Hot Soup, Clean Jammies, and a Kiss on the Head

Alan has been going out of his mind with no work to keep him busy. He’s never been the type to sit around doing nothing, so he’s having a difficult time. Today he wanted to go to the new CT Science Center, but tickets are $16 a piece for adults… just a bit out of the price range for a husband and wife who are both out of work. Lucky for us, while I was looking for something to occupy the Alan, I stumbled across something called "Connecticut Open House Day." All these exhibits and museums and such were offering discounts today. And a lot of them were FREE! What I don’t understand is why on earth didn’t I hear about this before?! Sheesh… You’d think that if you wanted people to take advantage of what their own state has to offer, they’d advertise the hell out of it.

So Alan and I drove down to Greenwich to check out the Bruce Museum. They had some great exhibits about the ecology and agriculture of the area, minerals, dinosaurs, a collection of a particular marine artist, and a touring collection from Puerto Rico: Masterpieces of European Painting from Museo de Arte de Ponce.  It was a beautiful and quite fascinating collection.  The earliest piece dated from the mid 1300’s… and the latest from the late 1800’s. The range of styles was amazing.

Here are a few of my favorites… Or at least, those that the museum has been kind enough to put online. But really they must be seen in person. The colors and textures are exquisite.

My favorite by far is the one on the bottom right – Antiochus and Stratonice. The young prince Antiochus is suffering a mysterious ailment that the physician Erasistratus discovers is actually heartsickness. He’s dying of love for his young step-mother. To save the young man, the doctor convinces the King of Syria, Seleucus to give up his bride to his son. The boy recovers and everyone is happy. Really, how many stories end that happily?

We chose the Bruce Museum because we are suffering through our Nth day of rain and clouds. Had there been some chance of fair weather we would have gone to Old Newgate Prison and Copper Mine or for a hike in one of the many state parks, but I wasn’t about to get caught on West Rock Ridge (or anywhere else) if the predicted thunderstorms decided to show up. Really, how long can this dreariness last?  Like I need to ask. I’ve read enough histories of the Middle Ages and the conditions that led to the Great Mortality to know that there have been periods of rain to rival anything Noah had. Surely I can handle a week or two. o_0

Wondering about the title? Alan’s been on a M*A*S*H kick. We’re in Season 6 and Hawkeye and Hot Lips got trapped together in a bombed out hut on their way to another unit. When they return they are given hot soup, clean jammies, and a kiss on the head. ^_^

In job news, I’ve made a list of the places I’ve applied to since my last day (minus two that I can’t remember 100%). So far I’ve got 7 aside from Adecco. No worries. I’ll be adding to that plenty this week.

~Liz