It's Been Real, Dallas, Now Eleven Hours to Nashville

The Family

The Grandchildren

We are both up early, 5:30, as we want to be off before 6:30, to avoid any heavy Dallas traffic on our way out of town.  It's going to be a long day and a sad one, having to leave Beth and family after a great week.  Not much to look forward to for the next two days, just lots of seemingly endless highways.

Yesterday was another relaxing day, as we did not have much on our plate other than plan and make dinner later in the day.  First, I took Cody out for a long walk, while it was still cool.  Then, around 10:00, after a great breakfast of challah bread French toast, compliments of Beth, Rami and I drove to REI, again, to return shirts we bought five days ago but were to wide, alas.  Fortunately, we were able to get our money back but we both spent whatever we got back, Rami on a shirt and I bought a Osprey Day Pack, a deal of course.  We then stopped at Trader Joe's and I picked up some salsa that Evie loves and a few bottles of simmer sauce which we also like.  We made one more stop at Total Wine and More, a huge wine emporium which is expanding across the US.  You can find just about anything you want at a good price.  I picked up a bottle of BV, five bucks cheaper than at the lake and Rami got a case of summer wines.

With My Buddy, Cody

When we got back, no one knew exactly what to do, so we just hung out until 2:00 when we decided to watch Marisa's favorite movie, INSIDE OUT, an animated movie that won all sorts of awards, deservedly so.  We all watched it, laughed (and cried a little), and loved it.  For Marisa, it was the fourth time she has seen it.  It's an animated movie that adults can relate to and the imagination and skill which went into both the script and the animation defies belief.  Where do people come up with such amazing films, ones that both the young and old can enjoy.  We had a light lunch of cheese and crackers during the movie because we had not eaten since breakfast.

Grillin ad Chillin

After the film, Rami and Mitch ran off to REI because Mitch decided he, too, wanted a day pack. The rest of us, especially Beth, prepped for dinner and sipped wine.  Around 6:00 when the boys returned, Rami fired up the grill and put five pounds of marinated flank steak on the grill, along with corn and onions. We were having fajitas, so Beth heated up the tacos, Evie made a corn salad and sliced the avocado as we waited for the meat to be done. After letting the meat rest for five minutes, Rami sliced it and we made great fajitas out of the meat with  homemade chimichurri sauce, avocado, onions, and sour cream.  They were better than any of the taco joints we have been to in the past week.  We finished our meal with cherry pie and ice cream and then the guys turned on the NBA game, the girls adjourned to the bedroom to watch their shows.  It's nice having two TV's when you have a crowd.  The girls went up to bed by 9:30, tired from the day, leaving Rami and me to watch the game.  I have to admit I was tired enough to just say heck with the game and check the score tomorrow.  But I didn't and I am glad because Stephen Curry's amazing play took the game over in the last  few minutes to lead Golden State to victory.

Late Afternoon Grilling in Sun and Smoke

A Memorial Day In Dallas

Dallas Arboretum

Donut Break

A warm Memorial Day in Dallas, as we spend our last day with Beth and family.  Like most mornings recently, it's overcast, humid with thunderstorms during the night and more this morning and then, perhaps, some sunshine for grilling out our marinated flank steak for fajitas.

Breakfast

Yesterday, a Sunday, we said dam the heat and humidity; we were going to get out and enjoy some of the late morning and afternoon air.  And what better way to start our day then at Hypnotic Donuts, another hot spot in Dallas, with a constant line of customers, of course.  Their shtick is making original donuts, like the one Marisa ordered, the Canadian Healthcare, a donut with maple flavored frosting, topped with a thick slice of bacon.  Yum.

Health Food

I ordered the Maui Wowie, with coconut frosting and a coconut cream filling.  There other best seller is their biscuits, sliced, with a breaded chicken breast sandwiched in between. Double yum. Evie and I ordered ours with honey but there were various other toppings we could have gotten, including gravy.

