Vienna, etc.

I have been so outrageously overwhelmed and behind on things. After the Federal clothing lecture, I went to a cute little SCA event (guys fighting in a snowy parking lot), and then a Steampunk teadance in Porter Square (historical dances, but weird clothes). Both fun events. Then I went to Vienna for a dance week, which was pretty incredible. Vienna has wonderful things like pretty museums and delicious krapfen (imagine jelly donuts, but better, and full of APRICOT! Mmmm). The dancing was lovely. We worked on a Redowa Quadrille that Hannalore reconstructed, which had a few really adorable elements. I liked it a lot. Then we did another dance, the Basseda, which had some challenging rhythms but was neat. I wish I thought it were a little more useful, but I can't imagine doing it socially save for this sort of situation with a week of classes before hand, and as for a performance I think it might be a little disjointed. But it was definitely neat. It was a great week.

Now I have gotten home and gotten back to work. I have an outrageous number of class hours this semester (meaning 10 hours of labs on top of about 16 hours of class, not counting non-class lab work or outside reading/assignment/problem set time. Eek!), and so missing a week put me rather behind. This hurts when I am so inspired to do sewing. Seriously.

I am also going through a bit of an art phase. I wish I knew more about artists and paintings and things, even if my first reaction to something is not "oh, what a pretty painting," but rather, "oh, what a fantastic dress/hat/fan/flying-squirrel-on-a-gold-chain-leash/etc!" We hit a couple of museums in Vienna, although there were a lot of classes to attend as well. This weekend I went to the MFA with a friend, which was really fun. I haven't been there in a while, and it is such a neat place. So in honor of that, here is a decidedly neat painting to look at - "The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit" by John Singer Sargent. Mother told me that she once heard a museum curator speak about this painting. The family traveled frequently, so they had these giant vases that came with them from place to place (giving some sense of stability, I suppose). The museum not only has the painting on display, but two of the vases. Apparently they once cataloged the stuff that had accumulated in the vases over the years, and it included all sorts of funny things the girls had thrown in, like dance cards and half eaten donuts. There is a book about the painting that I'd like to read, but I am so busy that I rarely get to read and certainly haven't tracked the book down yet. I will have do to so in the future, because I do love the painting. Anyway, here it is.