Publius & Co.

Happy birthday to me.

First of all, thanks to all of those who left me birthday wishes. I'm trying to remember when I told you the date...but when you get to be my age*, memory is one of the first thing to go.

So, being 1. a guy, and it being 2. football season, I must've sat around the house, unshaved & unshowered, in nothing but my lucky rocketship underwear, watching football and drinking beer, right?

No, truth be told, I missed the first half, and most of the third quarter of the Redskins win. I did what most would consider girlie stuff, and I loved it (in fact, I heard some guy, apparently being forced into doing the same girlie stuff, complaining, "You know I'm missing the football game for this?" Philistine.).

The gf took me downtown for brunch, then we went to the Textile Museum, and I loved it.

I do tie-dye for fun (not for profit. That would turn it into a job). I don't do it as often as I'd like to, but tie-dyed baby clothes are my traditional gift of mine to friends who've just had kids. I'm interested in trying batik someday, and the Textile Museum's current exhibit on The Art of Resist Dyeing prompted my visit--I figured there'd be lots of batik pieces on display. The gf wanted to see the exhibit of Navajo blankets; it worked out well for the both of us.

It was an interesting exhibit. My favorite piece was a Japanese coat that was dyed using a shibori technique (in particular, a variation on tie-dye) where little rectangles were tied throughout the entire coat (save for a few large squares that were tied with a different decorative design) and the coat dyed. When I say little, I mean little: the rectangles were probably 4mm X 6 mm, and were about 1 or 2 mm's apart. This gave the coat a nubbly appearance, and I would've loved to have run my hands over it to see if it was, in fact, not smooth but it was behind glass, right next to the DO NOT TOUCH signs.

Y'all bored yet?

There were two disappointments. First, I would've liked to have seen part of the exhibit dedicated to how some of the pieces were made (I admit it would've been impractical, but I can dream)(actually, there was one small demo setup, for a technique that can be used for tapestrys). Second, there were only about a dozen pieces exhibited, almost certainly because the Textile Museum is quite small.

Anyway, beer was involved yesterday, kinda. The Textile Museum is two buildings down from the Irish Embassy. Click on the link--see the little harp? That harp was right on the front thingy (I don't know the architectural term--you'll have to just use your imagination) of the building, and I noticed it first. I commented, "That looks just like the harp on a bottle of Harp!"

The gf pointed to the three recycling bins in front of the Embassy. "And it looks like they drink a lot of it, too." Sadly, I hadn't brought my camera (because they're not allowed in the museum--what would've been the point?) so I didn't get a picture...but it's probably about a twenty-minute walk from work...hmmm....

*But I'm not as old as Ted. Heh.

Posted by Victor at Septiembre 29, 2003 09:25 AM