Waiting In Line At Hypnotic Donuts

We sat around eating the donuts as we waited for our chicken/biscuit sandwiches.  When they arrived, they were piping hot and one was enough for two of us.  By the time we were through, we needed a cup of good coffee, so Rami knew of another coffee oasis, with Ethiopian coffee, called the Good Friend Package Store.  It was an interesting place, with a coffee bar, a counter where you could order food, and a wall of coolers with every all kinds of micro brews and European brews, even Southern Tier from Chautauqua.

Flower Strewn Paths

We then drove to the Dallas Arboretum, a short hop from the coffee shop.  We visited it back in November but at this time of year, every thing is in bloom, so it was much more colorful and interesting despite the heat and humidity.

Live Art

We walked it for about forty five minutes until Marisa wilted like a flower and cried 'Enough.'

Our New Turkish Acquaintances

Interestingly, as we were sitting down,  a family walked by, the women with head scarves and they looked Turkish to me, so as the grandfather passed, I said Merhaba (Hello).  He replied Merhaba and we struck up a 15 minute conversation with him, his son, his wife and two daughters.  The son teaches in Houston,  and his parents were visiting for a month and were from Bursa, Turkey.  The parents, of course, as well as the son, want us to come and visit them, both in Houston and Bursa, typical of Turkish hospitality.  We exchanged phone numbers and they also mentioned their son will be a freshmen at the U. Of Texas, Austin, where Mitch is going, so we got his name as well.  It was a nice way to end our visit at the Arboretum.

Globe Amaranth

A Variety Of Colors And Flowers

On the way home, we needed to pick up food for dinner, so we stopped at Beth's favorite grocery store, Central Market, the equal of any market we've been too, including Wegmans, Fairways, and Stu Leonards.  It had everything, great veggies, meats, breads, coffees, the works and, like Stew Leonards, we wound our way around the store, a one way traffic path. We could not pass up some of the goodies for Chautauqua and spent seventy five bucks on practically nothing.

We then hung out the rest of the afternoon at home, happy to be in an air conditioned house.  I watched Jordan Spieth birdy six holes in the last nine to win the Dean And Delucca Open here in Fort Worth, TX, his hometown. As always, skill, confidence, and some luck play into any golfers success.

Relaxing With Dad

Around 5:30, Beth and Rami went out for dinner and a movie, so Evie, Marisa and I drove up to a neat restaurant/deli called eatZi's Market and Bakery, about five minutes away.  They have all kinds of goodies, from ready made meals, I had the half of chicken with two sides, to salads made to order, Evie, and sandwiches made to order, Marisa.  We then brought our food home and settled down in front of the TV to watch the film JOY, a feel good, Rocky like movie about a women who eventually makes millions on QVC, based on a true story.  Marisa loved it and the film emphasizes how persistence, chutzpah, and creativity are necessary for success even though there are often many speed bumps along the way.  Afterwards, we watched a couple of episodes of Blackish, a fairly new series we have never seen.  It looks like it could be pretty good.  And we ended the night with the very first episode of Seinfeld, available through Hulu Plus.  Just as we were finishing it, Beth and Rami returned from their dinner and movie date, so it was time for bed for everyone.

Slim Pickin' Photo Saturday In Texas, Y'all

Marisa Cosy

Overcast Backyard Morning

It's just 8:00 and not a 'creature is stirring not even a mouse.'  Sorry, wrong holiday.  Anyways, I am sitting here all by my lonesome, on a warm, wet Dallas Sunday.  We decided to stay for the Memorial Day weekend, not wishing to head back to Chautauqua in the holiday traffic.  It looks like rain on and off today which my spoil our plans to visit the Dallas Arboretum today.  We will just have to time it right.

