Wednesday, January 08, 2020

MAC and DICKS: a Great Escape












It was just what the head doctor ordered.

Bill and I escaped the ice, the mush, the rain and the snow for about six hours yesterday. 

We drove to Spokane to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Museum of Arts and Culture aka the MAC.

An exhibit marking the upcoming 40th anniversary of the Mt. St. Helens eruption has also opened at the museum.

In addition, we strolled through exhibits about textiles and plateau Native American artists inspired by their grandmothers.

Two hours of walking past explanations, images and examples in these exhibitions satisfied our quest for learning something new about something old.

Plus, the experience took us far away from the weather-caused misery at the Lovestead. 

BTW:  both the Rockwell and the plateau art exhibits close Jan. 12. 

Drenching rain turned to dry clouds and even a little sunshine almost immediately after we turned on to I-90 and headed west. 

Once we arrived at the museum, we shed outer garments.  My only regret was not bringing along a pair of shoes to wear instead of my boots. 

That was okay cuz I knew I'd have to change into the boots once we arrived back home. 

I'll let the pictures do the talking about a portion what we saw during yesterday's visit. 

No photos were allowed at the Norman Rockwell show, which provided an ample assortment of his works, including dozens of Saturday Evening Post magazine covers. 

Loved the stories in his works and especially appreciated learning the fact that the artist did see and empathized with the other side of life not portrayed in most of his paintings. 

He eventually turned away from the Post and the "Hallmark/life is all perfect for a certain segment of the population" and created some powerful pictorial stories about racism in America.

After the Rockwell exhibit, we enjoyed our individual memories of the day Mt. St. Helens blew.  Bill and I both agreed that we were disappointed not to see my cousin's National Geographic cover photo included in the collection. 

The late Doug Miller, from Ephrata, Wash., who was married to my cousin Madalyn captured a dramatic image, seen below, the afternoon of the eruption.  

I'm thinking of maybe contacting the museum and seeing if they could add this to the collection, since the actual anniversary is months off. 

Seems like it would fit nicely among the other features that help onlookers remember and understand the event. 

Bill and I added to our fun escape by stopping at DICKS hamburgers for our usual fish and chips for him and double Whammy/chocolate shake for me.

No matter how many times I post a photo of DICKS on Facebook, the followers come out with their individual stories of experiences at DICKS.

Heck, maybe the MAC should create an exhibit chronicling the diverse following the iconic Spokane burger joint has enjoyed over the years. 

Some rich history and good food for sure. 

I can see it now:  a double Whammy in a display case. 

By the time we pulled off the freeway on our way home, the rain had stopped and more blue sky was peeking through the billowy dark clouds. 

An ominous dark cloud was also showing up all over Twitter and other news outlets:  rocket attacks in Iraq military bases with U.S. soldiers. 

From what I've read this morning, there were no casualties.  

Seems this back-and-forth between Iran and Trump is somewhat like a television pilot for yet another reality show series. 

Let's hope that intelligent, sane and reasonable minds prevail, that the pilot for yet another war story gets cancelled, and the series never gets off the ground. 

Both countries have better things to do. 

Happy Wednesday, I hope!


Cover photo by Doug Miller, Ephrata, Wash. 

























1 comment:

Polly Morran said...

Thanks for sharing such an interesting blog and just makes us feel so much more connected.