Pondering Likes Quiet --- Days 14/196 & 197

Walks: Hood

Distances: 3.5 average (plus short  yoga & exercises - daily, but not mentioned)

Happy July and maybe beach reading, dear readers.  Ciwt and her cats always appreciate the quiet after all the fireworks.  Good for pondering. Ciwt has lots of little things here and there in her life but nothing that seems quite CIWT.

Fireworks and Sparklers --- Day 14/195

Walk: Hood

Distance: 3.5 miles

Bonnie White, Fireworks and Sparklers

So, in her more urban art world travels Ciwt rarely encounters folk art.  But, when she does,  she is often captured by its charm and the acquaintance of a new artist and new/old view of life.  

Until today she had never heard of folk artist Bonnie White but loves this old timey rendition of Today, Fourth of July.

Here's a little bit about Bonnie White Ciwt found on line: 

American folk artist Bonnie White grew up on a horse farm in Canaan, New York. Although Bonnie’s first love was horses, she always had an interest in art. When she wasn’t riding horses, she was sketching them. She began creating frakturs and paintings to decorate her home. Her first large painting on canvas was given to her mother for Christmas in 2002. The painting is of her family’s farm all decked out for the holidays. Bonnie and her husband still reside on her family’s Spring Gait Farm with their three sons, their dog Misty and their cat Dot.

And her website where you can find her paintings, prints, calendars and other offerings. Enjoy!

Happy Fourth 

The Name's the Same --- Days 14/189-194

Walks: Cold, Windy Hood and Presidio

Distances: 3.5 miles average

Louis (?) Le Nain (Fr. 1600/1610-1648), Peasants Before Their House, ca. 1641, o/c

So, in our grey, muted summer weather, Ciwt's attention turns to greyish art. And, if you noticed it above, you might wonder why she put a question mark after the artist's first name.  Well, Louis was one of three never married Le Nain brothers who were all born in Laon, formed a workshop together in Paris, specialized in painting peasant life collaboratively as well as individually, stopped dating their works early on, and never signed their work with their first names - just Le Nain.  Clearly this has made life a challenge for art historians.

It has become common to treat their work as a single artist.  One brother though, Louis, is regarded as the 'genius of the family' and it is thought (but not proved) that this canvas at our Legion of Honor Museum can only have come from him.  Why?  Louis is described as having been a somber artist, self-contained, shunning elegance and restlessly explored new horizons.  With their air of melancholy, it could be he modeled these peasants on himself.  

Whoever they were modeled on, these people are clearly earthbound and bound to each other. The earth, the clothing, the stone of the house, the dog, pet rooster, skin tones - even the sky - are all in chalky greys and ochres.  The sole exceptions are the boy's red cloak, the rooster's comb and a red sleeve in the lower background doorway.  

To Ciwt these moments of red seem to be Louis's painterly decisions about how to add contrast and energy to the canvas. In other technical ways, this is a remarkably well painted canvas.  Le Nain's brushwork is confident and proficient. And varied; at times he paints openly and loosely and at others he carefully delineates the details of portraiture close up and in the distance, as well as the wispiness of the grasses on the roof and the facets of the house's stone.   The peasants' poses are static but varied and point to Louis's ability to make 'a thousand poses taken from life.'

There's a quiet, stable air of dignity, almost serenity to this family  grouping.  They may be peasants, but we do not get a sense they are threadbare, destitute, lonely.  They have each other, infants, pets, a solid house, things look cleans, their bodies appear strong and healthy.  And herein lies a critical rub.  For all its realistic and sympathetic portrayal of peasants, there are some who question how 'taken from life' Le Nain's work really was.  The native peasants from Le Nain's Laon were actually living in the midst of the Thirty Years War, a time of hardship, anguish, depredation by cruel marauding armies.  Yet these people are portrayed as calm, almost docilely engaged in homely activities.  

It has been suggested by some scholars that Le Nain intentionally downplayed any misery in order to please wealthy urban patrons.  Ciwt thinks yes, artists must sell to survive.  But, realistic portrayal or not, there are more important matters at hand.  One is the mastery with which the peasants are painted.  Another is that they were portrayed at all at a time when more elevated subject matter was to be expected.  The third, and most important, is that the Le Nains' art somehow made it to the walls of the Louvre where it very likely had an influence on later realist painters of peasant labor and life and, shortly thereafter, on the gorgeous - and decidely not grey -  capturing of everyday life by the impressionists.                           

Father of Sunsets+ --- Days 14/187 & 188

Walks: Hood, Sloat Garden Center

Distances: 5.5, 3.5 miles

Claude Lorrain (Fr. working in Italy, 1604/5-1682), Seaport at Sunset, 1639

Claude Lorrain, View of Tivoli at Sunset, Oil on canvas, 1644 39 1/2 x 53 1/2  

So, if the artist Claude Lorrain had called himself a landscape painter at the beginning of his career, it would have been a very short one indeed.  In his era 'landscape' was simply the outdoors one had to toil in or contend with and paintings of it were among the least prestigious.  History painting was the thing so he invented historical people engaged in historical activities surrounded by classical architecture.  And placed them in front of his real subject: idyllic landscapes illuminated by atmospheric, radiant skies. 

And, within just a few years, he had singlehandedly elevated the prestige, collectability and popular enjoyment of landscape art.  This was not coincidental and the look of his art wasn't a 'schtick' to sell. He deeply loved nature, felt compelled to portray its beauty and needed to invent techniques to do that.  According to his fellow painter, Sandrart, Lorrain would lie out in the fields from dawn to dusk storing up the visual effects of light in his brain. Then, he would make ink and chalk studies on paper, bring them back to his studio and work alone to complete the complex and costly process of making a large, detailed landscape.  This intensely personal relationship between artist and subject resulted in works that have a simple honesty filled with an almost religious belief in the beauty of nature.  

And spoke to the public.  He became highly collectible by those mostly upper class, mostly affluent, mostly English young men, undertaking the rite of passage 'Grand Tour.' Of these there were many; they traveled through Europe, typically accompanied by a tutor or family member, with the Italy the prime taste educational destination. And many of those young men returned home with a painting by the artist already known by the prestigous one name:Claude.

In fact Claude paintings became so popular they were subjected to many forgeries.  To defend against this and to ensure he, not forgers, got the monies and recognition due, he produced the "Liber Veritatis." Defined "Book of Truth," it contains drawings that detail nearly 200 of his compositions on canvas. Residing in the British Museum it has been invaluable in authenticating Claude's work over the decades.  But it may be even more important as a means of bringing Claude's landscape techniques before developing artists. The prints made from the book were increasingly detailed so that drawing teachers began recommending them for copying thus influencing the development of future landscape artists and furthering the acceptance of landscape as a worthy subject of its own.

Claude's art had enormous influence on English landscape architecture in the eighteenth century as well.  Many of its manor houses were surrounded by parks specifically designed to look like Claude paintings.  The style came to be called 'picturesque landscape,' and none fit the description better than the English manor, Petworth, where the renowned J.M.W. Turner was a frequent visitor.  Turner revered Claude's work, and over a century after his death, took Claude's sunsets to new levels of atmospheric luminosity.

 

J.M.W. Turner, (English, 1775-1851), The Lake, Petworth: Sunset, fighting Bucks, ca 1829

Petworth interior with Turner paintings

Then another Claude - Monet - who encountered Turner's art and sunsets during a brief exile in London and returned to them several times later, took them another step into Impressionism, now the most beloved of all art styles

Claude Monet (Fr. 1840-1926), Sunset on the Seine at Lavacourt, Winter Effect, 1880

Flat as a Racetrack --- Days 14/180 - 186

Walks: Lots of indoor things to do this week

Distances: 2.5 average

Not for those who don't like gazing at beautiful stars and cars or feeling the beat of jazzy music, or jetsetting to the glitzy, ritzy Formula 1 worlds around the world.  But if you're okay with all those things, then, like Ciwt, you'll overlook the bald tire thin plot and just enjoy your big screen experience. 

Everyday Art --- Day 14/178 & 179

Walk: Civic Center, AMC Kabuki 8 (The Life of Chuck)

Distance: 4.5 miles, 3.5 miles

 The Life of Chuck is touching poetry in the most prosaic of packages.  You might like it (as Ciwt  did) if you too like poetry and/or Stephen King (and are a bit older). Otherwise....

Bouquets to Ciwt --- Day 14/177

Walk: Hood Brunch

Distance: 3 miles

So yesterday's photo shoot crew thanked Ciwt with some pretty and artistic bouquets.

