Saturday DIA

Saturday started with my being woken by my alarm. I had risen a few times to prove hydration, and it still felt like the middle of the night. I could have slept until late in the local morning! I had one coffee pod left for the Keurig. The coffee purports to be liberal and Fair Trade and is called Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. According to the Internet, its flavor was designed by Keven Costner, and the company has been double-certified organic and fair trade. Yes, I have been drinking liberal coffee all the time here at the Holiday Inn Suites.

With the first cup of liberal coffee, dreaming of universal health care, I started writing the blog and spent the next couple of hours on the blog. I soon cleaned up, dressed, took my laptop to the lobby, had breakfast, and continued writing. A different staff I did not meet today ran the complimentary buffet breakfast–mostly industrial food. However, one staff member was getting some food and coffee while other staff and managers were suggesting they get to work. I smiled and nodded.

A gentleman, younger than me but with gray hair, lectured me (I believe the term is ‘mansplained’) on conservative politics and why he was right, and I was obviously wrong. He was sure that COVID-19 was made in a lab in China (science officially has no answer, but I was told to ‘stay in my lane’ and that there was no way that the virus was from natural processes–he read the reports–the same one I have read that clearly says we still don’t know) and knows that Joe Biden is mentally gone, knows that all the spending was Joe’s fault and that nothing good happened for the last four years than wasting money, and could not explain to me why lifting the debt ceiling was good (it did not happen) and why Trump wants to spend more money beyond the ceiling. He is sure it is a left-wing plot, and it must be stopped. Removing the debt ceiling will allow a balanced budget and reduce spending–somewhat nonsensical to my moderate financial and political stance–was the right thing to do. I was polite, and he tried to argue that gender-affirming help was child abuse, which got me to tell him to stop; I was not going to argue out of my opposing view, which got some respect from him. I also told him I believed he was using logic and that he firmly believed what he said, but I also believed other views as strongly. We shook hands, and he soon left, and I saw him head out of the hotel, flying back to Florida.

I went back to writing and soon completed both breakfast and the blog. Deborah was awake, and we had plans for the day. I put the laptop in the room, which was still not cleaned, got my coat, hat, and car keys, and soon took Air Kia to Deborah’s place using CarPlay and the maps on my phone. Liam was just having breakfast there, and the dogs, Zelda and Trixie, enjoyed my attention. Deborah had a library book to pick up, so we headed there while Liam, her son, continued his morning rituals.

Deborah and I headed to the library, a new and remarkable monument to what can be done right and public. The library was neat and full of services, including Deborah’s favorite: the ability to check out household items for a short time instead of buying them and then putting them in a drawer for years. We marveled at a microfilm reader (they still have them), but now with a digital camera and screen. School was still open, and the place was not busy, but Deborah assured me the place would be filled with younger folks when school was out.

Liam would meet us at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), and we left the local temple of reading and services and headed to Detroit. I drove, and soon, we parked outside the DIA in a near-perfect four-hour space at the base of the steps for the DIA. Our parking would run out about the same time as the movie’s end, British Arrows 2024, so we would rush out after the film.

The gal was friendly and smiled a lot. As a local resident, Deborah gets free access (the locals’ taxes pay for the DIA), while I paid $20, a low price now for a city art center. We waved at the gal, both cashier and information desk when we passed her by a few times. The spirit of the place seemed to me to be pride and wonder.

First, we just spun around in awe of the Diego M. Rivera 1930s frescos in one of the courtyards. We had already smiled at the Pewabic tiles on the floor and used them for a water fountain as we walked into the next courtyard to be stunned, once again, by the beauty and messaging from the 1930s art. The docent updated Deborah, who, as a local teacher, has been here many times. Deborah says she learns something new from a docent each time she visits. Today, we learned that the executive at work combines Henry Ford’s and Edison’s looks. Also, the turbine behind the executive combination figure is shaped like an ear, representing the spying Ford ordered on his employees (something illegal now). The docent also showed us the image of Rivera slipped into the painting.

After enjoying the fresco, we headed downstairs for lunch. We found that the Kresge Court had a great club sandwich with cranberry sauce and homemade potato chips for us; we passed on the café. The area resembles a medieval castle courtyard crossed with the Tavern of the Green. Excellent. Deborah was served by a former student, and they were happy to see each other.

We wandered for a bit, finding just a few sets of armor that did not match my childhood memory of rooms with this stuff. Liam joined us, and we headed to the rooms of excellent Impressionists. It was always a treat. And while the DIA collection can not compete with the volume at Chicago’s museum, the quality and relevance of the twenty or so paintings were excellent (more modern, but what I would still call Impressionists were elsewhere and will have to wait for another day). The self-portraits and landscapes were terrific, and a Van Gough still-life had me confusing him with others–a most excellent example of shared styles.

My Sunday school teacher took over as we visited the mummy collection in the Egyptian Arts section. I also marveled at the recipes from four thousand years ago from the Middle East, making my IT heart happy to see ancient document storage (fired clay) still working after thousands of years. Yes, that is a receipt for a cow from three thousand years ago!

We reconnected with Liam, who got lunch while we wandered, and headed to the attached theater, an old-style theater with a stage set for a movie. It was general seating, something you don’t see that much now, and we sat close to the front with an aisle for Liam.

I forgot my hat at the Kresge Court and rushed there, found it exactly where I left it, and then rushed back. The info desk staff and the security folks waved me through and smiled. With the tragedy of another lost hat avoided, I was ready to enjoy the British Arrow awards choices for 2024 with Deborah and Liam. These are the Best British Commercial Ads awards. As you, dear reader, can imagine, the ads ran from sad to insane, and some were on the edge of tears or slap-sticks. I cried and sobbed on the one about end-of-life services and why it is OK. Recommended, Arrow Awards 2024!

Deborah and I reached Air Kia in the still-freezing air before I had a mandatory payment to the City of Detroit and returned to her house. Trixie and Zelda were happy to see us, get fed, and be taken out. Trixie leaned into me, seemed weak, and pushed me to pet her, but belied her weakness when she leaped in the air and dived for the food when Deborah brought out their dishes. Deborah believes that Trixie learned to be cute and docile when she was a stray. Deborah adopted the former stray. Trixie’s look worked on me!

Deborah recommended Lucky’s Prime Time for prime rib. The place was packed, but we got a seat at the bar when a family of three held a spot for us. The prices are slow for the food quality, and Luck’s Prime Time is a Michigan chain of two places. We had the prime rib, 16 oz, for about $24, and we took 1/2 of it as leftovers. We also had a few glasses of excellent, not-too-sweet wine, Chateau Grand Traverse Late Harvest Riesling, a Michigan wine. The folks next to us were having dinner with their daughter back from college for the holiday. It was a happy bunch as we marveled at each other’s food. The guy beside me had a smaller prime rib with a massive slab of ribs. He was impressed with the enormous slabs Deborah and I got, and I said they were middle-sized versions!

And with dinner done, I think I will stop there. Thanks for reading!