ARTWORK SAGA:

STAINED  GLASS
Oakland, CA
1974

The first piece of artwork I'd like to explore is a fabulous 38" x38" stained glass.

I was visiting the Oakland Museum in 1974 and toured the Art Glass Exhibit. I saw the stained glass piece in the ‘for sale’ portion of the show. Well, I fell in love with it instantly. It was on the lowest row of several stained glass creations. Well, I plopped down and sat on the floor mesmerized.

Alas, it was Sunday and the office was not open. I talked the guard into taking a check to be turned in the next morning. I called first thing Monday morning. It had been bought! Phooey! However, they called me two days later and said the first buyer had backed out! It was shipped in the biggest crate you can imagine.

The actual piece appears in “Glass Art Magazine” April, 1974, page 42: A. R. Lewis. ‘#60’.

The glass changes color according to the angle viewed or the time of day!

At night the image reverses and it becomes blue and mirrored!

It has hung in my house proudly ever since.

TIDBITES SAGA:

TUSCAN GRILL
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

It's in the old cultured pearl space on Wilmington Avenue and it's been redecorated—okay. 

It's your typical Italian type ordinary restaurant. Mary Ann, Ted and I had dinner there. Mary Ann had a steak salad, Ted had eggplant Parmesan, and I had lemon veal. All were satisfactory to good.

It reminds me of an Olive Garden, albeit not quite as good. I don't particularly like chain restaurants but in this case Olive Garden surpasses.

This is not a "destination" type place but it's okay for a quick, inexpensive Italian dinner—assuming you can abide "touristy" type places.


   ---Don Voth, your friendly reviewer.

TEN DC PLACES SAGA 6:

THE KREEGER MUSEUM:

Also designed by Philip Johnson. Former home of owner of GEICO, the private museum houses 19th and 20th Century art ranging from Monet, Picasso and Renoir to Stella. Little known but a real treat.

The Kreeger Museum (1967) is a modern building that has a timeless quality. American architect Philip Johnson, with Richard Foster, accomplished this by making obvious references to the past and combining those with a modernist vocabulary.

Johnson and Foster were challenged to create a structure that could serve as a residence, a museum and a recital hall. The modern building that they designed not only fulfills these functions, but with a classical style. To achieve this, Johnson and Foster blended modern features with historic quotes. For example, the domes of the structure allude to Byzantine monuments like the Hagia Sophia. 

As you move through the building, you will notice transitions from small to large spaces. This was inspired by Egyptian tombs. The use of the module, the 22 foot cube that is the basis of the building, dates back to Roman architecture. (The Great Hall, for example, is three modules long.) The result of these historical references is a structure that seems timeless.

Next, an Interesting House.

BODY WEIGHT SAGA 12:

ONE YEAR AFTER BARIATRIC SURGERY!

I'm doing great. My body weight has stabilized at around a 50 pound weight loss.

My medidical condition is MUCH better! My Stage II diabetes is gone as well as my high blood pressure, cholestrol problem and sleep apnea. I have Stage III kidney diease, BUT my GFR (Globular Filtration Rate) has gone from 46 to 60! which is a boarderline, Stage I condition. (My kidney doctor is amazed.)

My outlook on life has improved, I have a better feel about myself and I still get complements on my weight. I'm certainly glad I had the surgery.

Time to take my anniversary picture.

BEFORE 12/5/11, 225#

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NOW, 225# to 176# = -49#.

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MONTH BREAK

CYBER RESPITE

See you 12/7/12!

FAVORITE DELAWARE BEACHES RESTAURANTS SAGA:

RISTORANTE ZEBRA 
Rehoboth Beach

ZEBRA is by far my favorite.

It's the visual sense of delight and the wonderful Italian food fare.

Though quite expensive, it'll well worth it.

Next, One, just a little Out of The City.

MY PRISON DESIGNS SAGA 5:

MARIANNA, FLORIDA 
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION  (1984-1986)

Marianna was probably my best design. It was a culmination of all my experience and the current correctional philosophy. It was reproduced for several facilities later.

I was aided by the architectural firm HLM of Orlando, Florida. It was a very exciting development of a new type of facility. 

I worked with the architects for over a year in developing this scheme. We had lots of input from various people and organizations. 


The Housing Unit was an especially intense design problem. The final design solved many desires of the many departments involved. 

It was reproduced for many federal and state facilities.

