daytrippers

It's "midwinter break," which means, when your partner is a part-time teacher, you get this weird bonus vacation that, to other (better paid, more gainfully employed) teachers is merely a long weekend. In your face, full-time teachers! With all that extra money you're making, you could go to Mexico or something! Too bad you don't have the time!

To celebrate, we decided to take a little day trip to Seattle, to visit my favorite within-driving-distance art museum: The Frye. In my opinion, SAM  is great and all, but it's so expansive, expensive and a little sterile. I like my museums with worn-in rugs and crazy amazing conversation couches. Oh, and free. The Frye is free to anyone and everyone, all the time, as stipulated by the Fryes who so graciously left their art collection to the public of Seattle. The paintings in the permanent collection are hung salon style: beautiful and cluttery and almost encroaching on one another, but not quite. I love it there.

We're all sick (again) and a little crabby, but it was nice to be out in the world, showing George some of my favorite paintings and watching him relate to the art in his own way. The Frye family were in the cattle ranching business, so they had a lot of cow paintings in their collection. This worked out beautifully for the boy who loves to moo (or, brroo, as the case may be). I hope as he gets older he finds different pieces interesting and beautiful, scary, sad, and that I encourage him to discuss them without getting in the way of his thoughts. As we left, I regretted a little being so persistent in pointing out every. single. cow. But I look forward to the time when he can steer us in and out of the galleries, pausing where his eye catches -- that is, if anything catches his eye.

It's the good thing about free museums, after all. You can walk in,

And right back out, if you want.  

(No, George is not walking. He took one step and gingerly lowered himself to the floor, as he, like his mother, enjoys being an expert at things before he tries them.)