IT'S A DOOZY!

When planning vacations, here's our deal: if I want to visit an art museum, then we must also schedule a car museum visit.   Several years ago, I wanted to go to the Toledo Art Museum because I had learned there was a Corot I had not seen.  Gerald wanted to go to the Auburn/Cord/Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana.  Fortunately, Toledo and Auburn are close.

In Toledo, after touring the museum, we had delightful dining at Tony Packo's Cafe.

In Indiana, we had an enjoyable tour at the Auburn/Cord/Duesenberg Museum;  I learned that the "It's a doozy" saying stems from the reaction to the beautiful Duesenberg car in the 1930s!

When we went to the Toledo museum, Gerald was thrilled to see a work by Frank Stella titled Lac Laronge 4.   He bought a print of the painting which cost $24.99.  The print measured 38.5 inches X 26.5 inches. He was outraged by the cost of the frames listed at the museum and "harrumphed" that he could get one cheaper "around home" but when he shopped for frames around home, he couldn't find a "ready-made" frame in the size needed. The largest ready-made frames were 36".  He went to Michael's and other places to get estimates for having a frame made. The cheapest estimate was $199.00.  I had had frames custom-made for my Corot prints and they were made of cherry wood. Gerald asked, "How MUCH did those cost?" I told him I couldn't remember because I'd had them made in the 1970s.

Thus, his Stella print stood, rolled up, in a corner of the bedroom for several years.  One day, at his niece Gina's home for a picnic, I admired the frame on a huge picture in her living room. She asked, "Would you like to have that picture?" I protested that I couldn't take the picture. She continued, "Jason brought it home from work and since we didn't have anything to hang over the couch, I put it there, but I hate it."  Knowing that she liked Monet, I countered with, "What if I find you a Monet print to go there?" She said that I didn't need to do that.

I called Gerald in from outside and said, "Gina says we can have this god-awful painting." He looked bewildered and I said, "The frame--the frame!" (I admit I said it with a lame Herve Villechaize imitation)

For less than $100.00 I was able to purchase TWO Monet prints already in decent frames to put on Gina's wall and Gerald got the frame from Gina for his Stella print.  The Stella print now graces our family room wall.  I HATE the print, but Gerald LOVES it, so that is all that matters, since every other art work in the house is my choice. We have nicknamed the print "It's A Doozy"!

The original of the painting, from Stella's Saskatchewan Series, sold at Sotheby's for $800,000 in 2007.

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My ONLY Herve Villechaize joke: Herve Villechaize wanted to do something philanthropic and he came up with an idea to make resort hotels to cater to other little people. Everything in the hotels would be scaled-to-size for little people and the best thing would be that the the little people could vacation there free-of-charge.

They were called STAY-FREE MINI PADS!