It was this facility that became the basis of my book on medium security correctional institutions for adults.

Since, it has won many accolades and rewards.

I was adapting it for a new site in Jessup, Georgia when I retired.

My other full institution designs were: Miami, Florida; Pleasanton, California; Camarillo, California; Jesup, Georgia; San Diego, California and Ray Brook, New York. (This one was very interesting because it housed the athletes for the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics before becoming a prison—saving a lot of taxpayer money!)

I also did major renovation jobs at Leavenworth, Kansas; Milan, Michigan; Tallahassee, Florida; Englewood, Colorado; Lompoc, California; Atlanta, Georgia and in Puerto Rico.

TEN DC PLACES SAGA 5:

HILLWOOD ESTATE:

Founded by American collector and heiress to the Post cereal empire Marjorie Merriweather Post, Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens is one of the premier art collector's museums in the United States. 

The museum features the most comprehensive collection of Russian imperial art outside of Russia and a world-renowned collection of Eighteenth-Century French decorative art and furnishings. 

click to see: Hillwood Estate.

The collection includes Fabergé eggs, 

Catherine the Great Egg.

Catherine the Great

Russian porcelain, Russian Orthodox icons, Beauvais tapestries, and Sèvres porcelain. 

Encircled by woodlands, the twenty-five acre estate provides visitors a tranquil oasis of luscious formal gardens.

Next, another House as Museum.

TIDBITS SAGA:

ED CROWLEY (1948-1998)

Ed was a very special guy. He delighted most people with his enthusiasm and invention.

Ed in his corner office.

Ed and Liza.

Ed taking Chinese cooking classes.

Ed and friends in Hawaii.

TEN DC PLACES SAGA 4:

PRE-COLOMBIAN PAVILION, DUMBARTON OAKS:

In 1959, the Blisses commissioned the architect Philip Johnson to design a pavilion for the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Colombian Art. This building—eight domed circular galleries (having an unroofed fountain area at the center) set within a perfect square—recalls Islamic architectural ideas, and Johnson later credited the design to his interest in the early 16^th 

Century Turkish architect, Mimar Sinan. The pavilion was built in the Bosque (or copse), one of the designed landscapes at Dumbarton Oaks, and Johnson employed curved glass walls to blend the landscape with the building. He later reminisced that his idea was to fit a small pavilion into an existing treescape, to make the building become part of the Bosque. Johnson maintained that he wanted the garden to march right up to the museum displays and become part of them, with the plantings brushing the glass walls and the sound of splashing water audible in the central fountain. Furthering this idea, Mildred Bliss suggested creating four interior glazed planter areas situated between the galleries and the fountain.

Johnson also believed that the pavilion was to be best enjoyed from the inside. 

In addition to offering interesting garden views, the eight gallery spaces allow for a well-organized circulation plan. They also provide intimate areas for visitors to enjoy and study the Pre-Columbian objects. 

Each interconnected exhibition gallery is 25 feet in diameter, having curved glass walls supported by cylindrical columns sheathed in Illinois Agatan marble and shallow domes that rise from flat bronze rings. The floors are teak, laid from the center out in radii, and ended by wide rims of mottled green Vermont marble.

Next, an Estate.

NEW 7 WONDERS OF THE WORLD SAGA 6:

A TRIP UP THE NILE

Yes, we took a 3-day cruise up the Nile. 

It was glorious. To see the little communities lining the banks, the agricultural areas and the vistas into the plains and mountains.

We stopped at many sites: the temple that was full of mummified crocodiles 

which we saw at the crack of dawn, The Valley of the Kings, including Tutankhamun's Tomb,

click to see: King Tut's Tomb

the impressive Temple of Karnak in Luxor,

Me

Even the god OSIRIS was excited at KARNAK.

The fabulous Queen Hatshepsut Temple

and finally the Aswan High Dam with the incredible Abu Simbel Temple. 

This temple was resurrected in 1968 by UNESCO from Lake Nasser by being raised 100 feet to be preserved for all humanity. It's magnificent.

We were fortunate enough to see the sunrays pierce through the temple onto the innermost altar.

We found Egypt not very receptive to tourists and difficult traveling. I strongly believe the reason for that is that their religion, Islam, believes the artifacts to be infidel. So not much attention has been paid to them through the many centuries. However, now, they are waking up to the value of the artifacts and monuments which to them is the money that tourism brings.