Film Location, Location, Location..... --- Day 14/176

Walk: TJ's, LP Nails

Distance: 5 miles

So, a young designer friend asked if she could use Ciwt's home as location for a photo shoot.  Thinking it would be a quick in and out and fun to observe, Ciwt said sure.  

Yesterday was the day; things started arriving.  Maybe 10 enormous totes with home accessories (most with $$$$  price tags),

coffee table size books, 3 or 4 tubs of flowers and then hundreds of pounds of professional camera equipment.

Altogether there were four people on the crew and by now Ciwt had realized they weren't there for a quick cameo.

At first Ciwt was interested as she watched her pictures being removed from the walls and many of her things being moved or replaced by the $$$$ accessories, books and flowers.  And the shots being lined up and lit.  

And lined up and lit again. And again, then discussed and lined up again. Still no actual photo taken.

As her readers might imagine, the fun was slowly fading for Ciwt who went out to do errands. She returned home to more lining up and lighting. So she left again to fill her time with more errands.  Then for her nails appointment.  Finally, at the very end of the day, the team restored her home to its original arrangements, throughly cleaned up and left Ciwt reading on her window seat. And so happy she is not a movie star who has to endure this slow, exacting filming process months even years at a time.  

This is Winter --- Day 14/175

Walk: Monday errands

Distance: 3.5

Julian Fałat (Polish, 1853-1929) , Winter Landscape with River and Bird, 1913, oil on canvas, National Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.

Ciwt is so steeped in the art and artists she is steeped in she forgets she has never encountered great artists and works from other countries.  Until she more or less stumbles on them in her travels.  Like this incredible painting that utterly captures the clear, cold, silent solitude of winter.

Winter in rugged, river filled Poland to be exact.  It was painted by one of Poland's foremost landscapists and champion of his beloved Poland and Polish art, Julian Falat.  After literally traveling around the world from his homeland (even briefly to San Francisco) and accepting an invitation from future German emperor Wilhelm II to serve as court painter in Berlin (1886-1895), he returned wholeheartedly to Poland.  There he became director of the Krakow School of Fine Arts where he had studied, and painted prolifically, concentrating on hunting scenes, portraits, travel observations, and most especially Polish landscapes.

Fałat declared: "Polish art ought to convey our history and beliefs, our good qualities and our defects; it must be the quintessence of our soil, our sky, our ideals."^[1]

Julian Falat, Salf Portrail, 1896, o/c

Fałat died in Bystra Śląska on 9 July 1929. A Polish museum, the Fałatówka, is devoted to him.

El Indominable --- Days 14/172, 173, 174

Walk: AMC Kabuki (The Phoenician Scheme), Sunday Hood

Distance: 3.5 miles, 3 miles

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, called El Greco (crete, active in Spain), 1541-1614, Saint John the Baptist, ca 1600, oil on canvas

Ciwt has no doubt the tabloids would be replete with stories of his exploits if the painter El Greco was alive today.  

Born Domenikos Theotokopoulos in Crete in 1541, and trained as an icon painter, he could have had a satisfactory artististic life in that sought after speciality.  But his youthful ambitions were larger, so he set off for Venice and from there the thriving and competive artistic hub of Rome.  In Rome he worked and learned in the studios of the great Renasissance masters (Tintoretto even Michelangelo) eventually becoming a disciple of Titian.  But here again in Italy his ambitions were thwarted, this time by a lack of important commissions.  So, in his mid 30's he departed for Spain to seek work at the court of Philip II, then the most powerful monarch and patron in Europe.

Philip II though turned out to be at odds with the stylistic techniques the artist had developed and insisted on - the clashing colors, disquieting emotions, elongated figures.  These offended Philip's aesthetic and religious views so he refused patronage.  

The ambitious artist's response to Philip's rejection was to become the iconic and controvesial artist, intellectual and flamboyant businessman, popularly dubbed El Greco.  The very techniques and personal religious views that alienated Philip were embraced by the clerical elite and intellectuals of Toledo. They clamored for his company, commissions for his work abounded and El Greco became El Greco.

