WINTER 2020/2021

Recently, we went to the Eiteljorg Museum in downtown Indianapolis to see their display of American Indian and Western art. The paintings were stunning.

The painting above is “Still Water Crossing” by Daniel Smith. Check out the bison’s eyes, they look so real you’d swear he’s looking right at you and he doesn’t look happy. I’d sure get out of his way in a hurry!

The paintings of Indians’ lives were fascinating.

“Song of the Aspen” by Bert Geer Phillips.

“The Sun Worshippers” by E.I. Couse.

“The Agency Store” by William Sharp.

“Blessing from The Medicine Man” by Howard Terpning.

“Secrets of the Dark Forest” by Robert Griffing.

“The Wedding” by E.I. Couse.

“His First Lesson” by Joseph Sharp was my favorite.

“Indian Lovers” by E.I. Couse.

“The Plasterer” by Ernest Blumenschein.

“Snake River Sushi” by Anne Coe.

The above painting and the one below are called “October Suite, Grand Canyon” and were done by Wilson Hurley. 

“The Grand Canyon’s appeal for me is emotional. It makes me feel glorious. It grabs me by the throat.”

“Beneath the Blue Moon Bench” by P.A. Nisbet depicts the Colorado River and its canyon. “For me, the Western landscape best speaks in a language of the possible, the language of the horizon”.

The original reason we went to the Eiteljorg Museum was to see Jingle Rails which is an annual model train display. It was very well done but the paintings were far more interesting.

Cats seem to follow us. At our new place, this stray showed up so of course Barb had to take care of it, that’s how we ended up with our current 3.  

Barb was able to find it a home with one of our neighbors. She is now named Hazel and is fitting right in with her new family. Their dog isn’t quite sure what to make of this turn of events.

There is even a daughter that likes to rub Hazel’s tummy. It was a nice Christmas story both for Hazel and her new family.

Americans have an amazing ability to see humor in difficult times. That’s part of what makes us so resilient. Here’s a selection of some that we’ve seen.

We needed someone like Rosie the Riveter to have been in charge during the pandemic. She would have stopped the nonsense and bickering just by raising an eyebrow.

Courtney and David’s dog Baxter and their cat Dottie were quite stylish in their grinch hats. Dottie was obviously not thrilled about the hat.

Not being able to get together with a big group of family during the holidays was very difficult. We did a lot of Zooming but that just isn’t a substitute for face to face contact.

Having us home for the holidays was a treat for our cats. Usually, they stay home while we go to a celebration and dinner. Newton loves to rub heads.

Miss Rose has been doing her best to keep us entertained.

Gilmore loves to play a game we call moray eel. He sticks his head between my legs and tries to get a toy I dangle in front of him.

When I started writing this in early January, I said to Barb that 2021 has to be better then 2020, how could things possibly get worse? It didn’t even take a week to find the answer so I’m not going to ask that question again!

Once again Americans answered adversity with our characteristic sense of humor.

Stay safe everyone, there is light at the end of the tunnel.