The Abello Collection: A Modern Taste for European Masters at the Meadows Museum, Dallas

MEADOWS MUSEUM
Dallas, Texas

The Travelling Toe and friend braved the frenzied traffic of the Dallas freeway system and visited the current exhibit at the Meadows Museum.  The Meadows is the exclusive venue in the United States for this exhibit.  It is from a major private collection from Spain, the Abello family. The collection is comprised of works by many of the greatest Spanish artists through the ages, ranging from Gothic to modern to contemporary art spanning over 500 years. There are 105 paintings and drawings and 1 sculpture to view and enjoy.  

The types of art work exhibited are divided into these galleries :

                                                       Gothic and Renaissance Painting

                                                       Early Naturalism and Baroque Painting

                                                       The Age of Enlightenment 

                                                       Romanticism and Realism

                                                      Modern and Contemporary


The Travelling Toe must admit that the modern and contemporary works were not as enjoyable as several other paintings that we viewed.  But each person decides what is speaking to them and how much they enjoy viewing it - which is what makes art so interesting and intriguing. 

In the gallery devoted to The Age of Enlightenment, are several lovely paintings but one in particular was of interest to the Travelling Toe.  It was painted by Antonio Joli De Dipi   (1700-1777), titled:  

                 View of the Royal Palace of Aranjuez from the Northeast with 
                  King Ferdinand VI of Spain and Queen Maria Barbara of Braganca 

Antonio Joli De Dipi
(this copy does not do it justice)

A modern piece that was fascinating is a tableau  made of 11 miniature pictures that are pencil drawings on the back of matchboxes.  Each drawing is about 2 1/4 X 11/2 inches.  The majority of the drawings are by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), but there are two by Renoir, one by Modigliani along with several other noted artists of the period.

Pablo Picasso
11 Miniature Drawings
(this copy does do it justice)

This exhibit is on through August 2nd.  If this would interest you, The Travelling Toe would suggest that you attend during the day or in off hours of that horrible gridlock traffic .   The admission fee is $8.00 for an senior adult.  Also as you tour the exhibit, there are convenient places to sit, rest your weary toes and absorb the beauty around you.   
Go - enjoy! 

The Abello Collection

Meadows Museum

   

"Far From The Madding Crowd" (movie critique)

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD
movie poster

The Travelling Toe and friend drove out to the local cinema multiplex and saw "Far From The Madding Crowd".  The movie is based on the literary classic of the same name written by Thomas Hardy.  It is a story of an independent beautiful woman sent in the Victoria era, and how her life takes many twists and turns.

Thomas Hardy

Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) is an orphan who lives with her aunt in southwest England.  Close by is a young farmer, Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenerts), who takes a shine to her and finally asks her to marry him.  But Bathsheba turns him down as she wants to remain free and independent.   When Gabriel losses all this sheep through an unfortunate accident, he must sell his farm and becomes destitute.   

Carey Mulligan

Matthias Schoenerts
hero

In the meantime, Bathsheba's uncle has died and left her his estate and money.   The estate she inherits is the home she lived in with her parents before they died.  

Gabriel travels from town to town looking for work.   As he is travelling the countryside, he happens upon a dangerous fire on a farm and joins in helping the farmers and workers put it out.  The owner of the farm arrives to thank the stranger for his assistance and he finds out that the owner of the farm is Bathsheba.  She hires Gabriel to be a shepherd for her estate.  

Bathsheba's neighbor is an older single man who also becomes infuriated with her.  In an act of Valentine fun, Bathsheba sends this neighbor, William Boldwood (Michael Sheen), a valentine card which causes him to become even more obsessed with her.   He proposes marriage but she is not sure that he is the man she wants and does not give him a definite answer to his proposal.  Gabriel calls her to task for her thoughtlessness of her treatment of Boldwood and Bathsheba becomes enraged and fires Gabriel.  But Bathsheba immediately finds that she needs Gabriel as her sheep have begun dying from bloat and Gabriel is the best shepherd around and knows how to save the sheep.

Michael Sheen

Also coming on the scene is a young dashing solider, Sergeant Francis Troy (Tom Sturridge) and he immediately become infatuated with Bathsheba and her wealth.   Gabriel tries to warn her about Troy but she disregards his advice and becomes interested in Frank. Boldwood tries to buy his rival off but Frank makes fun of him and his devotion to Bathsheba and reveals that he and Bathsheba are now married.

Tom Sturridge
(boo, hiss, boo
the villain)

Frank soon shows his true colors and intent by running up gambling debts and not helping with the farm.   Bathsheba begins to realize that Frank does not love her but is still in love with a girl named Fanny.  

