple building, monumental cavern digging, genius architect of trans-formative viewing spaces, Turrell.

Best regards,

Frau Kolb

*** Special thanks to Ms. Crane for her fresh and lively take on the Turrell Exhibiton.  We don’t call YOU, “The MUSE,” for no thing.  YOU ROCK!

Nov 3, 2013, 5:23 AM

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WE MUST Cultivate the GARDEN!

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“Cultivate Peace,” © Frau Kolb 2013

I often find myself thinking of this line “WE must cultivate our Garden,” Voltaire’s Candide’s verdict, at the end of the skinny little, up and down, adventure-novella.

My understanding of the quote is that WE can and must actively create the living vision of PEACE and ABUNDANCE we yearn for in some by-gone golden age or futuristic utopia.   Few of us live in daily bliss of our own construction.  Yet, I insist that it is possible to be HAPPY with LIFE most of the time.

YES! Friends!  It is true.  You can be HAPPY!  YES!  YOU!!!!

 The key: apply “The Vacation Approach.”  Yes.  NOW.  “What?” “HOW?”

YOU ask.

Here is the abridged version: 1. Appreciate that every obstacle is a miracle waiting to unfold.  2. Laugh.  Seriously.  NOW, practice laughing every day, make time for laughter.  Prioritize it.  SO: Hah!  HAH! HAH!  HAH! HAH! HAH!  That is how WE do it.  OK.  3.  Limit your intake.  You are what you watch.  You are what you read.  You are what you eat.  Think about it.  Your life is a garden.  YOU decide what you grow.   Weeds?  Pluck ’em or smoke ’em or eat ’em.  You decide.  It is your world.  In this vein, your home is your sanctuary.  (I don’t care IF you live under the bridge, you can experience bliss at home by INTENDING it.  Start by turning off the horror the horror THE NEWS and allowing yourself to listen to your own breath.   Inhale.  Exhale.  Yep.  See THAT!  You are a miracle!  You breath! (Don’t allow the dirty river of television to stream uninterrupted into your house with bad ideas and BS images of food and weight or diet plans.)  Simply be selective what you put into your body.  Porn.  Junk Food.  All of it debilitates YOU!  Choose: healthy (organic is best) food.  Beautiful harmonious images can make you feel better about the world (make time for nature) in art and LIFE: one place where you can get the extra special GOOD healing viewing is at the Frick Museum in NYC or the Rothko Room at the London Tate, in LA we have the beach and mountains as a source of comfort, healing, and rejuvenation.  ART here, I think fills the gap of needed mental excersize, for some.  4. Pick your friends/travel companions/crew, first mates, and officers wisely, actively.  Terminate relationships that don’t work FAST!  IF you have a captain other than yourself be sure that person will go down with the ship (YOU) IF needed.  Dump the assholes.  Cut.  Prune.  KEEP IT TIGHT! 5.  Focus on what you want MORE of… in order to create peace in the world you must experience it daily,  spend time alone, pray, paint, draw from within yourself and find the infinite power of creative activity and focusing on our preferred activities of service and LOVE.  Thus we cultivate prosperity, celebrate wealth, create a sumptuous feast of JOY for our many loving friends, COOK!  EAT!  YES!  Remember: celebrating LIFE is a skill and the more that you do it the better you get at it.  6. Volunteer.  Give back to the community.  I garden.  I touch DIRT!  Find a way.  Do it everyday and encourage others to PICK UP TRASH and take their own bags to the super market.  IF we ALL made these choices the entire planet would be a beautiful garden with healthy, happy, well fed people EVERYWHERE (That is my wish for the planet.  I see it clearly.  I see a world where EVERY HUMAN has everything they need and MORE. I write this truth here and thus this possibility is one step closer to be the absolute truth of human experience, to which I believe we are headed, despite our mis-steps and blunders along the way to paradise.)   Think about how the water keeps the plant alive and the SUNLIGHT how it caress the leaves and brings out the best in them. Let that dazzling truth soak into your soul.  Allow yourself time to heal.   REST in the garden, as you WORK in the garden of your LIFE cultivating peace today and everyday, make time for small rituals of rejuvenation and beauty, like those provided by the one and only Nite Spa in Venice Beach California.  Save your own LIFE.  Don’t forget to get out there and grow some organic lettuce, tomatoes, and yummy dark green kale!  & last butt not least: APPLY The SEVEN BOOK RULE!

