Day at the ICA

Matt and I in front of the harbor.


The ICA from below. All of the galleries are on the top floor.


Matt inside the ICA. It's a good thing the view is so nice, cause Matt was on the phone with work for quite a while.


The front of the ICA has steps that overlook the water. During the summer, a jazz band plays and people bring picnics and sit on the steps.


Boston building in the South End


B and G Oysters on Tremont Street

Matt had his doctor appointment for his collar bone during the day yesterday, and it gave me a rare chance to see hi during the day on a week day! I left work early and we headed over to the Boston ICA.

The ICA was built recently, and I kept reading in the papers about how cool the building was. With school and work and everything, I never had a chance to go check it out, so I was happy to finally be able to visit it! Matt and I are trying to really enjoy Boston and New England while we are still here...there really is a lot of cool things and beautiful places to see. (Especially in the summer!)

The weather was perfect...you appreciate great weather so much more here because it usually sucks...it is either too hot or too cold, too windy or too rainy, too humid or too dry. So, yesterday was a perfect "San Diego weather" day. I asked Matt if he thought we would miss seasons when we move and he said, without any hesitation, NO. The interesting thing to me is that with the new, beautiful weather, all the women dress so cute. Everyone wears dresses and skirts and nicely composed outfits. I am not sure if they actually look extremely cute or if it is just in comparison with how drab and heinous everyone looks in the winter. Seriously, I can't stop myself from staring at everyone's clothes and newly exposed skin. That sounds weird, but I think it is just because it seems new (no more floor-length quilted jackets!)...also I just came back from India where you don't see very much skin at all.

Anyway, the ICA was cool...modern art...I love looking at it but I always leave confused. What is art? I have no idea. I respect that people have the drive to create art but I admit that I am thoroughly confused by it. One piece was a drawing a skateboarder and a ramp, and the skateboarder is posed in mid air doing a trick. Um, do you want to come to my junior high? I think every boy at Muirlands has drawn this same image in his notebook. The accompanying explanation of the picture was something to this effect: "The artist captures the exhiliration of being in mid air" or something like that. Um, ya...that is why people skateboard and boys draw this picture in their notebooks. I probably shouldn't write this...I am sounding SO uncultured!!! Haha! But then, you don't have to like all art just because it is in a museum.

There was another piece that I thought was pretty cool. The artist somehow got people's wish lists off the internet and posted them on the wall. It sounds so simple, and it is, but when you read each person's wish list, you develop an image of the person and with each subsequent item on the list that mental image is refined. I really liked that one.

So, I guess I can safely say that I don't undestand art...but I must like it because it keeps me coming back. When I lived with dad he was a member of the LA MOCA, and that was always a fun excursion for us. We also got to go to the openening and other member events. I got to do so much with dad...he had so many interests and I feel lucky I got to live with him while I was a teenager. He was a good dad but also a really cool dad. He used to take me out on school nights to see concerts and plays and stuff...haha, unfortunately I am not as cool as him and probably won't do that with my kids. I mean, I hope I will...but unfortunately, I think I may not be as open-minded as he was.

The other cool thing about the ICA is the view...another reminder of how gorgeous Boston can be.

After the ICA we went to B and G Oysters in the South End. THis place had been highly recommended to me by several people, but I was sadly disappointed! I would have much preferred Legal Seafood. The oysters were great but the entree was not to my taste. I have realized that Boston people love rich, creamy food (hence, the ice cream obsession) and fried food (hence the fried clam obsession). In California, I think collectively we prefer more fresh flavors. I could be wrong here. But in general, having eaten in many restaurants in both places, this is what I have noticed.