Out and about

I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art today to meet up with a friend and see the Vermeer they have on display there. I am a big fan of Vermeer and his peers. Some advice: if you are going to see a famous artist's painting that is just on loan to your local museum, go on a Tuesday, just about when everyone is having brunch. Because the scene will be like this: 

When did these fountains last run? I always ask myself.

What is not featured in these photos of the front steps is the pair of tourists taking turns snapping pictures of each other running up the steps and doing the Rocky pose. It just so happened that they were done just a moment before I had my camera out. What a pity. (Can you feel the sarcasm dripping?) Visiting the PMA is an interesting and sometimes stomach-churning meeting of worlds. I think Rocky was a fine movie (I will not speak to its sequels) but these kind of pop-culture displays leave me lactose intolerant - I simply can't take the cheese. Add to that a woman who thought the pediment by C. Paul Jennewein was Jesus and the Canaanites, and I was really ready for some art.

Because obviously, I am an art snob. In a fuzzy hat.

Witness all the open space.

I can't resist a curtain wall reflection, even if I am rushing to catch a trolley:

 

 

Also while rushing to catch the trolley:

Pretty leaves!

In other news 

I've been commissioned to knit up some hats for the holidays by a friend who spins and knits and sews and, well, doesn't have a doppelganger to help her to do all of those things simultaneously in time for Christmas. I am the stand-in for her doppelganger. So far, I have knit 1 7/8 earflap hats out of her handspun and hand dyed yarn. (7/8 because all it lacks is edging and ties.) They need blocking, but here is the one I consider done.

 

My expression is serious to belie the fact that I am not wearing any pants.

I think it has a nice mossy look to it.