Christmas cake

Wednesday
Today was definitely a day for indoor activities - it threw it down with rain all day from about 9 in the morning till 9 at night! Fortunately, Jen had really been doing her 'homework' searching the internet for things to do and see while we were there, so she had several things lined up. First, we went to the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, which had a special exhibit on, CraftTexas 2010, a juried exhibition showcasing the best in Texas-made contemporary craft. The exhibition featured artists from all over the state who work in clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood and found/recycled materials. There was a remarkably wide range of items, and it was interesting to read about the different artists and what they had to say about their work. Next, we visited the Byzantine Fresco Museum, part of the Menil Collection, then finally the nearby Rothko Chapel, also part of the Menil Collection. The Rothko Chapel, founded by Houston philanthropists John and Dominique de Menil, was dedicated in 1971 "as an intimate sanctuary available to people of every belief". It is supposed to be a tranquil meditative environment inspired by the mural canvases of Russian born American painter Mark Rothko (1903-1970), and apparently attracts people from around the world, but I have to admit it just left me cold. The canvases of Rothko to my eyes were just plain black panels, though admittedly if you looked hard enough one of them had a border of very deep purple, almost black, and another had a dark brown layer across the bottom. But they left me totally uninspired. Outside on the plaza, there is a reflecting pool and a sculpture, Broken Obelisk, in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which I'm sure would be quite attractive on a nice day, but since it was throwing it down with rain we just ran past it back to the car! One girl though seemed to find it inspiring, as she was sitting cross-legged in a meditative pose by the reflecting pool in the pouring rain! In our absence, Jason had been grocery shopping and prepared our lunch which was delicious. Then we all went out to the Natural History Museum to see the 3-D IMAX movie, Wild Ocean, which documents the feeding frenzy which takes place in the oceans of South Africa as billions of sardines migrate up the KwaZulu-Natal Coast. It captures spectacular breaching whales, feeding sharks, diving gannets, and penguins on the giant screen and describes how the migration has provided an annual food source for both life in the sea and the people living along the African shores for countless generations. In the evening we went to the Alley Theater to see SantaLand Diaries, by American contemporary writer and humorist, David Sedaris. Philip finally arrived just in time to go with us. Afterwards, we opened presents and cut the Christmas cake, which I had saved until we were all together. A full, and very enjoyable day!