Yesterday, I had a monumental day. I saw the Tut Exhibition at the de Young. So much better than the last time the exhibition was in San Francisco. Instead of being herded along in groups, allowed to stop at each artifact for only seconds, we were allowed to view the Tut at our own pace. We could stop as long as we wished to admire individual items of interest.

At over $30 a ticket, you would think cost might discourage attendance. Not a bit. In spite of limited numbers of visitors at any one time, the exhibit was crowded. We had tickets for the first showing at 9:00 am. Because one of our party was using a walker and a second was using a cane, we were allowed to descend to the viewing area by elevator, effectively putting us at the head of the line. But because we were moving slowly we were quickly enveloped. We had audio devices that let us listen to information about the exhibits as we moved through.

It is incredible to think that the creation and decoration of these items was done with human hands more than 3,000 years ago without the benefit of modern equipment. How many hours it must have taken an artisan to polish a stone sculpture to a mirror finish. The gold work and the colors and gems made the items seem other worldly. My favorite items were a set of four ungent vessels. They were of white alabaster, carved with exquisit detail. The lids of all four protrayed a different animal head, and one of the vessels actually had a carved goat's head extending from the front of the vessel.

If you are in the Bay Area it is worth the time and money to visit the Tut Exhibition. If not, and it comes to a city near you, make an effort to view this extraordinary showing.

My Life and Times

I have been very remiss in that I have not posted to my blog in almost three weeks. My only excuse is that I have been busy! But aren’t we all.

My Windows OS automatically installed the new IE8. What a headache. Three quarters of the time Explorer would open with a word document tool bar and no internet tool bar. This meant I couldn’t go back to a prior page. I couldn’t select a web site from my favorites and a number of other things we are all accustomed to doing on-line. Since I was having so much trouble with Windows Internet Explorer I decided to try out the new Google Chrome which has been getting some good press lately.

I have no real experience with it yet, so I can’t say good or bad, but I will let you all know how my experience turns out. At least when it opens I have access to normal on-line features.

Today I have spent critiquing writings from my fellow members of the Tri-Valley Branch of the California Writers Club. I must tell you this is not work. These people are so talented and reading what they have written is so pleasurable, it is more like recreation than work. And since each of these people return the favor by critiquing my work, we all learn from this experience.

I must mention Michael Jackson since his death was the main topic of discussion everywhere I went. I am sorry he died – I am sorry when anyone dies – but get a life! There are so many things of much greater importance; it is hard to believe that the only thing to found in the newspapers was Michael Jackson.

I am much more concerned about our soldiers and innocent civilians who are dying in Afghanistan.

I am also more concerned about the budget bickering going on in Sacramento and Arnie’s avowed intention to close California State Parks. Heaven forbid that any Californian has to pay one more penny in taxes. He has nothing to lose. He can‘t run for reelection. God help his successor who will be required to deal with this mess he has created. He was elected in a recall election to replace Grey Davis. Governor Davis could have done no worse.

And the other item of concern continues to be Sarah Palin. What is this woman doing? Does she think that quitting her post as Governor of Alaska is going to redeem her existing reputation for being a quitter? She quit four different colleges. Why does she never complete whatever she starts? It scares the hell out of me that people are talking of her running for president!

Maybe I will stop reading newspapers (which are a dying breed), reading internet news which has no substance, and listening to the radio which just repeats the same news over and over again. I will be like an ostrich with my head in the ground. If I can’t see it, maybe it is not there.