Americans buy and buy..

that is impressionist and post impressionist paintings,

most of which end up in Museums in New York, Baltimore,

Boston, and Washington .. to name a few.

Some 40 plus selected paintings are currently on loan from the National Gallery to our MFA  Houston.

Monet

Monets, Manets, Pissaros, Renoirs, Seurat and Van Goghs.



Pissaro



Renoir



Seurat

Van Gogh



Eva Gonzales

 Caillebottes, Cassats, Cezannes, Degas, Gauguins and Gonzales.

Caillebotte

Mary Cassat

Cezanne

Lots have found secure homes right here in the good old USA thanks to entrepreneurs of humble-origin-turned-super-rich men at the turn of the century, AND OF COURSE THEIR WIVES!

Never forget the WIVES.. the usual spurs to buy art and show off collections in their vast homes.

Triple and quadruple layers of art piled high on walls showcasing their abodes in New York, Boston..etc. And they sold and bought amongst themselves, to finally end up as donations to various museums for all of us to enjoy!

Degas

Gauguin

Lovely pastel colors, misty scenery, trees, pleasant views of land and fields. 

Rivers, bridges, boats, flowers, gardens and Cafes, people and ballet rats practising.

It's all there to take in  and enjoy!



But ONLY till May.

Meanwhile in Rockford, the Aeros won 5-3 vs Icehogs.

From The Voice, it was obvious that all, except injured Cuma and Wellman, had to be on ice, since Almond was recalled to the WILD and may stick there for a while.

Hackett in goal stopped 22 of 25 SOG,

while Toivonen had to work hard stopping 31 of 36 SOG!

We heard Kalus, Fraser, Buck skated...all of whom have been 'healthy scratches off and on.

Aeros scored twice in the First (Di Salvatore and Falk), once in the second (Noreau) and twice again in the Third (Rau and Ortmeyer).

Refereeing was kind (tolerant?) to both teams and called only few penalties, neither teams able to convert into PP goals.

Today's games leave

Admirals (54GP) and Aeros (59GP) tied for 1,

San Antonio (56) and Stars (56) tied for 2,

Peoria (56) in 3,

OKC (55) in 4,  

Wolves (59) in 5,

IceHogs (54) in last spot.

Dancing?

No, this is not Matt Hackett of the Aeros ! :-)
But he could and be should dancing for joy,
after his outstanding performance at Cedar Park Sunday afternoon which earned him  **.
From reading and hearing about this, the real, first preseason game, it was a stunner. Several of last year's favorites produced goals amongst them Earl, Noreau, Fraser, DiSalvatore and Buck...good show.
The sadly depleted (of talent)  Stars are now 0 for 2.. having lost vs OKCBarons and Aeros.

There are now sooo many newly blogging on Aeros.
So to avoid  being accused of 'copy catting' (;-), I shall restrict my posts to a few games,
and only those I, personally, will have seen (with photos if possible).
That does not mean I will not celebrate when cebrations are due!
And will keep au courant with the team.
Also other favorites-having once developed 'soft spots', 
will always follow their career!
So look for updates on them!
Meanwhile for an excellent professional review or rather preview of the NEW AEROS I recommend ProHockey News' Galindo article at
http://www.prohockeynews.com/hockey/publish/ahl/Texas_falls_to_Aeros_5-0_in_preseason_finale.shtml
Enjoy. I did.
I will post on hockey games elsewhere which Better Half and I will see, include but not limited to Stars, Rampage, Bolts, NJ Devils, Panthers, Canadiens, Capitols, Everblades, SC Stingrays..and  other spur of moment games.

Plus opera. Lots of Opera :-D .. so if that bores you, let us part ways now.

Thanks for your readership, may you enjoy life.

And thoughts on what bugs me! such as right now the 'rather vagely' worded advisory to travelers to Europe by the US State Department. Beyond admonishments such as keep alert, do not leave luggage unattended, watch your surroundings, learn how to use local telephone booths, etc... I say DUH!
How will an American tourist, not used to foreign environment be able to catch 'untoward' actions? I ask you!

Now to opera news:
Rehearsals for HGO's 'Mme Butterfly', 'Peter Grimes' are well underway.
AND final touches are put on "Cruzar la Cara de la Luna",
the Mariachi Opera which boasts - (some clips showcasing two of the singer):
Octavio Moreno, Baritone-HGOStudio Alumnus

and David Guzman, Tenor-known to fans having sung at The OH! in 'La Boheme' last spring 
directed by Leonard Foglia (he has adopted Mexico as his home),
with the famous Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán.

And in honor of JR's coming Birthday (not sure if this is a paean to Heidi Klum ;-) but it could be, no?)
I do hope he will read this... all in the birthday spirit with best wishes!Here is a beautiful rendition of
LA BIKINA by Mariachi Vargas with Philharmonic Orchestra of Queretaro
 
A few shots of  MATT HACKETT during his life in the minors: