Free Tuesday Movies on the Beach

So this week once again I ventured out to see the free movie at Mambo beach.  Normally, it ends too late for me on a school night, but since last week Tuesday was a holiday and today we are on vacation, I went. 

Last week, it was a film called Prime and this week...... Wedding Crashers.  It is good that I have not seen it before because I don't think it will be high on my list of movies to see again.  I went with friends and we had a special extra intermission this week for a short performance by a (local I am guessing) acrobatic group of kids.  There were 2 girls on stilts and then tumblers with trampolines.  The finally involved fire sticks and I thought it was a nice little presentation. Too bad I did not bring my camera to the movies.

On another note, you could totally see Orion in full above us in the sky.  Last week in addition to Orion we saw a flock of birds fly close overhead in formation. Very cool.

Sport Playing Me - Who Knew?

So last week I played both softball and soccer. Softball was a fun evening event and soccer was against the girls team. I have not played either in many years, but I had a blast playing both.  I hit the ball each time up in softball and ran around the field a lot playing soccer although did not score, but did get my feet on the ball a few times.  I forgot how much fun these sports are and how much I used to enjoy playing.  I hope we get to do things like this more often. :)

Some softball photos:
Swing batter

A swing 

I made it to first.





















Warming up!

Aruba

My weekend in Aruba was really nice.  I enjoyed the time relaxing and seeing my dad. I even had a fun birthday dinner with a special dessert plate and sparkler.

I also got to see some of the island.  There are some pretty things there like the lighthouse, but unfortunately I will not get to see the natural bridge in person since it collapsed a couple of years ago.
I also thought the downtown area had some interesting holiday decoration and loved the fact that the nativity was balanced with a menorah.

Music as Inspiration (for art)

So this last week of class (I missed one due to the reunion) we painted based on music.  Kandinsky did this when he moved to more abstract art.  I listened to each one once first before starting. 

Check them out and let me know what you think.
Right: Concerto No 4 in F minor, RV 297 "Winter" -  Vivaldi The Four Seasons / 2 Wind Concertos
Left: Air on a G string (from Suite III), BMV 1063 - Bach, Yo-Yo Ma & The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra

Right: Miles Davis
Left: Round About Midnight - Chet Baker, Gotan Project featuring Montecarlo Nights Nouveau Beat Vol. 2

High School Reunion

Last weekend I flew to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving weekend for my 20th high school reunion. I have been planning to attend since this summer and even bought my ticket in August to make sure I could get on the flight right after school on Wednesday.  My flights were all pretty much on time and ok.  Even the time in the airport was cool since Google was giving free wi-fi for the holidays. :)

It was strange to be in the US for Thanksgiving and Black Friday, but I did find a great reunion outfit at the first store I tried.  Thanksgiving dinnner with my cousins was great and an enjoyable day.  Friday I also got to see Dru and Mom Pat and of course MacKenzie for some late lunch before heading off to the reunion.  I also decided to splurge and get my make-up done at MAC in the mall.

The first bit was a bit nerve wracking, but once everyone relaxed a bit (me included) it was a lot of fun.  Our senior yearbook photos were on our name tags so we got to reminisce over our big 80s hair.  Many people were instantly recognizable and other took a few moments and a quick look at the name tag.  Overall, everyone who attended looked great.  I hope now that I will stay in closer touch with some of the people.  Facebook makes this all so much easier.

Here is what I wore:

Still-life is not so much my thing

While working this week, I had a number of moments of ugh and sweating in the heat of course.  As the papers blew around the room from the breeze, I finally decided to just get started.

I used the "frame" we were given to zoom in on just a piece of one of the still-life set-ups.  The choices were a vase with local flowers and leaves along with a lantern, a bowl of some local fruit from the tree and a table with books on one side and a breakfast scene on the other.  As you can see, I went for the books with the flowers.

I did not like it so much as I was working on it, but at the end of class when we set our easels for all to see and I stepped back from my work, I actually found I liked it.  What do you think?

What is the composition?

Today, we worked on composition. We made some sketches to work from.  I chose a gate downstairs at the Landhuis as well as a beautiful large leaf from a plant and the eye from a metak sculpture in the courtyard.  See my results.  It could use some more light and shadow, but overall I felt a nice composition.

Art in Curacao

There is great place here called Landhuis Bloemhof which has an art gallery on the bottom floor and in the gardens.  It also has a studio space upstairs which is used for all kinds of art classes.  I signed up for Intermediate Acrylic Painting which started this past Saturday.  I have not picked up a paintbrush in quite a while which was one of the big motivators for me taking this class.

It was a lot of fun to paint again.  The group is 9 people, 1 guy and many older women.  The teacher is interesting and makes good helpful comments. He taught in a combination of Dutch and English (for me), but once I get some of the basic Dutch words for art terms I think I will be fine.  With the congnates and the bit of German I know I can get the gist.

This week we did an exercise to paint 9 small paintings in 5 minutes each.  I chose to make a series of a mug which for me is an usual object, but was kind of fun.  Then we painted a big painting from the small ones.  You can see my progress in the photos and I will update each week.

9 Small Ones

Big Painting

End of October

Well I made it through till now.  One month and I will be on my way to Philly for Thanksgiving weekend and my reunion. There have been a lot of interesting events.  I enjoyed the week off in October, but feel like it never happened now. The semester is flying by.  Soon it will be done.  Been hanging out and stayed away from the beach for the 2 weeks post LASIK.  I am enjoying not needing contacts or glasses to see. 

Rosh Hashana in Curacao

L'shana tova! So my first holiday in Curacao was an interesting experience. I had some friends from work for dinner on Friday night. I cooked a holiday meal and it was a nice evening.

At services today, we finished the Torah reading and then instead of moving directly into the Rabbi's sermon, we had kiddush. The whole cake, coffee, soda and social thing in the middle. It was really nice. Of course that meant we didn't finish till close to 2. I was invited by a family from school for lunch. We had a nice meal a bit more Sephardic in nature. It is a beautiful chapel... a round room with a glass dome for the ceiling so you can see the sky.

Tomorrow, I will again go to the same place, but for Kol Nidre next week, I will visit the old synagogue with the sand floor. It is reform, but they do the service by candlelight and it is supposed to be something really special. I will report more on it next week.