Yesterday we all had the post graduation blues, or so it seemed.  No one wanted to do much, so we sat around the house like a bunch of slugs, occasionally moving to verify our existence.  One of the reasons for our lethargy was that Marisa did not get home from her friend's house until 1:30 and she was tired out from swimming much of the morning, most likely not getting a lot of sleep overnight. So she was happy to just stay home.  The one activity of the day if you would call it that was a trip to the Mall with Ramiro.  Nordstrom's was having their once a year big sale.  Big deal...150 bucks shirts were now only 75 bucks.  Needless to say I looked but did not buy.  While Rami shopped, I got in a mile or two of exercise, walking the mall, looking at the people and stores, thinking about all the malls and people and traffic in the US that were shopping at them on Saturday.  Mind boggling to imagine it.  What else is there to do on a weekend but shop, a kind of therapy for many of us.

Rami was able to find some casual wear for work, as Dallas business is much more casual than his work in New York City where suits were de rigueur.  In Dallas, for the most part, it's jeans and an open collar shirt for work, even with clients.  When we got home, Cody was patiently waiting for me to take him out on a walk, so we did a long one, covering three or four blocks.  I love the way he dances, curls his tail, when I say, 'Do you want to go for a walk?'  Evie got in an hour walk on the treadmill trying to keep up her discipline.

Marisa Flipping Out

The rest of the afternoon, we did little other than play games on the iPad, watch Marisa on the trampoline do her tricks, and I took a great nap.  Both Evie and I actually sat outside for an hour, on Beth's back patio.  It was pleasant with the fans going even with the temperature and high humidity. Rarely have we seen anyone sitting outside at least at this time of year although it's different in the evening at restaurants, like the previous night at The Old Monk.

Slo Mo Back Flip:

Beth and Rami went off to a graduation party around 6:00 with Mitch, and Evie, Marisa and I decided we did not want to go out for dinner, so had a dinner of leftovers, chicken, chips and dip, and cheesecake for dessert and watched a movie together, The Truman Show, which got a mild review from Marisa.  For some reason, the idea of someone orchestrating your life scared her...me too.  I then turned on the NBA game and Evie and Marisa watched some more shows on the TV in the bedroom until it was time for Marisa to go to be.  Beth and Rami were home around 10:00, in time to watch the thrilling second half battle between Golden State and OKC, won eventually by Golden State.  It was a great game to watch

It's now 8:30 and both Evie and Rami are up, waiting for the coffee to brew.  And another day begins in the Lone Star State.

Three Grandsons, Three High School Graduates

Mitchell Graduates

It's 7:00 and for a change, I am the only one up.  We had Mitchell's graduation last night and afterwards, the four of us went out to a cool bar and did not get home till 11:30.  It's overcast again, the Dallas  high will get in the 90's later in the day, just a bit warmer than Chautauqua by the way which is having a warm spell.  The garage door just opened and Mitch walked in from an all night school party at the Dallas Country Club.  I assume he's ready for bed, at least it looked like it.

Yesterday was a get ready for graduation day, and pick up Marisa from school at noon day as it was her last day.  She had her math final and because of the Internet, the teachers all use a digital grade books, so she was able to see she received a 98% on her test within an hour.  So it was an exciting day for both of them.  We had a mostly open morning, just some ironing of clothes for Mitch, making sure we had clean and ironed clothes for rest of  us.

St. Arnold:  Patron Saint of Breweries

I decided to do some exploring, drove to the local strip malls, and picked up a present for Evie from Trader Joe's, a six pack of St Arnold's Lawnmower beer. We had our first taste of it at Hopdoddy's the night before and she loved the name as well as the beer.  I also did some browsing but ended up at the infamous Drip Coffee, where the Housewives of Dallas supposedly did some filming.  As far as I could tell, they were not there so I read my Dallas paper and had a cup of coffee.

Mitchell Relaxing

Marisa At Ease On Her Trampoline

After Marisa came home, we took her out to the California Pizza Kitchen, a five minute drive away. It was filled with kids, families, like us, celebrating the end of school.  All four of us got the pizza and salad or soup special.  It was good pizza I have to admit and Marisa loved her Hawaiian pizza with barbecue sauce and pineapple.  After wards, we did some shoe shopping at DSW but not one of my gals could find a pair they liked.  We were home by 2:00 and did not do much the rest of the afternoon except take Cody for a walk.

