Virginia Is For Families

This afternoon I went downtown to poke my head in Zach’s new apartment.  Also on the agenda was a visit to Cary Street and The Watermelon Festival.   But the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is right in the middle of these two things and so I was distracted by it and ended up in it for a few hours.

I didn’t realize that you can take photos of about 99 percent of the exhibits in there.  So I picked out a few things that I found interesting and took photos of them.  Then I took photos of the signs on the walls that told a little bit about these exhibits.  And I also decided to find out more about them on the internet and do some posts about them.

It’s pretty cool to see something that’s very famous and “bring it home” in a photo.  It might be just like the excitement people feel when they take a photo of someone famous.  I don’t know.  I never took a photo of anyone who was or is famous.

But I did find out about Sir Alfred Munnings.  Sir Alfred was actually still living when I was a child.  He died in 1959 after a long life.  During his life he suffered several difficult setbacks.  When not yet 21 he  was lifting a puppy over a thorn bush when a branch snapped back and a thorn punctured his right eye leading to blindness in that eye.  And his first wife tried to kill herself on their honeymoon and succeeded two years later in 1914.

During this time we see how dark clouds can have silver linings.  Because of his blindness in one eye Sir Alfred did not end up in the army and on the front lines in France.  In spite of problems with depth perception he was a wonderful artist and enjoyed painting the countryside and horses in particular.

Here is the painting that caught my attention.

Recently we went to the horse races at Colonial Downs near Richmond.  And one of the things most enjoyable about that visit was seeing the colorful uniforms worn by the jockeys and the matching regalia worn by the horses.

Sir Alfred once said that he began to live when he experienced these things.  Here is a lovely blog that writes about Munnings

http://www.linesandcolors.com/2008/07/18/alfred-j-munnings/

Here’s something I learned last Saturday at the horse races that will help when taking photos of our equine friends. Watch out for railings when taking pics. Sure you are hot and thirsty. But go ahead and make one more effort. Lean over the rail so you don’t have to crop the photos later to eliminate the piece of metal that is covering up the horse’s hooves.

If it’s really hot and the railing is made out of metal you might hear a little sizzling going on.  But don’t worry about it.  You are already baked pretty well in the heat.  Now you’re a little bit fried too.

It’s the best of both worlds.

And it’s really a more impressive photo if you shoot all of him. Or her. Whichever.

Click to enlarge

When we first arrived I was wondering why we had to wait twenty minutes between races.  I wasn’t interested in the giant sandbox with the tug of war and Hooters girls with four foot tall dice game.  But after awhile it was clear that there is a lot happening and it takes time for everything to unfold for the next race.

There was the jockey they had to “scrape” off the track.  The ambulance looked like it was pretty old and it took awhile to find him and bring him back.  Some of the jockeys had to change uniforms to ride other horses (I’m not sure about this but someone suggested it was true).  The track has to be fixed up in between races.  Here’s a photo of this ritual in progress and some more NextGen photos of the racing excitement.

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And then you have to have an opportunity for the customers to go buy six ounce bottles of Coke for $1.60 and undercooked pizza slices for $5.00.

Plus there is the betting.  You have to have time for that.  I bet $2.00 on the first race and lost. This discouraged me from placing further bets.  So your blogging reporter is not someone they hope to see at their track too often.  And being a paranoid sort of person in general I did think once or twice that I might be arrested or briefly detained and squeezed for not spending enough money.

But then after the sixth race I almost threw up because of the sun, the humidity and the lack of food or drink.  So I went inside and spent $6.50 on the aforementioned limp pizza and vial of Coke.

And a little later I  felt much better knowing that I was not going to spew in front of all those people OR go to jail.  Or both.

(You really are fortunate that you don’t live inside my chrome dome- eum.  It can get pretty crazy in here sometimes.)

So here are some more photos brought to you by NextGen.  Just pick and click.  Enjoy.  And remember to use sun block when you go to the races.  Unless you go to an evening session.  Although if the moon is bright you might want to use some anyway because of the reflected rays.  And buy a hot dog or something.

You don’t want to end up in a cell next to an agitated stallion.  Do you?

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