OK...this is getting long winded and there is still more of the the story to tell.  So quickly,  Fanny dies with her and Frank's baby and he goes off and is thought to have died as well.   But he is not and when he shows back up at Boldwood's Christmas party, Boldwood can take no more and as Troy is dragging Bathsheba away he shoots and kills Troy.

Bathsheba does do the right thing by ensuring that Troy is buried with Fanny and their child. Boldwood is is given a pardon due to the emotional situation.

The story ends with Gabriel and Bathsheba once again being friends and they are quietly wed to hopefully live happily ever after.

Thomas Hardy is not an easy author to read and enjoy as often his plots are dark and full of emotional turmoil.  This one story does have a happy ending for the two main characters which is unusual for Hardy.

The Travelling Toe rates this movie 1 large toe up and 1 middle toe up with a side of figgy pudding.

figgy pudding

*Note:  According to the dictionary, the word madding means frenzied.






Disclaimer:  The Travelling Toe is not a professional critic and any opinions expressed are for entertainment purposes only

"100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared" (movie critique)

100 YEAR OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT 
THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED
movie poster

As a fun time to spent together, The Travelling Toe treats a dear friend to lunch and a movie in celebration of another birthday.  As both of us enjoy unusual movies, The Travelling Toe and friend traveled to the Angelika movie theater in Dallas to see "100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappears".

Robert Gustafsson
plays
Allan Karlson

The Travelling Toe is having a very difficult time describing this Swedish movie.  By the name of the movie title, you can guess it centers on a 100 year old man.  It is about Allan Karlson (Robert Gustafsson) who is living in a retirement community.  On the day of his 100th birthday, Allan decides to slowly climb out the window of his room and makes a break for more adventures.  He walks to the local bus depot  and with just the few coins in his picket, he buys a bus ticket to a small local town.  While waiting for the bus, a young biker thug comes into the depot to use the facilitates. He and his bag don't fit in the small space so he sees Alan standing here and hands his bag to the old man and tells him not to let go of it.   So course, when Allan's bus arrives and is ready to take off,  Allan takes the suitcase with him.  And the crazy adventures begin.

The movie is narrated in English, with some of  the actors speaking in Swedish, English, Spanish, Russian and French with subtitles.

Allan has had a long an interesting life.  As a young lad, Allan learned how to blow up things and loved it.  His first job was working in a Swedish munitions factory.  From there he goes to Spain and blows up things for the revolutionists but inadvertently saves Franco's life. Then during Word War II, he ends up where the biggest bomb is being built , out in New Mexico.  There Allan fixes Robert Oppenheimer's design flaw. He also meets Harry Truman and they enjoy several, several drinks together.

After the war he is kidnapped by the Russians to work on their bomb program.   But Allan makes the mistake of angering Stalin by comparing him to Franco.  So Allan is sent to Siberia to work in a gulag.  There he meets Albert Einstein's brother Henry, who did not inherit any of Albert's smarts....in fact Henry is rather dim-witted.  Through their own dumb luck, somehow they manage to blow up the gulag and make their escape to Paris.  Eventually, Allan is recruited by the CIA to be a double agent between the US and Russia.  But each side knows he is a double agent and they just feed each other worthless information through Allan.  He finally grows old, retires and ends up in the retirement community.

Now that is just part of the story. The rest centers on Allan and his friend finding out that the bag he has is full of money and the thugs are pursuing them.

The Travelling Toe can not even begin to describe all the other adventures these 2 guys have along the way especially the part the elephant plays in it.

So go see this movie at your own risk.  But if you like funny, weird, eccentric, quirky movies then it could be for you.
  
The Travelling Toe and birthday friend must admit that we did share a lot of laughter watching Allan in all his adventures and all the characters he meet along the way.  .

Jonas Jonasson

This Swedish movie was wildly popular in Europe and possibly there will be a US film made of it but how will it translate to the US market is hard to predicate.  It is based on a book of the same name by Jonas Jonasson that was published in 2009.

The Travelling Toe gives this fun movie 1 big toe up and I middle toe up with a side of Swedish meatballs!

"Artistic Director's Choice" program presented by Texas Ballet Theater

TEXAS BALLET THEATER
program

The Travelling Toe and a dear friend attended the last performance of the 2014-2015 season of the Texas Ballet Theater at Bass Hall.

Bass Hall

This program was titled "Artistic Director's Choice" and consisted of 3 separate ballets.  