 THE SEVEN BOOK RULE

 The Seven Book RULE is the secret to my abundance of LOVE and desire to LIVE it UP!  I am the original BON VIVANT!  I thrive in wine bars, dancing, kissing, romancing, flirting, to music!  I live in BACCHIC Splendor!  I am AFRO LATINA.  My parents come from Dominican Republic and Spanish is my first LANGUAGE (don’t forget it).  I am a first generation American.  I had the good fortune to be well raised by caring, intelligent, and educated parents.  My father was an attorney in Dominican Republic when he met my mother.  My mother comes from an illustrious Dominican Family.  History book… people of wealth and class… yet, her grandfather gambled away not one, not two butt three inheritances… I ran away from home at 17 not because my parents were horrible people butt because I was adventure ready.  I’ve had a BLAST!

I’m still having FUN!  I plan on keeping it UP!  Hah!

Anyway… Apply the SEVEN BOOK RULE if you want to solve any problem, tackle any obstacle, achieve any goal; GO! to the public library (the most blessed and noble institution in the most wonderful and abundant United States of America) and get yourself a stack of seven books on whatever bugs you: DIVORCE, DEATH, Disease… Whatever the problem the more you know about it, what others have done before you to deal with the issue and get on with the business of living THE BETTER!

YOU think SEVEN BOOKS is too many?  Well let me assure you that reading ONE book on any topic is NEVER enough (…and I don’t care IF that book is the Bible…).  Read only ONE book and base your opinion on it and you will sound like and idiot babbling on topics with no clue.  Two books is a little better.  Three is much better.  Four and you are looking good and feeling informed.  Five and YOU know a good, useful, amount about the topic.  Six and you are ready to deal with almost any aspect or complication related to your problem and SEVEN!  SEVEN BOOKS means you are a MASTER ready to deal with whatever issue with dignity and style.

I know because I wrote the unpublished book “THE VACATION APPROACH,” before I got THE CANCER diagnosis.  I wrote it from the perspective that I had something to say about success because I felt and feel successful because I have lived my life according to my innermost callings and thus have found a measure of fulfillment in LIFE.  Yes.  It is true.  I have.  This doesn’t mean that I am perfect or that I think I am perfect.  I am divinely flawed LIKE you.  WE are all perfectly flawed and our flaws often house our greatest strengths. Yet, everyday I cultivate peace and enjoy the fruits of that labor.

Much LOVE,

Frau Kolb

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Barney’s, Beverly Hills, Expensive Restaurant(s) vs the JOY of Homegrown Organic Food

Yesterday,

Frau in the company of her beloved protective big scientist German national husband, Herr Dr. Kolb hit Beverly Hills on a well planned and anticipated SPREE!

We arrived in Beverly Hills, California, fairly determined and thoroughly prepared to feast on luxury fish and fashion.  Frau was all set and eager; ready to write about decadence with a price tag and taxes; written in and paid for nothings to be enjoyed; savored, abundant tips added.  The BIT!  Frau was ready to shop and then to write about the pleasure.

Entering the store via what used to be the quiet underfloor of offices into a buzzing hive of scented candles and cosmetics… what a NEW MACY’S entrance… at BARNEY’s NEW YORK??? What???? I mean I dig MACY’S because it is easy and convenient to go there and get a lot for one’s home, for example…  when I was in Philadelphia and furnished my husband’s entire bachelor pad in 24 hours’; Macy’s was super.  (Click here for the downtown Philadelphia Macy’s hopping super shopping adventure with Frau Kolb.)

Yet,  Failure of Barney’s NEW YORK in Beverly Hills to reel me in with its scarily overpriced… no it is INFLATION, gross and ugly; I remember buying the same scarves last year for two thirds the price and everything seems so crammed so sterile and strange; like a shopping hospital for ugly people.

