stoutfellow

I have something like a hundred different backgrounds on my desktop computer, and the two monitors cycle through them randomly and independently. The one on my left monitor just brought the following story to mind.

In the summer of 1980, I spent two months touristing in France and Italy, one month in each. In France I wandered a lot, not spending too much time in any one place (except, of course, Paris). In Italy, I spent roughly a week each in Rome, Florence, Venice, and Milan, with side trips to several other places. Now, Venice was (and I assume is) more expensive than the other cities, and I had a Eurail Pass, so I decided to book a hotel room in Padua and take the train to and from Venice every day. By day six, I'd seen pretty much everything I wanted to see in Venice, so I checked the guidebook to see if there was anything in Padua worth seeing.

I spent a week in Padua, and almost left without seeing the Giotto frescoes.

They are gorgeous, seen in their full size and their proper place, and I almost missed them.

I have one of them as a background - the one with the dead Jesus in Mary's lap, surrounded by weeping disciples and angels (well, putti) - and that picture is currently on my left monitor.

One of these days, I'll visit Europe again. There's a lot that I haven't seen.

I like Edward Gorey. I was introduced to his work when Lois McMaster Bujold recommended his "The Unstrung Harp" on the LMB mailing list. I read it, enjoyed it, and have kept an eye out for more ever since.

My sister E knows this, and for each of the last several years she has given me a Gorey-illustrated calendar. Just now, I took a closer look at the May illustration. This is not always a safe action.

"Hmm. That woman appears to be floating in midair, and she's pulling... yes, that's a baby she's removing from that enormous vase. Are those giant frogs painted on the vase, or are they inside it? *Where did that baby come from, precisely?*"

(That's only one of seven or eight scenes visible. Is the woman just outside the window actually going to throw that child? What is it that's been keeping the morose fellow in the chair up all night, making his eyes so baggy? Does it have anything to do with the man lying on his face nearby and beating the floor with his fists? What are those men arguing so passionately about? What is it that has so revolted the lady on the right, and why is that child - not the one being thrown - allowed in this disturbing venue?)

(I love it.)

It's been a while since I ordered anything from Amazon, but I put in a new order last week, and a box-o-books arrived today. In it:

The Science of Art: optical themes in western art from Brunelleschi to Seurat, by Martin Kemp; recommended - or at least mentioned - on the Bujold list by LMB herself.

Capital in the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Piketty; it's been a hot topic on the political blogs I read for quite some time. It's definitely a tome, but should be interesting.

Math Girls, by Hiroshi Yuki; it's described as "[c]ombining mathematical rigor with light romance".

The Secret Life of Pronouns, by James Pennebaker, which is apparently about discoveries from the relatively new field of corpus linguistics in the computer age.

Homelands, by Bill Willingham, the next volume (5? I don't recall) in his "Fables" series of graphic novels.

I also picked up electronic copies of some SF/F - Through Struggle, the Stars by John Lumpkin, New Amsterdam #1 by Elizabeth Bear, The Disappeared by Kristine Kathryn Rusch - and also Wizard of the Crow, by Ngugi Wa'Thiong'O. (I'm not sure where I ran across that last one or how it got on my to-get list, but it does look intriguing.)

I'll probably start with Homelands; it's probably the lightest thing I bought.

It occurred to me yesterday that there really aren't very many decorative objects in my house. In the living areas, much, perhaps most, of the wall space is taken up by bookcases; in the kitchen, by cabinets; in the dining room, a large bay window. But what I do have, I have, and will discuss under the cut.

( Decorations )

There's a painting that just popped into my mind's eye that I can't identify. I may have seen the original, but more likely I've just seen a print in a book. I think it was painted sometime between 1930 and 1960 in the US; only one of my references here covers that period, and that painting isn't in it. I'm hoping someone can help me ID it.

The painting depicts a diner at night, from outside; the diner is well-lit against the surrounding darkness (there may be a streetlamp, but nothing else), and there are a number of well-dressed (in '30s or '40s clothing, if I recall correctly) patrons. I'm not sure whether there are tables; as I visualize it, the patrons are mostly seated on stools at the counter.

Does that description ring a bell for anyone?