Jiri Kylian 

The first ballet presented was "Petite Mort" choreographed by Jiri Kylian.  On stage were six men and six women.  The men started the ballet by brandishing foils.  It was quite interesting to see how they could dance and in a sense juggle the foils.  The ballet is set to 2 Mozart piano concertos.  The first was Piano Concerto A major and the second was Piano Concert C major - which you might recognize from a Swedish film called "Elvira Madigan".  The movie may be in the distant past but the music plays on.

Mozart

After a 20 minute intermission, the dancers returned to the stage for the world premier of "Crash".   This ballet was choreographed by Jonathan Watkins who had been in residence in Fort Worth for a month in order to ensure the dancers had the movements correct to achieve his vision.   It was danced to an original score by Ryan Cockerham.  "Crash" could represent a break-up, technology crash or any other type of critical mass.   The dancers were all in nude costumes so all movement could be seen as the dancers break apart and then come back together.

Jonathan Watkins

Ryan Cockerham

After another short intermission,the last ballet of the program was "Rubies" by George Balanchine.  "Rubies" is one part of Balanchine's ballet "Jewels" along with Emeralds and Diamonds.   It is set to music by Igor Stravinsky.  As the curtain rose the dancers were on stage, with the ladies up on pointe and the men holding their hands to steady them.  The bright red costumes and jewels, caused the audience to response with warm applause at the beautiful site center stage.   Then the dance began.  If you have ever seen a Balanchine ballet, then you know how he often repeats patterned moves.   The dancers were all up to the task of this demanding piece of work.  It was a lovely and exciting end to a diverse program.

George Balanchine

Igor Stravinsky

The Travelling Toe must admit that she tends to favor story line ballets but this program was well received.   The only thing that could have made it better would have been live music.  Hopefully that wish will come true for the 2015-2016 season.

Texas Ballet Theater

Container Gardens with the Westmont Garden Club

The monthly meeting of the Westmont Garden Club was on planting container gardens.   The presenter was Master Gardener, Linda Winn.  Even though The Travelling Toe more often than not is a death threat to plants, found this topic to be quite interesting.

Linda began the presentation with a discussion on the reasons to use container gardens. Some mentioned were:
                             
                                        limited space
                                        limited time
                                        so many pots, so many places inside and outside
                                        inside plants are healthy for us
                                        easier to take care of than a larger space

Then the discussion was on the types of containers to use for the mini-garden, such as:
               
                                      clay pots (the old stand-by)
                                      ceramic pots
                                      half barrels - wood and plastic
                                      stone urns
                                      vintage tin cans, coffee pots any other interesting pot

The main issue is to ensure that any pot has a drainage hole in the bottom.  Additionally the use of rocks in the bottom can prevent dirt from leaking out of the pot.  Linda shared with the group that she used a coffee filter in the bottom of the pots she used for plants.  One member mentioned she had success in using a baby diaper in the bottom of a pot and it was great at absorbing water....who knew that baby diapers worked on several different types of bottoms successfully!

potting soil and container

Next was on how to select plants for the container garden.  Most any plant can be grown in a container not just show plants but trees and even vegetables.  When deciding on the plants, be sure to look at the plant tag as it contains all the information needed to ensure you have the right plants for your area - such as light and space.

These are some of the things you will find on the plant tag:

                                     sun - how much is required daily, whether full, partial or no direct sun
                                     space - how much room a plant needs to grow
                                     height - how tall a plant will grow
                                     bloom time - how long it will bloom
                                     watering needs - whether is needs to be semi-moist, damp at all times,
                                           dry between watering, moist - should always feel wet

Linda then showed the group had to put a container garden together.   She said to follow 3 rules:

                                      thriller
                                             something to draw your eye and it should be planted in the middle

thriller

                                     filler
                                            these plants go around the middle plant to fill in

fillers - white and pink

                                     spiller
                                            these plants spill over the pot 
                                            example - potato vine

spiller

Use potting soil not garden soil for the plants.  One can use per-lite in the soil as it absorbs the water then releases it later on.  Linda suggested to place the plants in the pot first so you know how you want to set them as you began to plant.  

As Linda shared with the group, gardening was the original job, that was what Eve and Adam were suppose to do!

Linda Winn
with completed container garden

One book on  container gardening is:

                                                The Book of Container Gardening
                                                                     by
                                                           Malcolm Hiller    

Side note:   some books of Mr. Hiller are available through Amazon.
 Amazon


Also on display was a magazine "Garden Gate" that had several pages of plants that were ideal for container gardens.

                                       
Garden Gate Magazine

Christian Arts Museum in Fort Worth, Texas

CHRISTIAN ARTS MUSEUM OF
FORT WORTH

The Bedford Parc Lunch Ladies and The Travelling Toe journeyed to the West Side of Fort Worth to visit the Christian Arts Museum.  This is a small white unassuming building off the busy intersection of Camp Bowie and 7th Street.  But this little museum has lots to hold one's attention.

