The new UMMA

Scott and I went to the University of Michigan Museum of Art today, excited to see the new building and the new layout. It's truly beautiful. With its blond wood, wide windows, and open spaces, it reminds me of nothing so much as the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark: you stumble upon paintings or sculptures in the same happy, accidental-feeling way, in beautiful places, and you can look across several levels of rooms at one time from any number of viewing spots. I will be revisiting often.
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Right now, I have to urge you all to go see the exhibit running there right now called History Painting: Painting and Public Life in the 21st Century. It's amazing how art can make you see universally-known events in a completely new way. There is a huge canvas of the cascading streaks we all remember from the terrible Challenger disaster. There are architecturally perfect paintings of Iraqi detention camps. There's Patty Hearst, wielding her gun like an electric guitar.
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There's a three-minute animation of the O.J. Simpson verdict by artist Kota Ezawa, which I found particularly fascinating: I found myself breathlessly waiting for O.J.'s tiny, triumphant smile!
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It's great stuff. Go check it out. Don't worry -- you have plenty of time. It's there till mid-September.

Carlos Ruiz Zafón!

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Alas, I wasn't there, much as I loved The Shadow of the Wind when we read it in book club - but Christine, Liza, Norma, and Wendy went and saw Carlos Ruiz Zafón at Nicola's Books, touring to promote his new book, The Angel's Game. It's a prequel to Shadow. Can't wait to hear about my fellow book clubbers' impressions, but if their smiles in this picture with the author are anything to go by, I think I may want to read it!

Two more photos

I've been so busy recently that this has become less of a blog and more of an occasional photo showcase. I do hope this changes soon. I have learned something about myself as work has exploded into mayhem: I am not someone who thrives on a hectic pace. I can do it. But I wouldn't say I thrive on it.
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So let me distract myself with two amusing photos.
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First, here is my dad, who has acquired a small supply of his favorite beverage. Should keep him going for a couple of days, anyway. My mother reports that he e-mailed the photo to a friend who responded, "How did you do it? Photoshop?" His response: "It's not Photoshop - it's the Real Thing!"
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Secondly, here is a highly enviable Detroit Tigers t-shirt, snapped by Barb's camera phone at Friday night's game. In these difficult economic times, why buy a new t-shirt just because your favorite player leaves the team?
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Classy!

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And now it's Father's Day already. Where is the summer going?!

Miscellaneous photos

Didn't anyone ever tell Scott not to use the hotel phone?

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All dolled up and ready for a wedding.
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This is a band photo if ever I saw one.
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Weird German electric car from the 1970s at the Orphan Car Show.
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Perhaps one of the last shots of Tiger Stadium.
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And Nigel!

Wedding weekend

Went to Vikki's wedding this weekend and had a splendid time. It was particularly fun because it coincided with our landlady tiling our bathroom floor, which meant that she put us up in a hotel for the weekend. It really felt as though we had traveled a long way to come to Ann Arbor for our friend's wedding and were staying in a hotel just for the occasion!
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Anyway - gorgeous wedding - gorgeous locale - gorgeous bride! And good friends.
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Congratulations, Vikki!

Our new abode

So - new cat - and now, new apartment! Life is pretty exciting right now. Check this out.
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There's a studio apartment on one side, and we get the whole rest of the house. Basically, we will be renting three-quarters of a house! Here's the side of the house, with the sunset reflected in the living room window:
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And the back. Look at the long, narrow kitchen window. We'll be sitting right there, gazing out into the yard, having breakfast.
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We have a "carriage barn" to store things in - and when we went by the apartment today to skulk around triumphantly out front ("This is our place - in less than a month!"), we noticed that the side of the barn has been fixed up as - a climbing wall!
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And look at that yard, too. We'll be putting yard furniture out there, of course!
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And - the front. The front stoop! And me sitting on it!
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Can't wait.
Meanwhile, as Dad said: "Now comes the hard part." Clean, clean, declutter, declutter, work, work, then - move!
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New cat in tow!