When I was a youngster, growing up like a weed in wonderful Manhattan, I was taken to Barney’s by a man, who later became my lover.  He was the first person to ever offer to buy me a truly lavish gift in an over-the-top luxury establishment.  I watched in amazement as LADIES floated by in chiffon and makeup.  They looked like fairies.  Angels.  I was overwhelmed and I refused the opal ring he offered me because we were not lovers, yet.

img_9065_medThe Restaurant at Barney’s now offers little food; just the same burgers and fries that every other place serves; little snacks; a salmon plate, whatever.  IT is so NOT BARNEY GREENGRASS and without Greengrass, Barney’s is  NOT The BARNEYS I Love.   (Fortunately, Greengrass has moved to new location in LA so I don’t have to fly to NYC to get a dose of proper salmon, whitefish, and caviar; to go with my staple Vueve Cliquot.)  Disappointed and vaguely disgusted by the expensively attired Japanese teen taking the proverbial selfie, to the older Italian businessman in a fabulous suit ogling her, we stormed out of Barney’s and onto Wilshire Blvd.

 

We walked around Beverly Hills.  Everything seemed weird to us, foreign, even though we have lived in Los Angeles for a decade and know this part of town; intimately… we have the strangest feeling that something is OFF.

“We must be famished,” we concur and continue roaming until we step into Flemmings in Beverly Hills for an overpriced BLAH meal.  The other guests, seated in the thick booths about us looked miserable.  The waiter was smug and pushing overpriced wines and the same salty scallops in the same dot of green mud, which every overpriced venue now has on their menu (along with the standard Pork Belly and rubber steaks, which of course… we ALL want.)  Honestly, I eat meat.  Yet I LOVE ANIMALS no cow should die for some ass to eat an overpriced steak at a famous yet unimpressive steak house in an area known for luxury and increasingly delivering this to an audience which is clearly NOT as precise as Frau in her expectations of culinary perfection; being that whenever I eat out it is a treat for me I always want it be at least better than what I cook at home. Recently, with the planting of a backyard organic garden, next to her very active kitchen… it is becoming difficult to enjoy the slap-dash, disasters, made of post-haste and kitchen waste that is passed of as gourmet in most “renown,” eating houses.  (Calamari, chicken wings…. all this was considered GARBAGE food before… these dishes got transformed into trendy eats… “think before you chew,” that is my motto.”

Gardening, growing food, cooking at home, drinking wine in the back yard… yeah, that is what this summer is going to be about at CASA KOLB.

(Just take a gander at at the Bok choi, Romaine Lettuce, Parsley, Basil, Chive and Sweet-pea salad… I img_9020_medgrew all the organic ingredients in my backyard —tiny—organic dirt and seed, GARDEN!

It is in the cold hard moments of reflection, when the thrill of shopping, has failed to entice and the fun of food is not what one expects, that one faces the truth about one’s dining partner: either a person is fun and a good companion or not.  Thank goodness if have partnered with a very civilized human that entertains me with humor and soothes the cranky tiger of my being with compliments; making love to his Frau with words, coaxing laughter from his Frau at the table even if the food laid before us, is not the cause.

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Philadelphia Art Marathon 2012 with Ola Manana & California’s, La Suzy coming in from NYC!

Philadelphia Art Marathon 2012 with Ola Manana and California’s, La Suzy coming in from NEW YORK CITY!

Today!  We visit the Barnes Foundation!

No place is perfect.  Philadelphia is close.  It is close to New York City, that is.  In contrast to New York, it more of a traditional town.  I think… perhaps, it is because, Manhattan is an island surrounded by water.  It is more like an insanely sexy prison where the cult of art and cultural sophistication are celebrated with the most exacting intensity.

Ja!

I am LOVIN’ Philadelphia.  It is so fine here. The weather!  Stunning autumn colors.  Burgundy, gold, yellow ocher, sienna, green!  The trees are on fire, blazing with colors of decay, a window into a promising WINTER SEASON for Philadelphia citizens.

This city is vibrant, rich, and just culturally packed it awesome things to do.

In a single night on the town, I walked cross town to Society Hill.  There I spied an really inviting restaurant.  Butt, I decided to walk on.  I wanted to continue on my night time stroll through the grid of the city.  Pubs, Asian Fusion, Italian, and other ethnic culinary options abound.  The variety of entertainments available to walkers on a comfortable jaunt about town.

