Insightful Writings in Unexpected Places

My visit with my parents wasn't all typing and transcribing.  We started out with a visit to the Science Museum which had a very special and fascinating exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  A fitting way to start a week that was full of investigating some old family documents!  

Another day found us at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.  So very amazing to process all of the art collections, the new architecture (the new glass wing was completed in 2012) and learn more and marvel about Isabella herself.  Well worth our visit.   My mother and I were surprised when we entered the ladies room...which did not look at all like a public restroom, tiled in Kelly Green squares and with stall doors all bold and brilliant in what reminded us of Marimekko fabric.  We loved the random words of wisdom that were randomly placed on the walls.  And yes I did have to double check on the translations.  My high school French was a long long time ago!

 Very cool stall doors.  The inside latches were cool too.

It was so bright and refreshing!  I liked the long trough sink.

"A secret shared by two is shared with God,

A secret shared by three is shared with everybody."

Think much, speak a little, write nothing.

This French proverb is copied from an enamel plaque that was displayed on the mantle of John Pierpont Morgan's home.  Isabella either saw it or actually acquired the plaque as she collected a little bit of everything.  Actually a lot of everything.   Mom is the one who pointed out how appropriate it is for a bathroom as an anti-graffiti request.  Probably something that Isabella would like.

We asked my dad if there were any words of wisdom displayed in the men's room, but he didn't even know what color the wall tile was.   He was more interested in the details of the famous art theft that occurred at the museum in 1990.  It's the largest unsolved art theft in history.  He was disappointed that after Whitey Bulger was captured no more details about the heist came to light (the artwork has yet to be recovered and the FBI has identified the mob connections).  Perhaps more to come....

Memoirs and Memories

I've spent a week gathering as much information as I can from my mother about her side of the family.  It started out with the notion that I'd be tying up loose ends on her memoirs (which we convinced her to type out a few years ago) but now I am ending up with so much more information that my head is spinning.  I need to make some ancestor baseball cards, as I like to describe them, better known as genealogical cheat sheets!   It's been so interesting fitting all these names together but I swear not even 20 minutes after she tells me about someone I am already asking, "now which one was that guy again?"

The dining room table has been covered with notes and family tree notes.  Even my mom has a difficult time deciphering the old-fashioned kanji...kind of like transcribing Old English. 

I may have known this at one time (back in youth when things went in one ear and out the other) but I am fascinated once again to learn that there are some family lines that can be traced back over 15 generations to the 1500's of feudal Japan!  We already knew on my dad's Scottish side about one relative who can be traced back to nearly the same time period....but on the other side of the world. (This guy fought against Oliver Cromwell and lost and was subsequently thrown in prison at Edinburgh Castle where he  grieved to death).  

I spent one morning at Kinko's copying documents and photos so I can bring them home and go over them when I have a little more time (ha).  I haven't even left for home yet and I already feel I will have to plan another trip back up here to do some more interviewing.... 

The Next Best Thing to a Trip to China

A beautiful October day in MA spent at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem.  Fortunately this is a privately-funded museum so it was not affected by the federal shut down.  Salem's main visitors center was closed.  Imagine all the disappointed tourists and how it affects October business with Salem being  witch headquarters!

 Meanwhile, my parents and I enjoyed a day in one of New England's finest museums.  The legacy of the sailing merchants and sea captains who brought back extraordinary pieces of art and culture is what originally formed the basis of this museum.   There is lots to see, and one of the best exhibits is the Yin Yu Tang Chinese house.  It was brought over from southern China about ten years ago.   We watched a a couple of interesting films on the process of dismantling and reassembling it here at the museum.  It was amazing to see on film the house in its original location in China, and then walk through it here.  The house is 200 hundred years old, dating from the Qing Dynasty.  It is also furnished with authentic household items from the original residents...everything from cooking utensils, bedding, clothing, writing utensils, and posters and propaganda from the Cultural Revolution.   Photos of the house were not allowed (not even outside photos, but not exactly sure why).  I managed to capture a few shots from inside the museum looking out at the house, but of course the architectural fascination is inside the house itself.

The house is situated right off the museum's atrium.

 A peek through the second floor of the museum provided the best view of the rooftop and the clay tiles.  Loved how this window was naturally framed by the ivy and leaves.  The house is built like a box with a central courtyard providing the only light.  None of the bedrooms had any windows.  Exploring inside the house was amazing...like stepping into the pages of Snowflower and the Secret Fan!  I think this could have been her house.   Or...maybe the house that OLan (from The Good Earth) worked in before she got married.....   One of the film documentaries included a wedding in 2003.  A little surprising that the bride even in this day and age was illiterate.  The groom met her working in a quarry.  All the food prep for the wedding feast was done by the women of the household...no wedding caterers for these guys. The groom's side brought over food and other gifts (like a live rooster and hen) in baskets carried on each end of a bamboo pole slung over their shoulders.  The word that came to mind was Primitive with a capital P.  There were so many incongruities:  the bride's house had electricity but the floors were dirt, and chickens were running around.  The kitchen stove was a clay and brick form with wood fire for fuel, but there was a mini van in their "driveway."  The bride wore red lipstick and blue jeans but didn't seem to be that far removed from the females in The Good Earth!
Also, it was a little unnerving watching some of the food prep...slaughtering of the pig and preparing fish, and watching them sauté the fish heads.  Not the most sanitary of conditions!  We left the theatre feeling as if we really had just been transported to China.

When I saw these shoes for bound feet of course I thought of Snow Flower again...

How about that round Chinese bed! This was produced for a foreign merchant, probably in Canton.

These pleasant blue and white design works were produced by a contemporary artist, Michael Lin.  The designs were influenced by oriental motifs on porcelains brought back by Dutch traders.  These blue and white patterns were so refreshing and reminded me of bed linens I would love to have.

Pretty staircase leading from one gallery to the lower level.  Very reminiscent of a ship, or maybe a New England church pulpit.  I would love to have a house with a staircase like this one!


The Taj Mahal!  This is a pure alabaster model from the West Asia collection.  Another destination on my travel bucket list!