Saturday Photo...

 ...and others.

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by PAM

'Impressionism Corner'

A few weeks ago, I decided to do something at the landing of our stairs.  We have a pot of the prettily green Ming Aralia, which came from a bunch in our home #1.  The original plant was plucked by my sister from a bouquet that was given to me by my students back in 2019, and she stuck it in a pot full of moist soil.  Before we knew it, the Ming Aralia was thriving.  Recently, my sister cut a branch and nurtured it to health, and she brought it to home #2.  Since then, I have been caring for it, and I am, indeed, very happy to see it thriving.  To make sure that my Ming Aralia is catching sunlight indirectly with medium temperature, I placed it at our stairs landing, underneath a big window.  Evidently, the plant liked it there.  

A riot of colors!

One day, I was rummaging through the boxes from my old office.  I found a framed picture that was hanging on a wall in my old office.  I remember, I chanced upon the framed picture in an "everything-must-go sale" in a popular shopping center. Naturally, I bought it.  It is a framed reproduction of one of Van Gogh's most popular still life: "Irises".  The frame was a metal painted in gold, which matches the frames of flower arts, which my sister and I purchased at the National Palace Museum in Taiwan during our last visit.  So, I decided to bring home the framed picture rather than transferring it in my current office.  I was intending to hang the picture with the two framed flower arts but the measurements were not matching.  So, I decided to just put the Irises close to the pot of Ming Aralia... and it worked.  They looked like they were 'made for each other'.

  

In the past days, the new batch of Cosmos sulphureus plants at our backyard have been rioting with so much colorful flowers, and they look incredibly joyful.  I wanted to bring the colors inside the house.  I realized that I have three vases that I 'hoarded' from Ikea a few months ago.  So, I put two stemmed Cosmos sulphureus flowers in each vase, and arranged them beside the Irises.  And yes, it worked, too - very pretty!

Also, a week ago, I visited the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) with my younger sister who is based in Boise, ID with her husband.  I attended a Conference in Dallas, TX, and I had a few hours before returning to the Philippines.  My sister flew to Dallas to get-together, and we hurriedly explored the Arts District of Dallas, and a small slice of the Reunion District through the Reunion Tower.  Of course, we visited the DMA... and, of course, we spent the longest part of our visit in the European Art section.  Naturally, we focused a lot on Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.  To name a few, we saw a number of Monet, Renoir, Cézanne and Van Gogh.  As a way to remember our visit, we bought a few mementoes.  One of these is a small metal tray featuring Monet's "Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies", which, not to mislead, was not part of the DMA collection.  Upon reaching our home #2, I tried putting the tray beside the Ming Aralia and the Irises.   Yep, it worked!  Very pretty, indeed!      

My sister cautioned me to climb the stairs slowly lest I inadvertently kick the items in our "Impressionism Corner".  I said no need to worry because, with such beautiful pieces, one would really be compelled to slow down while climbing up or down the stairs to admire the pieces.  In fact, that's exactly why I decided to have an Impressionism Corner on the stairs landing... to force us to be careful when navigating the stairs.  After all, we are not getting any younger, and twisted ankles or broken hips should be crossed out of our old age experiences. 😜🙏 

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Image credit:  All photos featured in this post belongs to me.  I took them all, and I minimally processed them.  They may not be used elsewhere.

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