With such reliably powerful patronage he was free to work from his own philosophical, technically masterful, personally expressive and some say "arrogant" genius. In other words El Greco was free to flourish. And flourish he did, establishing a large workshop and living in a 26 room mansion often with a full orchestra playing as he dined.  And with incessant lawsuits.  Learning that artists in Spain were paid the wages of ordinary tradesmen like brick layers and carpenters, El Greco would have none of it and began setting and demanding his own prices.  Those who were unwilling or slow to pay - and there were many - were dragged to court and sued for all the monies owed him.  Ciwt can only guess at El Greco's other behaviors and the level of his notoriety throughout Spain.

El Greco's famed highly idiosyncratic style is on full display in the above painting of John the Baptist commissioned by the Descalaced (Barefoot) Carmelites in Malagon, Spain..  Perhaps the cousin of Jesus, John is a central figure of Christianity and a worthy and oft-painted subjecr of El Greco - with this one in the Legion of Honor arguably the greatest.  An Old Testament messianic preacher/prophet/zealot, John is said to have wandered the wild landscapes of the hill country around the Dead Sea heralding fire and brimstone messages.  He is best known for baptizing penitents, declaring Jesus the Lamb of God and baptising him and then for his infamous beheading by King Herod at Salome's (Herod's stepdaughter's) entreaty.

With or without knowing Saint John's story, viewers of the painting easily perceive a man who lived an emotionally agitated, vulnerable, sorrowful but spiritually driven life.  El Greco's deliberate elongation of Saint John, his freewheeling, daring perspective, distortions, audacious use of flickering colors,  the entire canvas really, emphasizes John's austere, aesthetic, religious nature. The agitated sky, broken brushstrokes convey John's fervor and nervous, spiritual energy. El Greco has created an entirely personal, original and enduring artistic shorthand.  

And, to Ciwt, this painting and much of the collective works of El Greco are some of - perhaps the - first works of modern art, 400 years ahead of their time.

Summer Labor --- Day 14/172

Walk: Simon Imaging

Distance: 6.4 miles

Vincent van Gogh, The Harvest, 1888, oil on canvas

Blue isn't usually such a warm color.  Or is it?  Ciwt has been living in San Francisco's grey windy summer soup for so many years she's out of touch with summer.  So she finds herself coming back to van Gogh's painting of a summer's day in the wheat fields of Arles.  

And to a shift in her understanding of van Gogh's painting regime.  Until now she has thought of him as a sort of early (and Immensely talented!) precursor of the Abstract Expressionist style that dominated New York in the 1950's.  "From my soul to the canvas" was their motto as they stroked animated thick black lines onto huge white canvases (Franz Kline).  Or let thinned paint color stain the canvas into enormous color fields (Helen Frankenthaler).  Or, placed his canvas on the the floor and danced around it with open cans of paint dripping layer upon layer upon layer (Jackson Pollack of course).

But, no, live and learn, Ciwt.   This "just let it rip" technique was not van Gogh's at all.  Before applying costly oil paint to canvas, he reworked and revised all of his paintings extensively with numerous sketches and painted studies like these:   

Ah, Summer --- Days 14/169, 170, 171

Walks: Hood 

Distances: 3.75 miles daily

Vincent van Gogh, The Harvest, 1888, oil on canvas

This gorgeous capturing of a summer's day in the south of France by Vincent van Gogh may have been his favorite landscape of all.  He worked in the burning hot wheatfields as the harvest season was coming to an end.  It was an immensely productive time in which he completed ten paintings.  A heavy storm brought the harvest to an end, but, mercifully, not before this painting was complete.  When he finished it, he wrote his brother Theo "..the canvas absolutely kills all the rest."

317.4 Minutes of Awesome --- Day 14/168

Walk: Short hood, after watching French Open finals and Sunday chores

Distance: 2 miles

This morning Ciwt turned on her TV to spend a little while watching the French Open Men's Final.  Now, hours later, here she goes again on her awe of elite athletes (or anybody at any endeavor) who can focus 100% on winning and apparently block out any inkling of losing until the very last bell, buzzer or, today, forehand down the line.* 

Both Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz played in this mindset for 5.29 hours to decide who would be this year's Roland Garros Men's champion.  The French tournament is 125 years old, and their match in Paris is now among the most memorable ever been - or perhaps ever will be - played on any court.  The two competitors took no breaks, every point was superbly played, neither looked markedly tired as the seesaw match marched on, both were perfect gentlemen throughout - even correcting judge's line calls to give their opponent the point. (Not to mention their graciousness in the post-game TV interviews)**.  And neither showed the slightest sign of surrendering.  This for Alcaraz who played at the brink of defeat from the third set on. He was down two sets and up against match point - not just once, but three times.  And for Sinner who went ahead with confidence and heart even after failing to capitalize on those points.

