Loot!

I just returned Monday from a quick (5-day) trip to Washington, DC.  It is about 280 miles from my home to the hotel, enough time for us to hear the new Anthony Wong Yiu Ming 4 CD compilation in its entirety.  This is a good compilation if you don't already have most of Ming Gor's albums.  No new songs and only a few re-mixes I hadn't heard before, but Anthony Wong always does great music and it certainly made the long (5 1/2 hour) drive seem shorter.

Every time we visit Washington, DC (or DC, as we call it 'round here), the itinerary is pretty much the same:  visit the Smithsonian Museums, the National Gallery of Art and maybe another museum and eat, eat and eat some more.  We go about once a year, have been doing this for over a decade, and yet each visit is different.  Sometimes there are some really significant exhibitions that we get to see, other times not and we focus more on the permanent collection (which for these museums is world-class, anyway).  This time we did see a number of special exhibitions--Royal Armour from 16th and 17th century Spain, the still life paintings of the Spanish 18th century artist Luis Melendez, a marvelous exhibit of Chinese Calligraphy from the Freer Museum holdings, the tale of Shuten Doji illustrated in 17th century hand scrolls, hanging scrolls and large floor screens from Japan, silver and gold used in Japanese art, gifts to the Imperial Czars from the Safavid (Persian) and Ottoman empires. 

This was my favorite example of Chinese calligraphy.  This hanging scroll is about 9 feet tall and makes me think of a waterfall.

Here is an example from the silver and gold exhibit of Japanese art.  This is the side panel of a lacquered incense box with the details created in applied gold and silver leaf.  This picture does not do the piece justice.  I have never seen such an exquisite example of lacquer before.

At the National Gallery of Art there was this light installation in the walkway between the West and East Buildings.  The light pattern was always changing.  Not only which lights were lit, but also their intensity altered seemingly randomly.  It was all controlled by a computer program (run on a Mac mini) so one supposes that the artist has written some algorithms that make this piece do its thing.  It was really mesmerizing and the changes, sometimes subtle, sometimes quite dramatic, could happen very quickly.  It was devilishly difficult to photography, though.

We made it to the National Zoo for the first time in our many trips to DC.  I especially wanted to see the pandas.  We were in luck:  the morning we went, though it was already blazing hot and humid, two of the three pandas were outside doing panda stuff.

This picture and the next one show the panda "baby".  He's now 4 years old and, although he's smaller than an adult panda, he doesn't look much like a baby.  I talked to the panda keeper for quite some time asking about panda conservation in China.  She provided a lot of information about panda reproduction, pandas in the wild, habitat destruction, etc.  She was very hopeful that the artificial breeding program would become more successful (right now they aren't too successful getting mama pandas pregnant) and that there would be plenty of pandas to reintroduce back into the wild soon.  Pandas are such delightful creatures, I hope they are successful.

This last panda pic is of the panda papa. 

The weather was all over the map the 5 days we were in DC.  The sky was a marvelous blue with large white clouds on Friday.  I took this picture when it was 90 degrees in the shade, humid as all get out, and only a few hours before severe storms swept through the area.  We were stuck in our car after dinner because of torrential rain, hail and high winds.  Just a few miles down the road from us a woman driving a mini-van and one of her children were killed when a huge tree branch fell on her vehicle.  It was a pretty bad strom, though there is no hint of what was to come in this picture taken outside the Smithsonian's Arts and Industry Building on The Mall.

We also saw the new coral reef tank at the Museum of Natural History (it was a bit smaller than I expected, but the fish and live coral were impressive, nonetheless).  At the National Gallery, In connection with the Luis Melendez exhibition, there was a special buffet luncheon offered by the museum at one of its cafes.  The food was from Jaleo Restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland and we will definitely be visiting this restaurant with our friends in DC on the next visit.  The food was traditional but very, very well prepared and was positively delicious.

So, yes, we saw a lot of art and natural history on this trip.  But the highlight was, believe it or not, shopping.  The museum shops outdid themselves this visit.  I was able to purchase the following loot:

Foo has traditional Chinese recipes (from many regions) that use some decidedly unusual (for Chinese cuisine) ingredients.  I can't wait to start cooking out of this cookbook.

After seeing the pandas at the zoo, I wanted to take home a book about them.  What better source than the Smithsonian Book of Giant Pandas?  The pictures are impressive and I know that there will also be a lot of scientifically sound information in the text.

At the Sackler Museum of Asian Art I found this marvelous book on the history of Chinese garden design.  I anticipate many happy hours reading this book.

But the museum shop that outdid itself was the National Gallery of Art, both the shop in the tunnel between the East and West Wings (just down from the lighted art work) and the upstairs gift shop in the West Wing.  I hit the jackpot and scored some really cool items.

The earrings hanging on the side of the bowl are carnelian and amethyst.  They were on sale.  Nuff said!

This item is like a couple of tiny dogtags, but they are illustrated with Japanese art.  The cat is part of a painting on silk called Cat and Spider in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.  I have a mug with the entire enchanting picture.  The colorful piece next to it is from a woodblock print depicting plum blossoms.  The little balls are actually bells and they make a nice tinkle when I walk.  I'll never sneak up on anybody in this necklace.

Yes, more stuff.  This is a lovely fan with a traditional batik-type pattern typical of certain areas in China.  This fan isn't created using this technique (it appears to be printed), but it is still lovely.

Here is a very nice tri-color open-weave scarf hand-made in Guatemala.  I envision wearing this lightweight, colorful scarf with the enchanting texture with many different outfits.  This is always the sign of a great fashion accessory.

I've been looking for a purse for sometime now.  My current purse is beginning to come apart bit by bit and I see by fall it must be replaced.  I have not been terribly impressed with what has been on offer in my price range in local stores.  The National Gallery of Art has commissioned a series of unique textiles from the maker of this bag and had them turned into various types of purses and cosmetic bags.  This is a substantial tote-sized bag with a plethora of pockets inside and out.  The print is much prettier in person than it is in this picture.  I can't wait for fall when I can begin using this purse.

Finally, I found these jade and carnelian earrings that match (and form a set) with a large jade disk pendant I bought a couple of years ago at the Smithsonian.  Eureka!

All told, I really didn't spend that much money considering the nice stuff I brought home.  Even Mark found something in the National Gallery shop--a mobile that holds up to 24 photographs or postcards and a beautiful art glass bowl.  This man never buys anything when we are on vacation.  Never!  Even he could not resist the treasures on display this visit.  All in all, this was a great vacation.