Today is my darling daughters birthday.  I hope everyone takes a minute out of their day to go and wish AllieMcNally <—link

a very happy day.

She is a true generous spirit filled with love and laughter and I am so proud to be her mom and so glad that I can call her my friend.

Happy Birthday Allison!

Isn’t that how the old pick-up line goes?  Well Rembrandt certainly could have used that line.  He was not only a painter he did hundreds of copperplate etchings and even had an oak press in his house to print them on.  At that time if you couldn’t afford one of his paintings you could always buy an original etching.  Of course if you were rich and wanted an original by him you could come to his house to choose the painting you wanted. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               This chair was for the more wealthy guests, everyone else had to take one of the chairs located around the perimeter of the room.  You were welcomed into this entry room and while you waited you could browse the painting on the walls or you could sit out of the drafts and watch people passing by on the street from your elevated position.

Not only were original Rembrandt’s hung here but also work by his students and works by other artists he admired. 

When Rembrandt was ready to receive you, you were brought into his “office”.  There were more works of art as well as this box bed.  I’m guessing that after ol’ Remmy had his mid-day meal just like everyone else in the world he needed a nap.  Rather convenient to have one so close by.

The bed was beautifully carved wood and could be completely closed to keep in warmth.  The fireplace next to it looks like its all marble but the truth is some of it is painted wood to resemble marble.  (tricky)

This is in his living room/bedroom.   Paintings hung on the walls of this high-ceilinged room, among them biblical scenes by Rembrandt and works by artists who were close to his heart, including Pieter Lastman, Jan Lievens and Hercules Segers. Rembrandt slept in a box bed by the door. One of his more famous drawings, shows his wife Saskia lying in bed.  Or at least they think it’s her.

If you were in the box bed this is the fireplace you would see. The details are amazing, from the male and female figures and the hand painted tile surround to the intricately carved mantle.  They sure don’t make ‘em like they used too. 

This is also the bedroom/living room. I took this from the stairs so you could see the artwork.  Prospective buyers could choose from this room as well.  Only the really rich could afford to commission a work, such as a portrait, most bought what was already painted.

Last but not least a couple of pictures from the “cabinet”.  This room held examples of things that might need to be reproduced in a painting.  He also had all types of weapons and busts hanging on the  walls of his studio on the same floor.

The sheer amount of stuff in this room was overwhelming.  I can imagine Rembrandt in his studio telling one of his students to “fetch the butterfly case so I can finish this still life”.  Or “bring that bust of  Nero from the cabinet”.  His students made his paints and prepared canvases among other things.  The studio was the largest and by far the brightest room in the house, it’s also one of 2 rooms that I didn’t get pictures of, the other being the kitchen. (to dark, they all turned out blurry.) 

The Rembrandt House museum has a really terrific website and you can take a virtual tour of the house.  <—- link

If your wondering how they know what was in Rembrandt’s house in such detail I can tell you.  In 1656 Rembrandt was forced into bankruptcy and an inventory of everything in the house was made.  From top to bottom including such minor things as cups and plate it was all described and set for sale to pay off his debts.  The house was sold as well as the contents and Rembrandt lived the remainder of his life in a small rented house until his death in 1669. 

Hope you all enjoy this small part of art history.

Happy Tuesday!

Look, I really am alive, I should probably change my name to lurkerlady. I’ve been around as those of you who emailed me know, I’ve even commented a couple of times….here and there.  For actual full blown participation in xanga, or anything else for that matter, I would say the score is everyone else infinity times a googleplex….indigolady 0, nada, nothing!  Even when we’ve done something that I would normally blog about I haven’t.  For instance we bought a brand new bed and I adore it. The mattress is so comfy that I can sleep all night long without waking up and in the morning I don’t spend hours trying to get the kinks out of my neck.  Or I could blog about my trip back home, the one that was supposed to be 3 weeks and ended up lasting 6 and yet I still couldn’t manage to meet up with SouthernLass, which really makes me irritated with myself.  We did talk on the phone for a few minutes, before my incredibly needy dad called me back to his side.  You know how people say the elderly revert back to childhood? My dad is now about 3 years old.  The lass and I were supposed to meet up for mexican food and margaritas and I just couldn’t seem to finish what I had to do so that I could do what I wanted to do.  The good news is that what I went for I accomplished.  In case your wondering it was so I could make decisions and purchases for our house which is being remodeled from the ground up.  As a bonus I went to 2 family get togethers and had a ball at both.  It has been 4 years since I’ve gotten to go to a family reunion and it did my soul real good to see everyone.  Now you know why I didn’t blog from May 28 to July 10th…..but what about when you got back home, you all ask????  Well, I Feng Shui’d my entire house, bought the bed talked about earlier, helped a new neighbor get settled, spent days watching “Dead Like Me” on the net and generally acted like a slug.  Oh! I also read “The Court of Air” by Stephen Hunt, “The Children of Hurin” by Christopher Tolkien, and a couple of Feng Shui books to help with getting our chi all straightened out.   We haven’t been going anywhere except places we absolutely need to, between gas prices and the ever weak dollar to euro exchange rate, just about everyone we know is staying close to home.  Here’s a perfect example of the exchange rate.

Yesterday, Bear walked to the food court to buy a bacon/egg biscuit for break, it cost $2.50. When he went to pay he realized all he had on him was a 5 euro bill so he paid with that instead of the usual dollars. They give you your change back in dollars even when you pay in euro, so he was handed a 5 dollar bill and his biscuit.  It seemed wrong but it’s not, 5 euro is worth about $7.50 and that was a really good rate because it has been lower.  Needless to say we try not to spend much on the economy, which hurts not only all the Americans living abroad but the EU too because of lost business. Bad deal all around.  

 Bear has a dentist appointment today, he had to have a tooth pulled last week and this is a follow up.  He has bad teeth, gums and bone and it’s not from lack of dental care. His uncle was a dentist so growing up they had free dental care and then when he left home he joined the Air Force, again free dental care. The man just has bad teeth. Thank God for bridges, partials etc.  I, on the other hand have teeth like iron.  Mostly ignored growing up it wasn’t until I had kids of my own that I really started paying attention to them.  I didn’t even have a cavity until high school, I imagine if my mom had taught me what I taught my kids I never would have had cavities.  Unfortunately she had to raise 4 kids while working, 1 sometimes 2 full time jobs and I think she was just to tired to argue with a kid about brushing.  Do you sometimes let your kids do things because your to tired to argue?

I think I’ve rambled on enough for one day. As soon as we get the other external drive hooked up I’ll post pictures of……stuff. I don’t know whether to post pictures of Holland or of my house back home or my new furniture. Which would you guys rather see first? 

Happy Thursday!