Don't just take Ciwt's word.  The resolve, gamesmanship, play everybody was witnessing was incomprehensible even to commentator John McEnroe.  As a reminder, McEnroe was world #1 for five years, still maintains the best single-season win rate of the Open Era and played Roland Garros four times in his career.  He of anyone knows when a match has turned and is over.  He knows a player's mindset, the time the player knows he's either going to win or has lost. He knows physical exhaustion and when you've run out of strategic ideas or heart.  And, yesterday, he was wrong again and again.  This play was at a level even he had never experienced.

As he said or implied repeatedly, "You can't make this up." Alcaraz continued to play with poise like there was no score, hitting impossibly perfect shots.  Those were immediately countered by Sinner with unreachable shots of his own. On and on. With McEnroe occasionally saying things like "At this point, Sinner has it. They'll be going to the locker room soon." Followed by "On my gosh, no; I was wrong."  And then again and again something like, "You can't make this up." And, finally at the end: "I've been a tennis commentator for over thirty years, and this is far and away the most amazing match I have ever witnessed." (This is quite a statement from McEnroe whose 1980 Wimbledon final against Bjorn Borg was so epic it is the subject of a feature movie and numerous youtube videos).***

Then there's the Wall Street Journal's master sports writer, Jason Gay: "I still can't believe what I saw." 

Ditto..

* See CIWT 14/134

** "It is amazing the level you (play) at," Alcaraz told Sinner. "Honestly, I know how hard you're taking this tournament. I'm pretty sure you'll be champion not once, but many, many times. It's a privilege to share the court with you. I'm really happy to be able to make history with you. Thank you for being a great inspiration and good luck for what's to come..."    Sinner was equally gracious and complimentary to Alcaraz in defeat.

*** Born vs McEnroe 2017; see YouTube for videos

When You Care Enough ... Days 14/165, 166 & 167

Walks: Hood and Presidio

Distances: 4.5 miles average

Sometimes only artificial flowers will do.

Florists at Et Hem London preparing fake arrangements

And don't worry about being unfashionable.  Subscription services with artificial flower firms have recently been snapped up by the Royal Opera House, Kensington and Buckingham Palace.

Enter Bouquets to Art 2025 If You Dare --- Day 14/164

Walk: Civic Center

Distance: 3 miles

Floral Designer Rual Duenias's Visionary and Fiery "Gate" to Bouquets to Art 2025 and Personal Bouquet to Auguste Rodin's The Gates of Hell 

Bouquet to Bouquets to Art --- Days14/161, 162 & 163

Walk: Hood, Presidio, Legion of Honor and deYoung Museum

Distance: 4.5, 4, 6.5 miles

So yesterday Ciwt was one of the first into the opening of our Fine Arts Museums' Annual Fund Raising Event: Bouquets to Art.  Like the many others who came into the flower and paintings galleries with her, she remembered to bring her manners. Happily for the museums all six days of the event are always very well attended so there's need for many "Excuse me's; So sorry's" or other apologies when bumping into others or blocking their view.

The 'bouquets' are usually individual floral arrangements that exquisitely echo the look and feeling of the artwork the florist has chosen to honor.  And there were many outstanding ones of those this year.

Of course Ciwt was particularly drawn to the bouquests to Matisse's Jazz book portfolio like this one:

But this year there were several completely unexpected and extraordinary bouqets at the Legion of Honor Museum.  Bouquests to Art was held there for decades since its beginning in 1984.  When the event was moved to the de Young Museum several years ago, it was still beloved but the Legion was missed.   So, this year, in honor of the Legion's 100th! anniversary, Bouquets was held at both museums for the first time ever.  

The return to the Legion was clearly welcomed by many of the floral artists with celebratory, exuberantly huge and imaginative bouquets unique unlike any in the past 41 years of Bouquets to Art.

And especially the  Entry Way "bouquet" to Rodin's The Gates of Hell which is so astounding it deserves its very own CIWT entry.  Stay tuned tomorrow!

