Skip to main content

On Loan From The Smithsonian

    Hey, everyone. Several years ago, I visited Chattanooga, Tennessee's  Hunter Art Museum. It's situated on a cliff overlooking the Tennessee River and the area is quite picturesque. The main thing I remember from the museum was a sculpture that was on loan from the Smithsonian. It was huge and stood in the main lobby. I wish I could remember its name or the sculptor's name, but I cannot. The thing was done in polished white marble. It depicted a woman in a ball gown which was flared out and very full. The note on the stand indicated that the sculptor had carved it as a tribute to his dead wife and  the statue depicted her. It was the single most exquisite thing I've ever seen.
    I have always enjoyed sculpture. It's truly amazing that a man or woman could do such fine work. Some are so minutely detailed that you expect them to come to life and walk away. Perhaps that is just what the creator of the one in Chattanooga had hoped for. On this particular day, I was alone and stood for several minutes admiring it. Then I sat on a bench and gazed a few more minutes. Then I watched other peoples faces as they looked at it and passed on. It was a nice, relaxing day.
    I know next to nothing about art but I enjoy it. If I had a bucket list I know that high on the list would be to go to the Louvre and the Met and spend a day or two browsing. I actually have a virtual tour of both on my PC and enjoy them very much.
    I believe that each human has a body, a soul and a spirit. I believe that we can feed our soul with beauty. With things like art or appreciating a lovely sunset. To achieve balance in our lives, I think it would be well to feed all three phases. Of course, my life is a mild train wreck, so why should you listen to me?
     As you may suspect after reading my blog for a while, I have wild mood swings. Another thing about me is the fact that I will gorge on one hobby for a while, then cast it aside in disdain. That, dear reader, is why I have never had a balanced diet among the body, the soul and the spirit. Fire and ice, and little that's nice. That's what I am made of.
    From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Biscuit

    Hey, everyone. What a relief that Christmas is over, huh? I don't think it was meant to be the way it is.     I started thinking about the so-called good 'ole days today. My wife says that at her house, they would take a left-over biscuit and shine their shoes before church. I one-upped her by saying, "Oh, yeah? I ate the biscuit when everyone got finished with it. And I was grateful for it." Truly, though, you can and people did, shine their shoes with a biscuit. Hey, they were greasy little buggers.     Speaking of greasy little buggers, I remember when everyone had wells and were very conservative about water, particularly those of us who had to crank a handle up and down to get a bucket of water. There was no daily bath. (No showers in those days, mate.) About twice a week we took a bath and here's the recipe: The oldest kid took a bath first, then the next oldest etc. You can see why younger siblings hated the older. Bathing in the...
Post a Comment
Read more

The White Chicken Mystery

    The other night I happened to come home very late. It was the middle of the night and I was driving up a steep mountain road. Near the top I saw something white in my headlights. It was standing in the other lane, standing very still. It was a large white chicken. It was probably a rooster because I thought I could see his comb as I whizzed by at my customary pace. He never moved a muscle. This is weird, don't you think?      After a couple of days to consider this phenomenon, I have come up with some plausible answers for his bizarre behavior. 1. He was conflicted whether or not he should cross the road. 2. He was feeling cocky and decided to play chicken with the traffic. 3.He was being hen-pecked at home and had decided to end it all. 4. Someone had egged him on to do it. 5. He had just watched the movie Fantastic Four and decided to try to stop a truck the way that Ben Grimm did on the bridge. 6. He had driven himself crazy wondering if ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Sweet Run

   Hey, everyone. I have been playing quite a bit of games this weekend, as well as painting my house. Late last night I got on a sweet run on Nova 3 , the sci-fi shooter game. It's one of those games that has excellent graphics and feels like you have to advance inch by bloody inch. In a word, it is a pain in the butt.     For instance, I have been stuck on a Volterite spaceship for a month, wandering corridors over and over again like a lost puppy.     I finally cruised over to You Tube and watched a video walkthrough of the level. I eventually noticed that the guy picked up a piece of crystal from the floor in a dark corner of a 'solarium'. So, I went back to the game and at length came back to that area and picked up a crystal shard. Cool, right? I went on my way rejoicing in my heart. I had wild visions of advancing effortlessly through the remainder of this derelict ship and moving on to other exciting levels. Maybe I'd get to go to a dese...
Post a Comment
Read more