Taking the Scenic Route

The weekend was good. On Saturday we pulled out the gifts for the kids from the luggage: Some Haba Fantasy Blocks for Zane and a selection of Haba Play Food for Zora, and chocolate for both. They both were happy, but probably happier to see us than the toys.

We also discovered a picture Zane drew at some point while we were gone. It is from an old kid’s Carraba’s menu.  He drew a maze with a cartoon under it.

The notable thing on this is that he wrote “my ball” (in the blue crayon) and made some variations to the drawings to make his own cartoon. He smiled a big smile when we found it and commented on it.

Sunday evening my folks came up so we could take them out for a thank you dinner at Carabbas and give them some chocolate and mom’s traditional coffee mug. (a tradition started when I was young…I always pick mom up a coffee mug as a souvenier whenever I go someplace).

They brought up the chalkboard they had bought from an auction at the church. It was from one of the Sunday School classrooms and probably older than all of us, but most importantly, real slate. It was mongo heavy. Dad and Zach worked for an hour or two trying to get it hung downstairs in the room I plan to use as a classroom for Zane. (will allow school stuff to be in it’s own area, just off the playroom). We still have a ways to go with the room (plan on getting a bunch of cheapo bookcases to line one wall for supplies and books, and a table). We have chairs already, also from the same church auction and ones I probably sat on throughout my own childhood.

On Monday we went to the school supply store to get some good chalk and a felt eraser for the board, and Monday evening, Zach was showing Zane the chalkboard and Zane talked him into drawing Mario stuff on the board. He kept bringing him different games and wanted Zach to draw them on the board, and would then go through and explain who each character was to Zach. It was a neat interaction.

Always getting in the middle of the action….

One thing I noticed right away is that the chalk sounded “right” on the board to me.  It didn’t set my teeth on edge like a lot of chalkboards do.  I had to laugh a bit at my on sensory issue that I forgot existed.

Some more amazing architecture

There was an archelogical dig of an ancient Roman site and an old Synogogue.  It was closed, but surrounded by a glass enclosure.  Too reflective to take a picture, but we stood there for a while and looked in.  As we walked away from it, we traveled down this old Roman road that had been uncovered by the archeologists.
 

Another pass through the Plaza around the Cathedral

This time we had time to linger in the plaza and soak in the sights a bit more.  The pictures start at the other side of the Cathedral from our first set of pictures.

Kölner Dom bells sounding…

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

This guy was in the middle of the plaza, at the front of the Cathedral, playng piano.  Earlier, when we were being driven around the surrounding areas we saw a similar type set up on an island in the middle of the street, but couldn’t grab the camera in time to snap a picture.

Sidewalk Chalk artists.  (notice the doggy companion in the suitcase)

Front doors

We think these are cabs, but not sure.  These little bicycle things were all over though.

Living Statues and Street performers

Random Silliness as we left the plaza.  First, a group of guys enthusiastically chanting as they crossed the plaza, second, a bunch of drunk guys chanting as they opened beer.  lol.

Irony: The Art Museum is one of the only places there are no pictures of.

We truncated short our visit to the Cathedral so that we could get to the Art Museum. We walked to the nearest Museum from the Cathedral, but upon entering, it was obviously the Modern museum. I knew the German-Roman Museum next to it wasn’t where we wanted to either, so asked the guy at the desk, who directed us to the other museum, another 5 minute walk. We booked it as fast as our legs could carry us, despite the blisters starting to really flare on my feet. We got to the museum we wanted, with only 40 minutes to go through the museum. An impossible task, but I knew I might not get a second chance, so we paid the admission and started on the top floor, where the impressionist where, and worked my way down to the first floor, where the earliest works were.

It was, honestly, some of the best 40 minutes of my life. I was so overwhelmed I was wiping back tears as I stood there seeing the paint strokes, the areas with thicker paint, seeing where a brush was lifted, where paint was applied with multiple colors on the brush, and seeing the full masterpieces instead of just the pictures on the pages of my Art books. We saw sculptures of Degas and Rogin, sketches and paintings of Rembrant, and I stood in front of an enourmous water lily painting by Monet. Many of the paintings, including the Monet and Rubens, were out in the open so that you could get up close to them and really see the paint, see the texture of it. If you wanted to, and there were no guards watching, you could have touched them, I mean, you probably wouldn’t want to touch the actual paint, but you could probably touch the canvas if you were overwhelmed and not thinking clearly. Of course there were guards next to the Rubens. There were so many names and painting I was so familiar with, both famouse and not as well known, and it was almost shocking to see them in real life.

