Sunday, April 13

Slept late, until around 8 a.m. Skipped my exercises, as usual on Sunday. Spent the morning in the usual Sunday routine, then put potatoes in the oven to bake for lunch.

Hubbie spent his time in the yard, fashioning a frame for holding plastic over the tulips during a predicted freeze this week. He'll throw sheets over other tender vegetation during those freezing nights.

For lunch, Mother pattied turkey burger, which I fried and topped with cheese to be served on buns. Turkey burgers and baked potatoes was an unusual Sunday lunch. This is a meal usually reserved for Saturday. But last night, we had egg salad sandwiches, which was leftover from Friday. Tomorrow, we'll have spaghetti, which I'd originally planned for today. Plans change according to our activities.

After lunch, around 1:30, we went to the museum for a program about a floating photography studio of the early to mid-1900s. These studios were common in that era. They were boats on which photographers and their families lived, and were set up with a photo studio and darkroom.

Today's program included a talk by the man who mounted the exhibit of photos by a couple who operated one of those floating studios. A descendant  (present today) of the couple possessed thousands of glass plate negatives and photos from the time, which she allowed a current photographer to digitize and mount for an exhibit.

Our museum is one of the venues that is displaying this traveling exhibit. As a photographer, I was very interested in this program and exhibit, which included a film about the process of selecting photos, and processing them for display.

The exhibit also includes a replica of the original floating studio. It features tiny rooms complete with furniture, camera equipment, and darkroom (with a red safety light for film developing). Mother especially enjoyed looking into the small windows and doors to the lighted interior of the boat to see tables and chairs, dishes, bed, a work desk with scissors and tiny photos, etc.

The exhibit main room housed a large array of photos, including large panels of enlarged prints. Before we went into the exhibit, the speaker said that often folks don't take time to read the information panels at museums. So today, he would give prints of the photos to anyone he caught reading the panels.

Mother and I read every panel, but weren't caught doing it, so we didn't get a print. However, Hubbie did get caught, so he received one of two small copies of prints of African-American women (which he gave to Mother). We were told earlier that the photographer (a woman) was color blind, even in a day when blacks were discriminated against. So there is a number of striking photos of African-Americans in the exhibit.

In the exhibit room there was a "studio" setup similar to the one on the floating studio. It included a balcony painted panel and a wicker chair from the studio. Anyone could have their picture taken in this area, so Mother and I sat for a "portrait." I don't know what will happen to these photos. There was no mention of our receiving them, though we were allowed to view them  in black and white on the digital camera.

Surprisingly, there were no refreshments at the event today...maybe because the crowd (maybe 50 people) was too big. So on the way home, we stopped for a frosted ice cream treat, which tasted good on this warm afternoon.

At home, I accompanied Mother to her house. Earlier, I sent the rest of her lunch to her house to have for supper (half a turkey cheeseburger, and half a baked potato).

Tonight, Hubbie and I watched one-hour shows from the DVR, in an effort to eliminate what I saved there, because we might need to get a new cable box, since this one continues to show "to be announced" in the menu.


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