We have so much to see!  Of course there is the Philadelphia Museum of Art, butt being that we went there last week, or two weeks, ago we are trying to avoid repeating ourselves, butt it is hard to do ALL the things we want to do.  We wish we could clone ourselves.  Thus, WE HAVE!

The TALKING GRID is NOW, for today ONLY!: OLA Manana, La Suzy, and Frau KOLB!

Yes, this is like a sporting event!  Butt, it is NOT.  It is art about the fine art of bullshit, of display, of propaganda.  WE are talking about images.  Impressions.  Ideas.  We are sitting around and we are getting off our BUTTS and hitting the streets in search of superior ART/aesthetic experience!  Ja!

We are on a journey to the center a a very specific and highly controversial location in Philadelphia. Today we plan on going the the Barnes Foundation!  EXCITING!

Frau Kolb may POP into The Rodin Museum.

Maybe.

Frau Kolb

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Farewell Philadelphia! Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Farewell Philadelphia! Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Dearest among beloved American Cities,

Philadelphia, I love you! You are so pretty! I love your location between three rivers the river and the Delaware, Schuylkill, and the Wissahickon. You are so sparkly and central. You figure prominently in history. Yet, I suspect the BEST is YET to come! We can all learn a lot from a visit to you, Love. You are one of the oldest, yet active, and powerful of American cities. Yet you still have fresh stories to tell and your are as inviting as a young lady in her best attire.

I dig your art museums. I was at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, not too long ago with Mr. Ron Schira, (the artist/art critic is attending Art Miami Basel 2012 with the Talkinggrid) and Mr. Goings. I am looking forward to visiting the Rodin Museum, once it emerges from the stupor of restoration. Also on my list of places to visit is The Institute of Contemporary Art, the ICA, which is a part of Penn State University and is said to be an “muy importante,” location. Because they showed Andy Warhol and Laurie Anderson’s work at pivotal junctions in their careers, among other notable art mega-stars.

Oh MY GOODNESS, Philadelphia, you are a seriously RICH BEE-ACH! So much innovation! So much history! You have the most amazing wealth of educational options for children and adults a like. Moreover, you open yourself up to exploration. You are easy to navigate. In nearly every corner of the city’s easy walking grid, there are trains, buses, taxis, boisterous yet self contained street seers, and mingling among other modes of cosmic and mundane public transportation, which might take one as easily from one fold in the universe to the next university. It is remarkable. The possibilities!

YOU have that fabulous sixty mile park of uninterrupted bike path, a wooded joy. The pace of the city can be almost as fast as that of my beloved Manhattan. Yet, being a little smaller and a little less crowded is a plus, in my book. Your citizens, take time to greet one another, polite in the minor interactions.

Philadelphia!

Thank you so much, I spent four days here, exploring just a little of your riches. I stayed at the Embassy Suites in the Center City. It was a great location. The staff was friendly and helpful. The room was vast by New York City or Los Angeles standards. They served a wonderfully greasy breakfast, which I was able to work off at their small but adequate gym! But the BEST was the open bar in the evenings, the “Manganger’s Reception,” which really made coming back to the hotel in the evenings a gemütlich experience. Philadelphia invites walking. Thus, I was able to walk and on my first night evening in town I walked all the way to Society Hill. They have a great art house movie theater, The Ritz, that is very inviting. (They were playing “Lincoln,” starring Daniel Day Lewis––an excellent actor I once or twice had the pleasure of meeting, while living with friends in Dublin Ireland’s famous Balls Bridge, area, by the way, the film tickets were sold out.) The selection of movies was great. It even included, a Landmark Theater’s exclusive, “A Royal Affair”, a costume romance drama. I love those films before Christmas!

I also found a perfect restaurant for a single (married) lady to enjoy a fine glass of deep RED wine and some delicious tapas; the Urban Entnoteca. The service was appropriate and the wine was meaty. When the bill came I felt I’d been treated fairly. I’d recommend this spot any day.