Off To Graduation

Around 5:00, Mitch was dressed and ready for his graduation.  We took a picture of the three of us around 5:30 then he was off with friends as they had to be at Southern Methodist University's Moody Coliseum  by 6:00.  Rami dropped Marisa off at a girlfriend's home and picked us up at 6:15 for the drive to the SMU campus.  The campus was crowded with car traffic, parents of the grads but we found a spot in an outdoor lot about five minutes from the coliseum.

Moody Coliseum

When we walked in, we were shocked to see most of the 7000 seats were taken, so we ended up on the top tier of seats, at the opposite end of the stage, with lots of legroom so I was happy.  The seats were as good as any I suppose because they had a huge Jumbletron TV screen hanging from the ceiling so everyone could see the stage and the individuals as they graduated.

The Five Hundred

Mitchell Crossing The Stage

The graduation lasted about three hours, with 500 kids walking across the stage as their name was called.  Three students spoke, as well as three administrators.  The kids, the top two in the class, were better than the adults.  As I sat up watching, I looked around and almost everyone was on a iPhone on and off during the ceremony once their child had walked across stage.  What did we do before iPhones?  Snooze, go home, pay attention. The best part of the process was the beginning, a flute solo by a senior, and the finale, a song by three of the senior girls, with a guitar.  When it was over, we had a difficult time finding Mitch among the 7000 parents and 500 kids but finally located him long enough to take pictures before he took off with buddies to the party.

Hitting The Local Bar Scene

We decided to celebrate Mitch's graduation and did not have to worry about Marisa because she was at a friends, so we hit one of the oldest and still most popular bars in the Dallas neighborhood of Knox Henderson, The Old Monk.  It was hopping when we got there, lots of people sitting outside at tables because it was a warm night and just as we walked in, a table opened up so we were able to get seats, perfect timing.  Our waitress was quick and efficient and we had beers and more amazing fries and a pretzel within 10-15 minutes.  Evie loved both the pretzel and fries which came with three mayos, one with tarragon, one spicy, and one with bourbon.  We liked them all.  The place just kept getting more and more crowded with mostly younger people and it was so loud we could hardly hear each other speak.  It was fun, the beers and food were great, but we were happy to be on our way after an hour.

Happy At Old Monk's

We were home around 11:30, watched some of the Cavs game and had a piece of cheesecake for our dessert.  I then took Cody for his night walk before going up to bed, the end of another busy but fun day in Dallas.

Thunderstorms And A High School Graduation

Ready For Last Day Of School In Her Ryder's Cup Tee Shirt

On Our Way To Mitch's Honor Assembly

It's another cloudy, warm, humid day, with thunderstorms overnight and more predicted on and off during the day.  Fortunately, Mitchell's graduation will be inside the SMU Field House starting at 6:00.  It's also Marisa's last day of school; she takes a math test and will be home by 12:30, to celebrate the end of her seventh grade classes with cheesecake Beth made for her.

Getting Mitch Ready

Yesterday, our morning really started at 9:30 with a drive to Highland Park High School, parking on a street with residence only parking signs.  We were there for the awards ceremony which took just under two hours.  There were two pages of awards which was a major reason for the two hour ceremony, as each award was described, the student's name called out, and we waited then for them to walk up on stage. Mitchell received an award for excellence in Spanish but was ineligible for other academic awards because this was his first year at the school.  Otherwise, he would have received lots of honors because he's our grandson.

Honor's Assembly

A few observations about the student population.  Of 500 students, close to a hundred were honored because they had GPA's above a 4:00.  Amazingly bright kids or grade inflation, most likely some of both. The student body in this affluent Dallas community was amazingly homogeneous, as one would expect.  Most of the award winners were white, with a few Asians, one African American.  They were all well dressed, healthy, and slim. No problems with obesity in this community. Affluence and demographics is all.  Of the top ten in the class, four were Asians, the rest Caucasian, mostly guys.  This, I assume, is typical of most of the affluent community high schools in the States. I don't think there's much of a tradition of sending your child off to a prep school here in Dallas, like it is on the East Coast. So the very best students here in Dallas tend to attend public schools and Highland Park is one of the best.  I did walk the halls in between classes and was surprised by the casualness of dress, shorts, t shirts, flip flops for most of the students. At Robert College and Reserve, I was used to guys in ties and coats, gals similarly dressed.  In fact, I wore a tie and coat to class for most of my forty five years of teaching, a sartorial Luddite in today's classrooms.

Two Pages Of Awards!

We were back by noon, just in time for Marisa who only had a half day of testing.  We had leftovers for lunch, yippee, the vodka pasta with shrimp.  After lunch, Beth and Evie went off shopping to the grocery store, and I stayed home with Marisa.   I fell asleep reading and Marisa was upstairs, watching a show, then taking a shower.  We then took it easy the rest of the afternoon, though Evie worked out on the treadmill for an hour, and I took an hour and a half walk into town, to strip malls where the likes of Trader Joe's and all the restaurants are located.  When I left, Cody went crazy because I was going without him.  So, after my walk and a brief hiatus, I went on another walk to keep Cody happy and healthy.

 Popular Martin Houses In Highland Park Neighborhood

A Happy Girl, A Serious Guy, Siblings, Too

Around 5:00, Beth, Evie and I settled down because it was wine time, enjoyed a quiet hour just talking because Rami was going to pick up a fried chicken dinner at the hot spot in Dallas called Bubba's.  He was home around 6:30 and we all sat down quickly and dug into the fried chicken, beans, cole slaw and fries.  Clearly, everyone was starved and the chicken was top notch, a great crust and moist inside, just the way it should be.  After dinner, we relaxed, played games on iPads until it was time for Marisa to go upstairs to bed.  So we then turned on the NBA game, and Rami, Evie and I watched it to its conclusion.  After a half hour, Beth had enough and went into her bedroom to watch her own shows.  We were upstairs by 10:15, ready to read some and sleep.

One More Day Of School

Happy Hour At Hopdoddy's,

Miracles do happen.  I did not wake until 7:30, just about missing missing Marisa before she headed off to school in her Ryders Cup tee shirt.  It's super humid as I walked outside to take a photo of her in her tee shirt and my lens fogged up.  High of 84º today and humid obviously.  We are going to Mitch's school this morning, to an assembly, the school having called yesterday to say Mitch would be getting an award, probably for the most sociable kid in the school.  Just kidding but he has had an amazingly good senior year despite changing schools.

Evie And Her Sister Jean

Yesterday we did not have a lot of time so we were up, showered and dressed and on the road by 9:30.  It's hard to do, to get up and out early, when you are retired!  We were driving to Denton, TX, in the northern suburbs of Dallas, a forty five mile drive that took us close to an hour.  Evie's sister Jean moved into this adult community called Robson Ranch almost two years ago to be closer to her daughter Jennifer and family.  It was a big change for her as she has lived in Lee's Summit, MO, for the past forty years and still has a house there.  She has a beautiful new house, in a neighborhood of fellow over fifty fivers.  It's a new development so there are lots of new trees but little shade.  The city of Denton, by the way, requires the owner of a new home to plant at least four shade trees on their lot.  We arrived close to 10:30 and it was cool enough to sit out on her patio because of the breeze.  Her house is just the right size, with enough bedrooms in case her daughter's family comes for a visit.