Saint Ethan --- Days 14/158. 159. 160

Walks: deYoung Museum (2), AMC Kabuki

Distances: 5 miles daily

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

So, it was decided, after 30 years, that Ethan Hunt/Tom Cruise should be canonized in his (perhaps) last Mission Impossible movie.  Ciwt was perfectly fine with them both being regular people.  Plus the elevation took much of the fun out of the ongoing, preposterous capers the Mission Impossible franchise has been dazzling us with all these years.  Still, if you are prepared to sit for three hours plus previews, Ciwt says go.  Go to watch and acknowledge Tom Cruise, a true classic movie star once again throwing, actually risking, his entire being into consummately entertaining his audience.

Modern? No Thank You --- Day 14/157 & 157

Walk: SFMOMA, Hood

Distance: 5 miles, 3 gloomy SF summer miles

Konstantin Makovsky, The Russian Bride's Attire, 1889 Oil on canvas, 9.16 ' x 12.25'

So, a small group of San Francisco visitors requested a tour of SFMOMA, our modern art museum, and Ciwt was hired for the occasion.  Yesterday was the day, and perhaps you can imagine her surprise when she learned a few minutes into the tour that not one of them knew the first thing about modern art. She changed her presentation and we had fun, but it reminded her that modern is absolutely not for everybody.  

Certainly not 19th century painter Konstantin Makovsky (1839-1913).  Makovsky was the star student at both Russian Imperial academies he attended, but dropped out without a diploma when he was forced to paint styles and subject matter that didn't feature the historical greatness of Russia.  Instead he founded the Society for Traveling Art Exhibitions that was exclusively dedicated to and precisely rendered Russian subject matter.

The enormous The Russian Bride's Attire at the Legion of Honor here is a marvelous example of his work from then on.  On any given day you can count on a number of visitors standing before it  transfixed by its cornucopia of rich visual sensatons. 

It's the third in a series of  partly historical, partly imaginative recreations of a well-known incident from the early Romanov dynasty: the taking of a bride by Czar Alexis I.  In short, when it was time for 18 year old Alexis to marry he was given six beautiful girls to choose from and chose Eufemia, someone other than the bride in this painting. Almost immediately his first choice displayed symptoms that raised fears of epilepsy which would have made her an unsuitable czarina, and she and her father were banished to Siberia. Alexis was then persuaded to marry Maria, the bride in this painting. The 'persuader' was one of Alexis's advisors who was 1. having an affair with Maria’s sister, 2. the enemy of Eufemia’s father and 3. is suspected of possibly poisoning her. (Hmmm!) 

In this life-size painting we see young Maria whose future has been chosen for her, dressed in white and looking pale with a girl, probably her sister, at her feet. The richly colorful outfits, elaborately carved boxes and furniture, and grand carpet give a warm, festive first impression.  But, spending more time with the paining, the moods portrayed become enigmatic, ranging from shyness, reluctance, sadness, glumness or even depression. Makovsky tended to be vague in all his paintings of facial expressions, but happiness, merriment, excitement are certainly absent here.

So how did Makovsky's refusal to 'go modern' work out for him?  Well, he turned out to be richly rewarded for his single-minded dedication to the very French academic tradition Parisian art students were finding increasingly stifling. He became one of the most avidly collected and highly paid Russian artists of his time. This until his death when - ironically - his traditionally horse-drawn carriage was hit by a modern electric tram.

Memorial Day 2025 --- Day 14/156

Walk: Presidio

Distance: 5 miles

 

100% Me --- Days 14/147-155

Walks: Museums, Hood

Distances: 4 miles average

Nope

So it has taken Ciwt quite a while to catch on and kept her away from CIWT in the digesting.  First there was some hair loss.  But there are products to disguise that.  Then came bruises if she even lightly tapped against something.  Oh well, it will go away. But one kept following another until her skin was never 100%. 

And, after a while, a lot of things weren't.  She was able to finally purchase her '100%' home but immediately fell and broke her wrist while moving in.  That followed by a series of trips to medical offices for a variety of issues.  You get the pattern.

Through all these and many 'less than 100% Me' situations, Ciwt continued her lifelong  mindset: "Oh, when this is over, I'll be back to 100%."  As things progressed (see above), she'd still think "I can't have this because I still have that." And get on her case because she should be 100%.