A Day later, I was a-washed in delight. Strolling down past Logan Circle. The Swann Memorial Its water spewing monumentally scaled river frogs, swans and gigantic personifications of the three rivers that distinguish the city, pulsating with joy. Water spraying invitation, over the printed words “NO SWIIMMING,” it is a Philadelphia tradition to take a dip in the fountain during the hot summer months and I promise myself to return and baptize myself in the water spray, soon!

I missed visiting LOVE Park, But I am sure to return to Philadelphia so that I can make a sketch of the famous public sculpture by Robert Indiana! Ah! (I have a digital video, companion piece to these musings, which I promise to post almost immediately, but first the piece requires a requires a light edit.)

The AUTUMN colors were out in FULL GLORY this year! The bright golden yellow leaves stood in high contrast to the burnt burgundy of the Japanese maples. My goodness, what beauty driving to the main-line suburbs on Saturday. The streets were packed as a mini-marathon was underway. People everywhere wearing smiles of anticipation. The festivities had real energy. I’d have love to join the runners and participate in the half marathon.

In general, I find the people a nice blend urbane kindness and proper conduct. These are people used to the real spread of possibility. They know that it takes all kinds of folks to make the world go round and they are actively pushing for it to spin at just the right speed. Here, in Philadelphia there is a feeling that American history is positively alive. Many streets are labeled with wonderful placards that give you a nutshell account of the historic import of the block you NOW walk on. Any kid, of any age, with a curious mind will feel at home in this wonderful and inviting town.

On Sunday afternoon, I walked to meet my ART pals, Ola Mañana and La Suzy of California, for a trip to the Barnes Foundation. (I will leave the controversy to be covered by the authoritative Ms. Mañana. She is working on providing solid coverage with the full scoop of truth we all crave.) They came in from Brooklyn and Manhattan to me ME! Frau Kolb!

After we HIT the Barnes Museum. We gals strolled over to the public library. Ms. Mañana wanted to check out the Dickens exhibit. So, we popped into the building and She was like a child getting an favorite treat. WE LOVE OLA’s enthusiasm for LIFE and Charles Dickens is her absolute favorite. Sweetheart, that SHE is!

Next we swaggered over to Whole Foods. Roasted Chicken, organic salad, prepared corn, and other goodies including the most wonderful selection of Big Dipper Beeswax travel candles which I depend on for creating just the right atmosphere in any location. We chose “Rapture,” and “Harmony.” I am writing with “Vitality,” lit as I do most early mornings (I get up before five am everyday (almost) to update the site). Later I will blow it out in favor of “Clarity,” for the briefest of edits before I post this little THANK YOU note to the city of Philadelphia for being so beautiful, inspiring, and ART RICH!

The climax and finale of the quick trip into Philadelphia’s many culinary offerings was a delicious raw OYSTER BLOW OUT at Parc, on Ritten Square. The briny medium to small delights were scarfed down with French Champagne, of course. Making my time in Philadelphia, just before the holidays, 2012, a perfect launch for the Holiday Season!

Darling ol’ girl YOU are my kind of town. I shall return!

Love,

Frau

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Honolulu For Celebrating Milestones and Family Unity

What a TRIP!

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Photo(s), courtesy of Dr. HC Kolb © 2013.

We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, in Oahu, again.  (This location has the advantage of having a private beach, with kids activities, snorkeling, dinner cruises, and the best fireworks show on Friday nights.) This time we had a corner room in the Tapa Tower.  Last time, we stayed at the Rainbow Tower.  Both experiences left a good taste in our mouths.  Because our rooms were spacious, if expensive, and comfortably appointed.  High up, the views are impressive.  Beware of vertigo!  It is so high UP and still little birds arrive looking for scraps on our balcony.  Diamond Head and the Bay sparkling with ant-sized boats, imaged outriggers, and the vast Pacific ocean, teeming with life.  Humans come from all over the world to celebrate their peak moments in Honolulu’s warm embrace.

The thick ocean air, kisses your face, fragrant breezes massage your skin… Ah!

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Underwater photo, courtesy of Dr. HC Kolb © 2013, no reproduction without permission.

