Today my wonderful son-in-law was able to install a new Microsoft Word program into my new computer while he is in Massachusetts and my computer is in London. My 30-day trial Word program was about to expire today. We learned earlier this week that the trial program could only be activated by buying the full price program directly from Microsoft on line. We generally expect to pay inflated British sterling prices for US computer goods, but this was more than twice the price of buying it on Amazon.uk or a dozen other sites. I would have been happy buy it at half the Microsoft price, but we discovered that in order to install a purchased program, I would have to un-install the trial, and I inferred from my son-in-law's response, doing an un-installation required skills at his elevated level.
So the Staycation can go on because what would it be without a blog to chronicle our outings.
The Staycation has taken on a life of its own on both sides of the Atlantic. My friend Sunny has sent me a link to a Washington Post article, asking why the Obamas don't just stay in Washington for a staycation instead of jetting off to Florida and the Vineyard and god forbid Marbella. (Here in England, everyone had a good laugh because Marbella is where the tacky people go in Spain.) As for local staycations, only the saddest remain in England for a holiday, and today the Independent newspaper reminded us of this with a front page banner, Holidays at Home. . . My Staycation Hell which included vignettes of dire holidays taken in England from a handful of well known people. A rather biased article, since half the respondents recounted holidays taken with their families when they were children. Of course since they are all well-known personalities, the last time they took a holiday in Britain was probably when they were children, so they had nothing to contribute when asked to participate.
Since last spring I have been part of a group of volunteers who lead walks around our local parish church graveyard. This morning was again my turn. The weather was awful with intermittent rain storms, but 5 people turned up, and we managed to get it done between storms. The churchyard has two famous people: the painter John Constable and the hero of Dava Sobel's book Longitude, John Harrison. Also an array of interesting18th century figures are buried here: Jane Austen's aunt Philadelphia Hancock and cousin Eliza, who was also her sister-in-law having married Jane's younger brother, are buried here; George Washington's London agent for selling his tobacco crop; Henry Cort who devised the puddling process and the rolling mill to turn pig iron into wrought iron; Captain Merry who sailed for the East India Company.
After lunch we went to the Royal Academy to see the Sargent and the Sea exhibition. John Singer Sargent is known for his portraits of society men and women, but before he turned to portraits for his living, he liked to paint boats and seaside scenes apparently. Born and raised in France by American ex-pat parents, he didn't visit the States until he was 20 years old. Some of the paintings and drawings were done on the that voyage. Our last Seaside exhibit at the Fan Museum last week, had many fans decorated with seaside scenes and used as advertising by railway companies eager to generate business for new routes extended to seaside destinations. According to today's exhibit, Sargent was a regular on the trains to the seaside with his sketchbook in hand. Sargent was such a wonderful draughtsman, his skill raises the level of achievement even in these minor works.
While we were at the RA, we popped into the Summer Show which truly gets worse every year. I thought last year's Show looked like something competent high school students might do to prove how cutting edge their art is. This year was worse. I would leave competent out as a relevant descriptor. When you read about how important the RA Summer Show was to art and artists in the 19th century — the submissions that made careers such as Sargent's Carnation Lily, Lily Rose, of young girls with Chinese Lanterns; the time and energy Constable devoted each year to painting his Summer Show submissions through his whole career; the imagination Turner used to make each year's submission different from earlier work — and the result was Great Art. Today's show is simply boring. One caveat is that for the first time artist's books were accepted, and they were the most interesting thing on display.
As part of the Summer Show, the RA places monumental sculpture in their courtyard. This year's are pretty good. They are by Barry Flanagan RA (deceased).
Everyone in the world has heard about our runaway Northern Line Tube train. When we went to the Tube yesterday morning, nothing was running on the Charing Cross branch which is unusual on a weekday. By yesterday afternoon on our way home, the Evening Standard had the story of an all night work train that became disengaged from the engine pulling it; they managed to divert it to the Charing Cross branch and move all other trains to the Bank Branch. The accident happened early in the morning when trains were just beginning the day's runs. The Charing Cross line was still shut today, probably because they are investigating what happened.
We have completed two weeks of our Staycation now. Tomorrow we begin Week Three still with a long list of things to do.
While we were at the RA, we popped into the Summer Show which truly gets worse every year. I thought last year's Show looked like something competent high school students might do to prove how cutting edge their art is. This year was worse. I would leave competent out as a relevant descriptor. When you read about how important the RA Summer Show was to art and artists in the 19th century — the submissions that made careers such as Sargent's Carnation Lily, Lily Rose, of young girls with Chinese Lanterns; the time and energy Constable devoted each year to painting his Summer Show submissions through his whole career; the imagination Turner used to make each year's submission different from earlier work — and the result was Great Art. Today's show is simply boring. One caveat is that for the first time artist's books were accepted, and they were the most interesting thing on display.
As part of the Summer Show, the RA places monumental sculpture in their courtyard. This year's are pretty good. They are by Barry Flanagan RA (deceased).
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| Hare and Bell |
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| Nijinski Hare |
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| Left Handed Hare |
Everyone in the world has heard about our runaway Northern Line Tube train. When we went to the Tube yesterday morning, nothing was running on the Charing Cross branch which is unusual on a weekday. By yesterday afternoon on our way home, the Evening Standard had the story of an all night work train that became disengaged from the engine pulling it; they managed to divert it to the Charing Cross branch and move all other trains to the Bank Branch. The accident happened early in the morning when trains were just beginning the day's runs. The Charing Cross line was still shut today, probably because they are investigating what happened.
We have completed two weeks of our Staycation now. Tomorrow we begin Week Three still with a long list of things to do.
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