Until, finally, finally she has realized, 100% Me doesn't exist.  Or, as Gilda Radner said, "There's always something." And it isn't just about health things. She doesn't have 100% energy, direction, purpose, character, temperment, enchantment with her new home, yoga sessions, love of driving or reading The New Yorker or most books these days.  She doesn't make CIWT entries every day, the list is nearly endless.

Ciwt is slowly realizing her image of 100% can (and needs to be!) redefined. Basically 100% has always been out of the question.  While she's been 100% Ciwt since birth, she's always been a person so, like everybody, never 100%.  She looks forward to more enjoyable/realistic times now that she's getting off her illusory 100% Me case.

Now on to preparing two Good Enough art tours in the week ahead....

Tell Me When to Laugh --- Days 14/144, 45 & 46

 Walk: Hood; deYoung Museum; Vogue Theater (The Ballad of Wallis Island)

Distance: 4 miles; 6 miles; 1.6 miles

Whenever Ciwt goes to a movie billed as a comedy she wonders whether it will be her type of humor.  She didn't crack a smile at the ho-hum 'comedy' The Ballad of Wallis Island.  So either it just wasn't funny or wasn't Ciwt's type of funny so she missed all the punch lines.  

Hello CIWT World --- Days 14 141-143

Walks: Hood

Distances: 3.75 miles average

Hello, loyal readers.  Happy May.  Ciwt is thinking of you and just waiting for ideas to show up.  

A Mother in Art --- Days 14/137-140

Walks: Hood and Short

Distances: 2.5 miles average

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, Mother, ca. 1895, o/c

When she saw it this morning Ciwt was completely enchanted by this painting by the Spanish artist Joaquin Sorolla commemorating his wife and the birth of their youngest daughter, Elena.  

How perfect that it showed up on Mother's Day.  Happy Mother's Day to all (grand, great grand) mothers around the world. 

Power Suits 2025 --- Days 14/135 & 136

Walks: Housebound with 😷😷

Distances: n/a

Well, darn, once again Ciwt wasn't 'able to make' (read 'invited to'): fashion's biggest night, The Met Gala.  Of course she went right to the pictures, and remembered her 20year old self in NYC nervously dressing for her first post college job interviews. Imagine if she (or her boyfriend) had shown up in one of these 'power suits!'  

Colman Domingo in a Valentino by Alessandro Michele zoot suit at the Met Gala

Teyana Taylor co-created by her and Black Panther costume designer Ruth E Carter

Ooops..Sabrina Taylor in (sort of) Louis Vuitton

 

Same Flight/Different Landing --- Day 14/134

 Walk: T Joe's

Distance: 2.5 miles

Jimmy Butler

So, one of the things Ciwt admires about many elite athletes is their ability to stay focused on winning right to the very last buzzer - no matter how harrowing the circumstances.  A few of her favorite examples are Joe Montana calmly surveying the field for a receiver with less than ten seconds on the clock, and Rafa Nadal throwing himself entirely into every shot after hours of playing.  

And last night, the aging Golden State Warriors winning game 7 of the playoffs.  Throughout the series there were the inevitable newspaper headlines about how unfair the refs were to the Warriors or how brutally guarded Curry was by the Rockets or how punishing their schedule was with all the plane rides.  Poor, poor Warriors.

But, as always,  the players themselves were having none of it. The best of them are not looking for excuses or handouts.  They know winning is up to them and they take full responsibility for - actually seem to look forward to -  the challenge.  When some reporter started down the 'terrible schedule' road with Jimmy Butler the other day, he brushed him off completely:  

“We’ll be all right. I’m 35, I can’t remember how old Steph is, Dray is 35, too. Everybody’s got to travel the same distance. Ain’t like we’re going to go around the world and land in Houston and they got only a five minute flight to Houston. They’ve got to travel just like we’ve got to travel.”

She also Loves! die hard fans - no matter what the team.  Last night's game was out of town and televised.  But  lots of Warriors fans weren't sitting at home watching it.  Instead they came to the stadium, set themselves up in their portable chairs, and cheered for their team.  Wonder if the closed circuit tv worked in reverse so the players could see their fans supporting them.  Probably some people were sending iPhone videos.