Relaxing At Robson Ranch, Denton, TX

We took a ride around the complex, stopped at the clubhouse where some of her friends were having lunch.  There's a grill/bar also but it was being renovated.  Both are nice places for her if she does not want to cook and a good place to have a glass of wine with friends, or to meet friends.  She belongs to a singles group which has allowed her to meet all kinds of people, sociable like her, and they get together often for wine and appetizers and bridge.  We also stopped at another clubhouse, this one dedicated to the arts.  There are separate rooms for wood working, painting, ceramics, pottery, knitting/quilting, scrapbooking, and photography.  The works of many of the residents were on display and they were amazing.  Lots of talented people have obviously migrated to this community. We were both impressed by the friendliness of everyone we met and we mentioned to one person we were from Western New York and a guy came up ten minutes later, heard we were from there and told us a place where we could locally get beef on wick, chicken wings, and Ted's hot dogs, all favorites from Buffalo.  We had a great lunch at Jean's, shrimp salad, tossed salad and french bread.  It was fun to see Jean and her new home.  We left about 1:45, so that we would miss the rush hour traffic and our GPS took us home a different way from our going.  Strange...perhaps it was reacting to traffic was just being arbitrary.

Home From School

We were home by 3:00, in time there when Marisa arrived home from school.  And when we got home, Cody jumped up from the floor, danced around, happy to see us, hoping I would take him for a walk...which I did despite the heat.  We then sat around, waiting for wine time, at 5:00, as Beth helped Mitch get his clothes organized for an awards assembly tomorrow and graduation on Friday. We went to Marisa's favorite fast food,  a local hot spot, another burger place, an easy drive or a 15 minute walk called Hopdoddy's.  It's famous in Texas, I guess, and is known for it's variety of burgers, especially its fries.  When Evie heard about their fries, it sealed the deal on where we would go for dinner.

#1 Burger Joint In Texas

Waiting For Our Burgers

Hopdoddy's was cool beans, a busy, fun place, an easy and efficient ordering system.  I can see why the lines sometimes wrap around the block.  Fortunately, we were there before 7:00 and it was still happy hour, so we got reduced prices on everything.  I ordered the most expensive burger, the Supreme, with Texas Akaushi Beef, Brie, truffle aioli, arugula, caramelized onions and steak sauce. Not your McDonalds and quite a line up of fixings, to go with great fries, some of the very best Evie's eaten in her recent travels though four states and various burger bars.  The gang ordered various burgers, we shared a couple of large orders of fries, and Evie loved her beer in a fish bowl called Saint Arnold Fancy Lawnmower, a true German style Koisch , appropriate for her reputation as the Lawn Girl.  We were in and out in less than 40 minutes, mostly because Mitch had plans to meet up with his friends.

We sat around till 8:30 watching Shark Tank.  Then, it was time to watch some Cavs as Marisa went upstairs to bed, Beth to her bedroom to watch a show, leaving just Evie and me to watch the game. It was another blow out victory, but this time for the Cavs, a boring game really.

THIRTEEN HOURS: DEON MEYER

Another Meyer novel and I am almost done with all of his books, alas.  In this one, we are once again treated to the veteran detective Bennie Griseell, sober for six months and estranged from his wife. H is is forced to work with and train some of the newer detectives, much to his dismay.  Two are particular interesting and fun, Vusi, eager and willing and the tough minded, by the book Zulu, Mbali Kaleni.  She's a tough cookie for Bennie to swallow but she ends up earning his and our respect.  Like many of his books, there are multiple crimes that need solving, so Bennie first is called to a church yard where a corpse of a young American woman is found. We also follow a young woman named Rachel who is running from bad guys when she discovered her young friend Erin had been killed.

We see South Africa's problems up close, in a police procedural, the old timers like Bennie, the new Black police commissioners, and the mixed bag of new detectives, some white, some colored, some Zulu.  A third murder, a husband,  is also discovered by a washed up but once famous singer, leading us in to the music industry. As Bennie and his fellow detectives try to find Rachel. we begin to see how the crimes connect.  The narrative jumps back and forth between the murders, tension being built by the need to find Rachel as quickly as possible.  Pressure, as always, comes from both the press and above, as solving the case of the American becomes paramount, as the papers have been playing it up, sensationalizing it, bringing in the girls' parents and the American Embassy.  I felt somewhat dizzy and confused at the end but it was worth the ride on a Mayer roller coaster.

