When I told my beloved sister in law, Joyce, that I would be able to come for a long weekend, she asked what I wanted to do!  Well, most of all I wanted to be with Joyce and meet her friends, but I thought…hmmm…How about the Getty?   I’ve been inspired by photos of the Getty on my friend Deborah’s blog (see here for her pics) and some photos of the Getty in Lura Schwarz Smith’s fabulous book, Secrets of Digital Quilting, From Camera to Quilt (click here to go to Lura’s website, the title links to the book on Amazon or buy an autographed copy from Lura here).  Well…get ready folks.   I seriously shortened my list of photos…and I still have over 30 to share!  So I’m going to break this up into several posts….

The photo above is walking up to the top of the hill to the galleries from the main entrance.   To back up a bit, admission is free, but parking isn’t.  You must park at the bottom of this tall hill that looks out to the Pacific Ocean, then take one of the frequent trams up the hillside. The sheltered-from-the-elements space is carefully designed to move MANY people efficiently.  Here, the maze of waiting lines:

I loved this view of the blue skies through the trees…even the leftover bits from the ivy or clinging vine on the wall seems like art…

And on the tram (blurred the faces since I have NO idea who these people are and can’t ask permission to include their faces!)

Then you see this incredible statue of a swimmer by Aristide Maillol (one of my FAVORITE European sculptors…late 19th c.):

Here is Joyce at the start of our time (before we got pooped and sore feet!) on the way to see the Leonardo exhibit:

The buildings themselves, by architect Richard Meier, are a work of art, and the landscape is another work of art (more on that in a future post).  My breath is simply taken away by the stunning lines, curves, shapes, the subtle play of the smooth- and rough-faced stone, the perfect pairing of the color of the stone with the blue of the sky and the green of the trees:

And a better photo (tho gives less of a feel for the grounds):

And more:

Even the white interior balconies, railings and skylights were stunning in their simplicity and line:

And of course the color and contrast in the tables outside–you could buy food there or bring your own and eat in the shade of the umbrellas–love the lines and circles and stripes and shadows and the one blue bottle cap on the chair seat….

WOW!  Wait till you see the next photos….

The Leonardo Exhibit, by the way, was phenomenal.  Because these works were on loan, photography was not allowed, but I saw ACTUAL journal pages, in sepia ink by the master himself and…drumroll..one was of a DRAGON!   He liked dragons, too!!!!!!   To think, those pages are over 500 years old, and the lines made were made by Leonardo himself…. utterly mind-blowing!

When noodling around the internet, the hubster found (or already knew about) Sunset Crater, which is a volcanic ash field between Flagstaff and Monument Valley on the Arizona/Utah border.   While I was in Flagstaff waiting for Paul and the boys to arrive, I noodled around on the internet and found out about the Wupatki Ruins (in a subsequent post).  As luck would have it, both Sunset Crater AND the Wupatki Ruins are on the same loop road off the main highway from Flagstaff to Monument Valley.  SO, on the way back to Flagstaff, guess where we went?

This is a different view of Arizona than what typically comes to mind (the saguaro cactus and desserts):  mountainous, cooler, still dry air, snow even in April, skiing in the San Francisco mountains behind (north of) Flagstaff.  And it is GORGEOUS!

There was a nice trail (thanks to the National Park Service and the cash-strapped Arizona State Park system) to follow–look at all of the black volcanic ash as ground:

There were several downed trees, and we wondered about the spiraling grain/growth pattern.  Before too long there was a sign that explained that trees with spiraling grain sway better in the wind, and so stand a better chance of surviving the windy storms.  Fascinating! Plus the bark makes really cool patterns…again, thinking quilting designs:

And volcanic rock:

And SCREAMING BLUE skies:

The requisite “if it is Sarah taking the pictures, there must be a photo looking through tree branches”–again, fodder for quilting designs:

And more fodder in the gnarly roots and bug-nibbled wood:

It turned out we had a bit of extra time that day.   MANY folks had told us how wonderful Sedona is, and we hadn’t realized it is a short half hour south and smidge west of Flagstaff.  So down we went.  Hmmm…   the surrounding area was gorgeous, and I’ll bet if you went out of town, it would be wonderful (Red Rocks is near there).  But the town itself?  Ick.   Serious tourist schlock and stores and junk wall-to-wall on the main streets.  All four of us took one look, said let’s eat lunch and leave!   At least the drive down was nice:

We were treated to a spectacular Arizona sunset while staying at Monument Valley, and an almost as wonderful sunrise.  These photos were taken from The View Hotel, third floor–and note, reservations are ESSENTIAL…book EARLY.  These photos are taken (duh) looking West, over the parking lot…in the first photo you can barely spot the glimmer of a car up and to the left of the (c) symbol:

And sunrise, looking (duh) to the  East over Monument Valley:

(Notice the photographers set up on the stairs, on the left, by the restaurant…the best spot to get the classic shot of both “mittens” which you can see in this photo, above.)

OH do these photos make me want to play with cloth and dyes!

Well…I’m only 2+ months behind on some blogging!  I’ve been busy on the road teaching in Arizona, Massahusetts and Ohio (at the NQA show!), and then Knoxville (AQS), TN, in July!   But I am trying to get caught up and share some of the lovely things I saw while on our family vacation after teaching in Arizona for the statewide quilt guild. Here is what the Grand Canyon looked like when we arrived at the South Rim in late April:

Notice that dark cloud on the horizon, especially to the left…well, it moved fast!  The following sequence of photos was taken as we walked along the rim…took all of 40 minutes.  We went from overcast:

Notice the cheerful (sigh…) family…woefully underdressed for the weather we were about to encounter:

All I can say is THANK HEAVENS the boys got this glimpse…even the jaded teenager went “WHOA!!!!!!” on first looking over the railing/wall!

To mist moving into the canyon about (literally) two minutes later:

Then looking down into the canyon:

And watching the veils of mist and snow and rain and shafts of sunlight–it was actually pretty cool to see this, as opposed to screaming blue skies and sunshine typical of summer:

To rain:

To clouds down in the canyon:

And the markers explaining the stone layers that you see:

And drifting cloud wisps–you can see the snow gathering on the north rim:

Then the north rim disappeared:

To SNOW…a late spring snowstorm.

To WhiteOut:

On the drive back to Flagstaff, cars on the Interstate highway had slowed to 25 miles an hour the road conditions were so slippery!  So before we got on the road, we went into the big old inn for some hot food.  I loved the table setting:

Those of you who live in the US probably heard about the torrential rains in the Northeast last weekend (and how different from the glorious, summery day yesterday!)–Rhode Island had serious flooding.  It wasn’t as dire up here, but we sure had some serious rushing water!  That meant everyone in love with their camera, including me, was out taking pictures.  Here is where the (relatively small) Megunticook River was roaring down the falls into Camden Harbor:

I was so pleased at my camera’s ability to capture the drops of spray:

The docks are still out of the water from winter, so snapped a few abstracts, too:

And then upriver, by the old mill complex….  After the woolen industry tanked up here in Maine, there were abandoned mill buildings across the state.  Some have been converted into artists studios, commercials spaces, and business depending on the town.  The credit card conglomerate MBNA (which got gobbled up by Bank of America a number of years ago) was actually based here in Camden, and they did a beautiful renovation of the buildings, including adding this footbridge from one building to another over a small falls on the way into downtown.  The bridge I stood on (for cars) is on Knowlton Street, just down from the middle school:

I tried and for the first time on digital (as opposed to film) camera, was able to capture the feel of rushing water.

The ones where you can see every detail were shot at either 1/500 or 1/1000 of a second shutter speed.  The ones where the trees are in focus but the water is racing past were shot at either 1/40 or 1/20 of a second (camera propped on railing in lieu of a tripod).  I love seeing the difference and feeling the speed of the river: