Dallas Weekend

We spent the weekend in Dallas. Saturday night we saw Death Cab for Cutie and it was excellent. The band sounded so good. Our seats weren't the best, but they were close to the exit and we were able to get out of there quickly -- basically get back to the hotel in 15 minutes -- so it was worth it. Especially when it's after 11:00 and waaaaaaay past my bedtime. They opened with "I Will Possess Your Heart" -- one of my favorites and it was all good from that point on. Some other high points were "Kath" and "Soul Meets Body" (of course). I really wanted to hear Marching Bands of Manhattan - that's my favorite song of theirs - but no dice. They did play a lot from Narrow Stairs, one of my favorite albums. The opening act wasn't bad either, silly name: Frightened Rabbit. And yes, we were some of the real oldies there - their audience is quite a bit younger than the band - every concert of theirs may not be like that, could be it's just the proximity of UT-Arlington to the venue. But hey, I'd rather be mentally younger than older. You won't see me at a Crosby, Stills and Nash revival. Although, I must say that some of the rock acts from the 1960's are really timeless. I mean, who wouldn't have wanted to see the Beatles or the Stones back then?

On Sunday, we went to the Kimbell museum. They have a Picasso and Braque exhibit on their collaboration and creation of cubism in about 1910 and I was impressed with it. Well put-together and informative. They displayed lots of prints first and then a separate room of oils. It was a nice way to do it, like the warm-up and then the full flowering. I learned a lot more about the artists and about cubism. One of the sad things to me was that Braque sustained a severe head wound in WWI after all this creativity and he was never the same again, as an artist or a man. Fits with my experience of head-wound patients, it's one of the things that you basically never want to see happen.

I hadn't been to the Kimbell in about 30 years and this was interesting: I had one of those childhood-remembrance things. It was so much smaller than I remembered. The last time I was there, I went with a college boyfriend who was (& I hope still is) an artist and I was seeing it through his eyes and under his tutelage. The gorgeous lighting is still there; they have such an impressive, innovative system of natural lighting though out the entire gallery. Here's a shot of how that system looks up on the ceiling. But it certainly was quite different than all my memories.

We saw the strangest mix of the sacred and profane on the billboards between Austin and Dallas. There was one that said "Suicidal? Call Jesus." With no phone number; helpful. And then one with a big busty gal in a bikini advertising truck alignment. Hmmm, wonder if she's crawling under the rigs in that get-up. A big picture of Obama with the word "Socialist" in huge red letters. And then the weirdest one of all....a nervous-looking sweating cucumber, big words that said Stop Vegetable Abuse and in much smaller letters at the bottom, a recommendation to use condoms. Um......OK there.....message received. I still can't quite believe I really saw that last one, but Ken saw it too. Really. I'm not kidding. No, really, I mean it.

Two other things I'll mention quickly and certainly elaborate on in subsequent posts. We got a new kitten to keep Gary company. We got her at the Town Lake Animal Shelter and she is 3 months old. We've named her Mrs. Crabs (goes with Gary - get it?) but we call her Crabby. She is the opposite of that name however - super affectionate and sweet, basically Gary's opposite. So far they are getting along well.

The tone of this blog will change in the next week. I am going back to school to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner and it's going to be a really interesting two years. I'm returning to my alma mater almost exactly 30 years later and what could be more interesting than psych...I mean you should see some of the names of the classes I'll be taking...well, you will because I will certainly be talking about them. I'm not changing my blog's name, but the focus will definitely be different. So dear reader, you are forewarned.