A belated Valentine’s Day to you.

Hope you got more kisses from

your sweetie than you got from Hershey’s!

Waves on Siesta Key Beach

It was only a
week and two
days ago that I
saw William
Wyler’s The
Heiress at The
Historic Asolo
Theater. Just last
night (or two
nights ago) TCM
had back-to-back
Olivia de
Havilland movies:
The Snake Pit,
and The Heiress.
You get two very different and wonderful de Havilland performances
from these films. While in The Heiress you’re likely to fall in love with
her, in The Snake Pit you’ll probably be terrified for her. The Snake
Pit wasn’t a horror movie. Rather, it was a film about mental illness,
from the patient’s point of view. Being in her mind was scary, and sad.

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

Interior of the Pieterskerk in Leiden (1653)
Hendrick (Cornelisz) van Vliet

If you’ve followed this blog a bit you’ve picked up that I’m a huge fan
of this museum. I bought a membership my first time there, and I’ve
visited six times (I think) since. I don’t know why, but I’m captivated by
this painting.
“Despite its realistic appearance, this painting of the church interior is
meant to deliver a moral message. In this stark setting (Protestant
churches in Holland at the time did not have altarpieces) the artist
depicted stages of human life and premonitions of mortality.
 “The dog
urinating on a
column
symbolizes an
animal’s lack of
understanding.

“Two different characterizations of children are depicted.

“On the left, a

group of
youngsters play,
unaware of their
divine
surroundings.

“On the right, a woman is showing

a tomb to a child, suggesting that time on Earth should be spent
wisely.

“In the center, an old man looks at

a tomb, well aware of his mortality.

“Historians identify the Church of Peter in Leiden as the site where a

congregation of Mayflower pilgrims prayed before their departure for
the New world. The annual celbration of the liberation of Leiden from
the Spaniards in 1574 is recognized as a precursor to Thanksgiving in
America.” – Ringling, The Art Museum © 2002, p.121

Clouds
Sunrise Walk