DC in December

On December 12, our art co-op went to the National Gallery of Art to see works by some of the modern artists we studied this semester.


Some of us went in early (In for a penny, in for a pound--make the drive and parking worth it!) and started with a visit to the United States Botanic Garden. (I always say "botanicAL", but it is "botanic". Now we know.)


Right now the USBGarden is decorated for Christmas, with trees, trains, miniature DC landmarks, etc. There's a room filled with different varieties of poinsettias.Here's Becca in front of the big tree. My mom sent that plain red dress for Lauren long ago, and I cross-stitched the design on it. I remember frantically sewing in the last moments before Christmas, but it's hard to believe I ever had the time to do it all! Anyway... The orchid room was full of gorgeous blooms. Here's just one tiny plant:Joe grabbed the camera and raced around taking pictures. Here are two sides of the same leaf:The jungle:The several stories high skylight/greenhouse roof:After lunch we had our art tour. We divided into older and younger groups, and followed our docents, who were skilled at getting the children to observe and think about the works.

I was hoping to see some specific pieces that unfortunately weren't on the day's list. But as we were racing through the tunnel between the buildings, we came upon a familiar sculpture!The cool thing was that, from a distance, I said, "Wow, that looks like a Henry Moore!" And it was!

I've been to the gallery many times before and SEEN that sculpture, but never RECOGNIZED it until that day. For me, that is one of the great things about this co-op--I'm learning along with my children. (They have their "aha!" moments, too.)

When the day was over, guess what we saw on our way back to the car?Yes, another one we could guess from a distance. How different it looks from varying angles!