We made it down to the first floor, those old Christian Iconic art that was, honestly, something I just “got through” when studying art. It never really held my interest when studying it, and the only images that really stuck in my brain where the ones Monty Python used in his shows. Much to my shock, those pictures had a life in them I never imagined. What looks flat and not particularly intersting in a book, jumps out at you in stunning life when you see them. The gold appeared to be painted with actual gold, so that as you moved, the color subtly shifts. The details really pop, the faces look smooth and photographic almost. I was really taken aback by work that I had so iritably dismissed for so many years.

When the call came over the speakers that the museum would close in 15 minutes, the only thing that pulled me away from them was my desire to look at some of the Rubens again. There were about 3 of them there that had really captured me…huge, enourmouse paintings. Much bigger than I had ever imagined them to be. I stood there and just absorbed them in the short time we had left.

It would take me a week to really, truly, “look” at all the paintings and sculpture. I wish I would have the time, but I am so thankful we just went for it, even at the unmerciful pace. It is a life changing experience to see paintings like that. (at least for me it was. So many years of studying art and it all seemed worth it in those 40 minutes)

(the last installation today)

Zora drew a “Bee” in sidewalk chalk yesterday. The wing is the blue part. Apparently there are eyes in there someplace too (she pointed them out), but I can’t remember where…someplace on the left side.

This afternoon she was “helping” me and I just thought I would share the cuteness

“Zora, don’t touch” (apparently she thought that if I was looking through the camera I couldn’t see what she was doing. stinker)

And, this evening, artiste at work

“tree”

“balloon”

“Zane in bath”

Zane made a tie dye shirt his first day. I saw them making them in one of the news videos, it looks like they folded them up and then sprayed them with paint/dye of some kind.

When I picked him up, this is not the shirt he had. He brought home a shirt that said “Zach” on it and he wanted dh to put it on because it was “for daddy”. Zach decreed there would be no more using of his first name in front of the kids. lol. Zora already calls him “Zach” more times than she calls him “Daddy” and now this. (suddenly grandparents referring to each other as “mother” and “father” made a lot more sense). As it turns out, it wasn’t Zane’s shirt, it was another kid’s (named Zach) shirt. We took it back and retrieved the correct one.

the front

the back

He made the flower pot. Don’t know what the tokens are for, but they are important to him.

This was one of my favorite things he brought home. They are “emotion sculptures”. When I picked him up one of the counselors (actually, she was the OT that was the initial person to evaluate him for services years ago) excitedly told me that on the first sculpture he initially had a rather blank/frowny face, but after he finished it he looked at it really hard, then changed the mouth to be smiling. Very Cool!

I asked him what emotion/feeling they were and he told me this one is “Happy”

And a close up of the face he worked so hard on…

This one feels “nothing”. (which could mean, literally, nothing, or it could be that he just didn’t have the words to really describe it how he wanted to)

And this one feels “happy” again.

Zora made this. The reason it looks so beat up is because she keeps carrying it around with her.

I helped Zane make the basket. He understood how to do it, but didn’t have the fine motor skills to really do it well. He directed me when he wasn’t doing it.

The woven mat Zane did totally on his own. Very cool craft for him.

This one they did together when Zane’s partner was out sick. They used bubble wrap as a paintbrush. Zane did the green part, Zora did the blue & yellow part.

Our biggest problem with this one was trying to keep Zora from eating it. The neat thing about this one is that he specifically requested “googly eyes” for it. lol.

The picture frame he made the last day

A snake Zane made from our Habitat book. (self initiated)

These are the pieces they made with Grandma at Steve & Joy’s shop. They had to be fired before we could enjoy them at home.

Zora’s um, creation…butterfly maybe?

Zane’s Maze

Zane’s Mushroom (from Super Mario)

 We had to go to Mac today to pick up Zach after work because he had to drop off the company car today.  After we picked him up, we went to Joy’s store (she wasn’t there, still recovering) and saw my mom and Steve.  Mom/Grandma helped the kids paint some pottery (will be fired later), then we grabbed a bucket of chicken and went out to the park for a picnic.

My budding artist, obsessed with faces.  “eye, eye, mfff”

With her own sense of fashion

Zane at Hippotherapy today, outside for the first time