Sunday, April 17, 2011

Sunday Salon: This and That

Just in case you missed the first episode in the new incarnation of UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS, it's available on the PBS website. Link. I haven't seen it yet, but already I'm of two minds about it. (Hence my hesitation in watching.) I have such wonderful memories of the original show. This new version can only disappoint in comparison. The way to watch is, I suppose, by purposely NOT recalling the original. Is that possible? That house is full of ghosts.

Thanks again to my school librarian friend Jean in Colorado who sent me a copy of LEVIATHAN by Scott Westerfield. I am reading it and loving it. This is a book that had been lurking on the periphery of my vision for awhile, since it kept showing up here and there on various blogs. I am not, normally a big fan of YA fiction, but since Jean sent me the book, it hopped, skipped and jumped up the TBR pile and am I glad. It is terrific! And I am loving the fabulous illustrations! Book review coming up tomorrow. If this hasn't been bought for the movies, I can't imagine what they're waiting for.

Sunday usually means baseball around here. I've been a fan since I was a kid. Although why that should be, I can't imagine. The Brooklyn Dodgers used to break my heart regularly. And now the NY Mets are playing so abominably that it is a downright embarrassment to be a fan. They've just lost two double-headers in a row. TWO! How deflating. How miserable. How ridiculous. As I asked on my Facebook page and continue to ask: When will this torment end?? And of course, the team I dislike intensely, the Yankees, continues to win. There is NO justice! (Despite that, don't you love this vintage baseball illustration from the 50's? Don't have a source for the artist.)

I love this painting: Sunday, Women Drying Their Hair, but I have no artist source. If you know who it is, please let me know. In the meantime, this is such a wonderful image of a once upon a time slice of NYC life. (I've been informed by fellow blogger, Rainette, that the artist is John Sloan (1871 - 1951). Good to know, thanks very much. Merci beaucoup.)

8 comments:

  1. Bonjour Yvette,
    C'Est John Sloan (American, 1871–1951)

    je l'ai trouvé en gougoulant. Je ne connaissais pas, très très beau !

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  2. Bonjour, Rainette, merci pour le nom de John Sloan. (Did I get that right? I don't speak French much, read a little. But I love having the chance to practise!) Oui, c'est beau.

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  3. Yes it's perfect. My english is so-so so.....

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  4. Ha! My French is worse. That's why I haven't commented on your beautiful blog. Merci, Rainette, pour les commentaires sur mon blog. :)

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  5. The painting is very nice, a good mood just sweeps over one when looking at it, nostalgia perhaps for NYC years ago.

    Yes, I agree on the Dodgers, having been a Brooklyn Dodgers fan -- actually, my entire family was -- and disliking the Yankees since I was a child.

    And disappointment with the Mets, sort of. I watch Mets' fans deflate every year.

    I don't watch baseball much, but when I do, there's passion like no other. At a neighbor's a few years ago, we were watching a baseball game with the Mets. Someone hit a home run, we all jumped up yelling, and the dog barked and chased the cat (it was his fault, you see).

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  6. Of course, Kathy, it's ALWAYS the cat's fault. Didn't you know that? HA!

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  7. I thought that painting looked familiar and I was just starting to remember where I think I saw it, when Rainette beat me to it. There was an exhibit of John Sloan's paintings at a museum in Wilmington, DE, several years ago. I believe this painting was part of that exhibit. Lots of cityscapes from the early to mid-1900s.

    That museum, and it's name escapes me, probably something obvious like the Wilmington Museum of Art, also has a big collection of Howard Pyle's art, an artist and illustrator I've always liked. Such drama and romance and swashbuckling.

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  8. Joan: I've been researching some of John Sloan's work and liking it all very much. LOVE his cityscapes! I'm also a big fan of Howard Pyle's work. I've featured his paintings before and will again. Also more of Sloan. :)

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