Dallas Museum Of Art Yesterday, A Day Trip Denton, TX, Today

Lunch at Dallas Museum Of Art

After School With Marisa

It's 8:30 and I have been up since 6:30.  Rami left for Baltimore already and Beth and Marisa were up soon after he left.  Marisa has two big exams today, so she has an early start.  Evie's up and we are planning a day trip to Denton, TX, about 45 miles away, to visit Evie's sister Jean who moved there a couple of years ago.

Yesterday was an easy morning because Marisa did not have to be at school till 10:00.  So we relaxed with our coffee, I took Cody for a walk, and Beth drove Marisa to school around 9:30.  At 10:45, we took a 15 minute drive, just 4 miles, to downtown Dallas to visit the Dallas Museum of Art.  It's amazing how close the city is to Beth's home.  Traffic downtown was light at this hour, so we easily found the museum and parked in their garage.  It's one of the free art museums in the nation, or so they advertise which is great for the public.  When we got there, we saw the ubiquitous yellow school buses, with the end of the year trip to a museum, just like our visit to the Crystal Bridges Art Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Self Portrait Freida Kahlo

Navajo Blanket. "Dazzling Eyes"

We spent the next four hours enjoying the museum and having lunch.  We spent the first hour in the section on Art of The Americas, mostly from the ancient civilizations of South America and Mexico.  It was fascinating, much of it reminding us of early Greek art. Then on to African and Asian sections before we got to the Modern American, with the likes of Jasper Johns and Edward Hopper.

Hopper's Lighthouse At Cape Elizabeth, Maine

We then had lunch at the Klyde Warren Park, a 5.2 acre park which connects the art district with downtown. It's a green space 'out of thin air' and opened in 2012.

Dallas Food Trucks

Four food trucks were lined up along the edge of it, with lines of people waiting for their food. The park is a long narrow lawn, tree walks on both sides, with tables up and down the walk way, a perfect place to relax, have lunch or a coffee and enjoy the day.  What a great way to spend an afternoon or morning or evening, surrounded by skyscrapers, next to an art museum.

Early Piet Mondrian

Late Mondrian, A Radical Shift In Style

Afterwards, we finished our viewing with European art, the Impressionists, a special exhibit with a Vermeer and my favorite, two exhibits, one a bequest to the museum of paintings by a Dallas art patron, many of the them early 20th century Europeans like Edward Munch.  And my favorite was the paintings from the estate Wendy and Emery Reeves, from their villa on the French Rivera.  Three of their rooms were recreated, with their paintings from Renoir, Cezanne, Monet and the likes.  It was a great way to end our visit.

Vermeer's Lady At A Piano

Self Portrait By Winston Churchill in Reeves Collection

We left just after 3:00 and were on time to pick up Marisa from her school at 3:25.  We then spent the rest of the afternoon at home. Marisa was starved when she got home, so with Evie's help, she made her typical smoothie, with only one mistake, as you can see below.

Art By Marisa? 

Splattered Smoothie 

After cleaning up the mess, Marisa and Evie went over some of Marisa's notes on Texas history while Beth put together her special vodka and shrimp pasta dish for dinner.  Once it was made, we relaxed with a glass of wine and Evie's favorite cheese, St. Andre.  Dinner was restaurant quality, shrimp with an amazing vodka pasta sauce, salad, fresh bread and a glass of red wine.  I limited myself to two helpings.  We watched some Modern Family with Marisa until it was time for bed.  Then, we watched Oklahoma rout Golden State once again in the NBA playoffs.  Evie and Beth are awfully good about letting me watch the games even though they have little interest in them.  I ended the night as I have the past few nights, with a night walk with Cody.