WALL OF CHRISTIAN CROSSES

As you walk in, to your right is a "Wall of Christian Crosses".   They were all made by Rachel Joy Colvin, a Fort Worth artist, sculptor and calligrapher.  There are 28 crosses in all. A leaflet is provided which identities each type of cross on the wall - most are familiar  but a few  maybe not.  

WALL OF CHRISTIAN CROSSES
leaflet

In the next area are several interesting items including a needlepoint rendition of the Lord's Supper and another oil painting of the same subject but the clothing reflects a different time period.  In the center of the room is a replica of the Arc of the Covenant.  If it looks strangely familiar it is because you may have seen it before.  According to the docent, this replica was made out the same mold that was used to make the Arc of Covenant for the movie "Raiders of the Lost Arc" .

LORD'S SUPPER
needlepoint

LORD'S SUPPER
oil painting

ARC OF THE COVENANT

The next room is very inspiring as it contains a life size wax figure of Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting, "The Last Supper".   There are over 40,00 strands of hair used for the heads and beards.   The clothing that the figures have on are the original period costumes from the 1950's and have to be sent to a special cleaners to be cleaned.  As you sit and contemplate this tableau, an audio is played describing the story of the wax figures and each of the disciples at the table..

JESUS

LORD'S SUPPER
wax figures

LORD'S SUPPER
wax figures

LEONARDO DA VINCI

DA VINCI'S
THE LAST SUPPER

The display was created in the 1950's by Katherine Stubergh and her daughter.  The work was commissioned by a Fort Worth family, the Fleming's, and was placed on display in 1956 in the Ridglea Shopping Center.  The display was moved several times and was in storage for a period of several years.   Then through the Walsh Foundation, a new building was funded so that the wax figures would be back on display in a permanent location for the public to enjoy.

ARTICLE
wax figures

The museum is open Wednesday through Saturday:

                                         10:00 am - 3:00 pm

                                         3221 Hamilton Ave

                                         817-332-7878

Christian Arts Museum

There is no admission charge to visit this lovely museum and with advance notice large groups are welcome.

Here is another Fort Worth treasure that not many know about.   Go and marvel at the artistry and beauty of these wax figures.

"Aloha" (movie critique)

ALOHA
movies poster

CAST LIST

• Bradley Cooper as Brian Gilcrest
• Emma Stone as Captain Allison Ng
• Rachel McAdams as Tracy Woodside
• Bill Murray as Carson Welch
• John Krasinski as John "Woody" Woodside
• Danny McBride as Colonel "Fingers" Lacy
• Alec Baldwin as General Dixon

The Travelling Toe and 2 friends went to the Monday matinee showing of the new movie "Aloha', starring Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone.

Bradley Cooper

Emma Stone

In the Hawaiian language Aloha means hello and good-by but in this movie Aloha just about means boring..

Bradley Cooper stars as Brain Gilcrest a washed out Air Force pilot  and now a military contractor.  He was badly hurt on his last mission to Kabul.  After his recovery he heads to Hickman Air Force Base in Hawaii.  He is working for a billionaire entrepreneur, Carson Welch, played by Bill Murray, who has plans to launch a supposed communications rocket from the Hawaiian Islands.

Bill Murray

Serving as Brian's liaison is Capt. Allison Ng, played by Emma Stone. Side note: she is blonde, blue eyed, fair skinned but is part Hawaiian?  Guess the Swedish genes she also has were the dominate ones.

Along the way, Gilcrest meets up with his former girlfriend Tracy (Rachel McAdams) who is now married to an Air Force pilot John (John Krasinski) and has 2 children - a young son and an teenage daughter. Brain and Tracy have unfinished business and anyone can pretty much figure out what it is.

Rachel McAdams

John Krasinski

Allison and Brian share some happy moments together till she finds out that heroes sometimes have feet of clay.  So will Brian find the right stuff to do the right thing? You dear reader will have to find out for yourself....would suggest that you rent a cheap DVD to do so.

The Travelling Toe will not share all the ending details of the movie but the director (Cameron Crowe) does a nice job of bringing all the stories to a conclusion.  There are some beautiful shots of Hawaii in the movie as well as several lovely Hawaiian songs that  are included.

Cameron Crowe

The Travelling Toe awards this movie 1 pinky toe half way up with a plumeria flower lei.

 

plumeria 

Disclaimer:  The Travelling Toe is not a professional movie critic and any opinions expressed are for entertainment purposes only.