A Visit to the Albright-Knox Museum

On Friday, last, my comares, ***  and I had another GIRLZ DAY event. We got up early, got all gussied up, tuned in the GPS and trekked from Rochester to Buffalo, NY. A trip of about 80 miles.

We had a beautiful, sunny day to travel. Our admission tickets were purchased beforehand. The venue was the Albright-Knox Art Gallery 

rear of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery building-parking lot entrance


Our reason for visiting the museum was that there was a "Monet and the Impressionists Revolution 1860-1910" exhibit showing. It was a rare opportunity to see these great works so close to home. We made a day of it. We arrived about noon and dallied in the museum gift shop before our scheduled 1 PM visit to the exhibit. Museum gift shops are one of my favorite places to shop. Purchased myself a reusable silk, fold up inside a small pouch, shopping bag for my trip to Sicily. Then, after viewing the spectacular art work, we had lunch in the Gallery Cafe' . A very relaxed, and charming meal of soup and quiche with iced tea for me, then a shared molten chocolate lava cake for dessert.

The art patrons were permitted to take photos of all the paintings except the Monet' paintings. I took a few shots of the other impressionists that I favor particularly. I'm not certain that I will remember exactly whose work is who's.

This is one of Degas' little ballerinas

Renoir

Gustave Caillebotte

can't remember - sorry

There were many more, including some of the work of Toulouse Lautrec, Manet, Gauguin, VanGough, Matisse, Seurat, etc. Not to mention the museum's regular collections which were also spectacular. This museum is definitely worth a trip. To do it justice, a weekend visit would be a good thing.

In the guarded Monet exhibit, where no photos were permitted, the evolution of his style development throughout his career was so interesting to see how he followed the light and did canvas after canvas of the same subject in varying light and seasons. It is said that he particularly liked to paint in winter because he so appreciated the light that the effect of snow gave to a scene. It was a very memorable day and I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity.

these are my comares Patty and Joanie

*** "comare" is Italian for godmother or sponsor. Often in Italian culture, very close friends are also called comare . In all the different and varied Italian dialects, the word morfs to goo-mah'-dee because the "r" is rolled. or goo-mah. Funny, huh?


I love GIRLZ DAYS. They are very special to me.


 

Happy Birthday To Me

I had a birthday last week. I think that's sufficient reason for celebration. My son and daughter in law took me out to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants. They presented me with this "oh, so long awaited Springtime" bouquet. I had a delicious lunch of tomato bisque soup, chicken cutlet on a bed of arugula, and a latte with a plate of Italian cookies.

On the following day, I celebrated with my BFF. I met her at the Street of Shops, which is an antique mall, cum vintage shops, cum furniture refinishers Paradise, cum flea market........plus a small café. There's approximately 200 vendors, each with their own booth/space which they decorate to the "nines". Some with stenciled walls, faux wall treatments, curtains, rugs, room settings. To me, it's nirvana.

This is my favorite "room" - all white - vintage furniture painted white



New vendor - mostly white again - her name is on the banner - she "reimagines"

 

Revamped White "big girl" tutu in TamiLyn's shop 

I always come home with something. Here's what came home with me this time.


If you knew me you would know how appropriate this little plaque is


 

Sparkle Plenty Lace Baseball Cap

Twinkley star garland - I took it right off the white chest of drawers (above)
 

We capped off our day of delight with a stop at an Italian café/gelateria to have dessert.
https://www.facebook.com/orienscafe

I'm not finished celebrating my birthday yet. A friend is taking me to lunch this week and I have a coupon for free birthday gifts from Sephora which I need to pick up in my birthday month (March).
How do ya'll celebrate your birthday?????????

Skaneateles Mailboat Tour

Last week, on probably the best day of the whole Summer (thus far), my two traveling buddies (BFF's) and I took a bus tour from our town to one of the most pristine of the Finger Lakes - Skaneateles Lake. Here we are on the bus headed for Skaneateles.

Joanie

Me - in case you can't see picture caption: I just wanted ONE chin, so I cropped the others off.

                                                      

Patty

                                                                                                   
The town of Skaneateles is 78 miles from Rochester and is about an hour and a half bus ride.   The weather was blindingly sunny, not a cloud in the sky and quite warm (90 ish). But the bus was air cooled and the lake breezes and boat ride also provided cooling breezes. The lake is as clear as glass. It's an extremely healthy lake, according to the guide. 300 plus feet deep. You can practically "feel" the eons of time it took for water, erosion, temperature fluctuations, climate, ice ages, etc. to dig this beautiful lake out of the huge rock formations that are its boundaries.

Our cruise was on a Mailboat which delivers and collects the mail for the lake residents. It's easier to deliver mail by boat than to attempt to drive or walk around the lake, scaling the cliffs and dirt roads on terra firma  and miles of wooden stairs the residents have built to get from mountain side to where their cottages are situated at lake level.

It's also quite an adventure for both the mail delivery personnel and the lake residents. The residents hang their mailboxes off their boat docks and reaching out toward the water. The boat captain actually stops that craft about two feet from the end of the dock. He never crashed into one single dock while I was with him. A young "gopher" mail boy with large orange bags of mail wiggles way up onto the bow and then leans waaaay over to hand the mail to the resident standing at the end of their dock. Most of the time, this is residents. Children love to do this and everyone's pet does as well. Reason being that the mail "gopher" has a treat of a tootsie roll for the kiddies and a dog biscuit for the pups - plus mail. And sometimes, the residents have mail to post, handing that over to the "gopher" to process.

A few of the lake residents ready to meet the mail boat

 

One of the stops for mail delivery was at a day camp. The camp counselors came to the dock to collect the mail. A few tiny campers also sneaked in to this picture. Sorry I wasn't able to get a picture of this - but the beautiful young counselors standing along the dock at camp did the can-can just like the Radio City Rockettes as a mailboat greeting. Here they are after their grueling routine.




Sailing Lessons

The Mailboat

The interior of the boat was lined both sides with tables and four chairs at each one. Lined along both sides with windows. The did serve iced tea, soda pop and water plus small snacks.  The mail cruise took approximately 3 hours. These are some of the wonderful lake houses.



Some of the beautiful residences along the lakefront.

 

My Favorite


This next one, which looks a lot like the White House has a very interesting history and if you're interested, I've provided a link.

http://kihm6.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/roosevelt-hall/


Now off the lunch at the   http://www.selectregistry.com/members/sherwood-inn.asp  and then a bit of shopping at the wonderful shops and boutiques of downtown Skaneateles. There were 3 lunch choices. Me and the two "comari" all had the same thing: First course: green salad. Second Course: Chicken French, which was totally delicious. A thin paillard of sautéed chicken in a lemon and wine sauce over a bed of wild rice and shoestring vegetables. Third Course: a decadent chocolate cake with frosting and whipped cream.

And to top it all off - a bit of "retail therapy"

This is a two story antique shop. All of it was as crowded as this picture. I did purchase a little tchotchke.


While waiting for our bus to take us back home, we sat in this beautiful beachfront park.

 

Altogether, a beautiful day, enjoyed by one and all. It was a http://www.coveredwagontours.net/  Covered Wagon Tours. They took care of everything, throughway tolls, gratuities, lunch, they did the driving and parking. I can't wait for the next one.