Sheaves of Wheat and The Nutcracker

As usual, Mihir and I are keeping very busy. Of course, we only have weekends to spend together, so we try to make them as restful and entertaining as possible. Last weekend we visited the Dallas Museum of Art specifically to see a special exhibition of Vincent van Gogh's paintings. I was lucky to visit the van Gogh Museum in the artist's native Holland three years ago, and that was wonderful. But this exhibition was the largest van Gogh collection on display in the southwestern USA in many years, and I felt so fortunate that it was a mere 30 minutes from our home. They had several paintings depicting rural Dutch and French life in the nineteenth century, by van Gogh and some of his contemporaries, such as Monet, Gauguin, and Millet. We had a nice time browsing the collection. After that, we drove to our favorite Indian restaurant, Madras Pavillion. That is always a treat! They have the most wonderful vegetarian food I've tasted. The biggest challenge, for me, is not to overeat at the buffet because everything is so delicious.

Last night, just in time for Christmas, we went to the Texas Ballet Theater's production of The Nutcracker. I saw a college production while I was studying at Alma, and I fell in love with the music and the dancing. The college does an absolutely stunning production every two years. I was excited to see how professional dancers could do it, and I wasn't disappointed. The venue was Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, which is a truly beautiful theater. It was a beautiful production. It even snowed on the audience after the dance of the Snow Queen!