The idea was that we all needed to get away….and hang out together….it was awesome! The house was built in 1897 and was perfect. Weekend highlights included great stories, card games (a sneaky scrabble game – no, I am not holding a grudge….really!), eggs benedict as only my dad can do it, and a lot of laughter….it was awesome!!!
-
-
-
-
The De Young has a sculpture done Al Farrow – The Spine and Tooth of Santo Guerro. He uses gun parts, bullets, human bone amongst other things to create his reliquaries. It is an amazing sculpture – violence, death, destruction are it's foundations even though these things violate the core principals of what the Christian church is suppose to imbue (he has done others of mosques and synagogues with the same effect).
By making something so beautiful (if viewed from afar) and something so cold and echoing of violence (up close) this particular reliquary manages to convey the hypocrisy of religion – it is hard to argue against the interconnect between religion and war/violence/intolerance. The hanging sculpture behind also was a nice commentary on religion and violence – it is created from the charred remains of a Montgomery church that was turned into a suspended square. -
This is seriously one of my favorite places in the city. It's not just the art – it is the space both inside and out and how the art is presented that makes this place…
The most interesting part of the visit was seeing the Malian pieces again – after spending time in Mali I had a whole new appreciation for pieces I would have passed without much thought previously.Here are some of the pics from the day. -
Bebenhausen Monastery is a very well-preserved, 12th-century Cistercian monastery near Tübingen, Germany and a great place to spend an afternoon – thanks again Geli for rescuing me from the hotel.
The audio tour left a bit to be desired but the winter and summer refectories, monastic cells, and the building surrounds more than made up for it.Bonus photo: 10 points for guessing who this famous, controversial German Green Party politician is…he just happened to be at Bebenhausen when we were. -
As luck, serendipity, or good karma would have it, some great family friends (we have known them for 30 years) just happened to be in the same area of Germany we were at the same time!!
Sommer is mounting a production for the summer festival in Schwabish Hall and her mom had flown from California for a few weeks to spend time with Sommer and her son. I was even able to meet Alexander, Sommer's partner, when he surprised his family by dropping in from Berlin.It was an incredible gift to be able to spend time with them – we just fell into conversations about everything like no time had passed. -

























