What a way to celebrate turning 40!  The triumph over a family’s greatest challenge!  Whatever the reason, Hawaii is the place to GO!  YOU want to be there to celebrate your life’s milestones.  YOU need a dip in the warm waters.  You are ready to dance the Hula.   The adventure of LIFE is alive and raw in that excellent city, Honolulu.  It may be developed, a hard little nugget of a glittering city, studded with high-end shopping venues on par with Rodeo Drive, in Los Angeles, California and top-notch boutique hotels, but the island has jungle hiking trails that will delight the novice, the family man, the native, and the experienced globe trekker, alike.

Ja!

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It wasn’t a given that we would make it this far.  Those that know, are aware of how much ground we crossed in the last few years, and how we (all) faced difficult conditions, in the spirit of learning to love LIFE more, and thus, WE arrive at this—sacred—point in time: NOW!   Any major life transition requires special action to mark it, define it.  The traditional honeymoon in Hawaii works, for example, in that no one can say that “little America,” the islands of the Pacific are anything short of dreamy, a GREAT place to launch a life-long LOVE partnership.  Just as the passage from winter to spring, the graduation of a loved one might be a great excuse to get down to Hawaii for some much needed rest and relaxation.

YES!  WE must prioritize caring for ourselves.

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The key message shared in, “The Vacation Approach,” an unpublished book by Frau Kolb was that LIFE must be lived as an ongoing vacation. What do WE really want to do?  What is really important?  Let us connect with our LOVED ones while we have them.  Let us GO to Hawaii while its beauty withstands the assault of the littering tourists (those horrible humans who feel it is okay to leave plastic wrappers, bottles, and bags everywhere they go.)  Let us enjoy, as much as we can, this moment that sits before us.  Let us embrace the NOW, where NOW happens to be.  In other words, IF you can not now afford a little get away.  Plan your vacation and enjoy your actual location.  (Read this blog for tips on how to live the artist’s ideal life of learning, loving, and living it UP!)  Travel in books and by reading is another way to soar above the bore of same old, same old.

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IF, on the better hand, money is not an issue and you crave hard-core decadent luxury and French service, then you must hit B.L.T in Honolulu.   Delicious European classics in Las Vegas style luxury with New Yorker edge, in Honolulu bent on French service in a high-end restaurant then you simply must visit, BLT Steak.  Oh YES!  It is so good.  You will love it.  Juicy!  This is food that we advise vegetarians avoid.  Moreover, this an establisment catering to those on a tight budget.  But it is pure carnivore heaven to go when you want to splurge on a thick Porterhouse, for two, served in cast iron, with sides of garden fresh vegetable and excellent tender green salad,  preceded by Pacific oysters—so fresh and briny.  This is the elegant dining location to mark a memorable evening with best friends and beloved (carnivore) family.  Yet, it is NOT for everyone (vegetarians, you could order a grilled veggie plater!  I’m sure it would be excellent).  IF you want to celebrate an important event and want the team service to work like a dream around you.  Try, knocking a piece of silver of the table and watch the head waiter catch it before it hits the floor.  Or don’t, because really that isn’t the kind of thing a polite and well-bred person like YOU would even consider doing for a bit of bad-taste fun.  But, if happen to push a fork off the table, by accident, KNOW that the service will notice before you are inconvenienced by the diving piece of silver.

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You might also enjoy, Kaiwa,  Japanese cuisine for lunch.  Quiet.  Elegant.  On a second floor and frequented by locals.  This spot is a refuge from the chain restaurant culture, the noise, the ubiquitous flat screen televisions, and cheap American food.  It is a comfortable, but not tremendously luxurious, place you want to sink into the deep padded leather booths lining the restaurant and enjoy a moment of nourishing Japanese cuisine.

Travel helps fortify the soul, the spirit.

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img_0372_medIF you have never snorkeled in Honomanu Bay in Oahu: You MUST but, first, you have to watch the nine minute conservation and safety film.  YOU don’t want to die in Hawaii.  You want to have a good time.  Therefore, you require instruction on how to respect the life that lives in the reefs and coral.  It is time YOU get cozy with the idea that our reality depends on being mindful of LIFE, limits, and LOVING the environment, and showing that LOVE by restricting our personal use of natural resources, honoring the material world, so that life may endure and WE, my friends, continue to thrive.

 

© Frau Kolb 2013