Judy P's Tickle Trunk

Mom’s red coat arrives in Massachusetts

On we go to Boston in search of warm weather and spring. We left Maine on icy roads lined by arches of birch saplings bent over and frozen to the ground like they were recognizing and paying respect to our quest. Spring. I think not yet.

We didn’t actually stay in Boston but in Waltham. I had coincidentally first heard of Waltham only a couple of weeks before in a 30 Rock episode which is famous for the quote “I’m going to drive to Waltham Massachusetts, break into a woman’s house, and erase a potentially embarrassing and destructive answering machine message. The home in question has a doggie door…” and for Julianne Moore doing the worst Boston accent in living history. I digress. We arrived in Waltham to find a smattering of tiny white snowdrops blooming in the otherwise dormant lawn and enough afternoon sun to sit outside in short sleeves but only if your chair was placed in just the right spot. There was a hibiscus in bloom, but that didn’t count because it was indoors where it over-wintered.

Hibiscus in captivity.

The highlight of our Boston trip (besides being accommodated and wined and dined with old friends by our wonderful hosts) was the Museum of Fine Arts. The lowlight of the trip was parking in Boston. It was now April Fools Day, a day in which I inadvertently locked myself inside  the house. Once that episode was resolved we puttered off to see the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum, famous for its art and almost as famous for the art it doesn’t have – it had Vermeer and Rembrandt paintings stolen in 1990. The paintings were never recovered. Anyhow, we drove in to the city, stuffed a parking meter and, with great anticipation, approached the entrance. I tugged on the door. Of course, April fools, I need to push instead of pull. No joy. I tried lifting and then brute force. Nope. Lance read the sign. Closed on Tuesdays. Grrrr. What place in the world is closed on a Tuesday? Just our luck. We proceeded from there to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts where we weren’t disappointed. Except by the parking, which cost us $27, more than the cost of admission. For two. It’s a good thing we didn’t discover that until we were leaving or we might have missed the experience altogether.

The MFA really does have a fine collection. I revelled in the display of John Singer Sargent’s work and was introduced to Chase and the stained glass of Lafarge. The Egyptian display was wonderful and the best I have seen so far. (Which doesn’t say too much, I suppose, having only been in a handful of world class museums).  Here are some highlights from the galleries:

Detail of Cezanne painting

The following is a terrible photo but I took it, as I often do, to remind myself of what to look up when I got home rather than to be a great picture.

Still Life – Fish by William Merritt Chase

brick mosaic

Lafarge stained glass

Detail from a Sargent painting

Aah, Mary Cassatt, one of my favourite painters.

The Egyptians buried their dead in an elaborate series of sarcophagi reminiscent of matryoshka dolls.

Seems the Japanese were into the Muppets centuries before we ever heard of them. These large panels, entitled Dragon and Clouds, were painted by Shohaku in 1763.

I took many more photos than this handful but these represent my favourites. Although the city of Boston is a very pretty I didn’t get too many photos. Here’s a couple:

Canada geese are as common as concrete in Boston, and are considered a great nuisance.

Doorway detail of Boston building.

I could have spent a lot more time wandering around the city on foot, admiring the architecture and getting a feel for the real city, but spring was out there somewhere, waiting to be found. Perhaps my time spent at MFA admiring Ganesha, the Hindu God who is known to be a remover of obstacles, would assist us in finding it.

Lord Ganesha at MFA

© Judy Parsons 2014