TEAPOTS

I love teapots! They combine the functionality of a vessel with a shape that can be almost anything. A teapot needs the container, a lid, a handle, and a spout. The vessel can resemble anything as long as it has these basic elements.

Because of my passion for teapots, I was invited to the home of a couple with the largest teapot collection in the US. They "only" had a few hundred teapots displayed in their home; the others were in storage and awaiting a new museum in North Carolina. The teapots in their home were artfully and beautifully arranged, and varied from those commissioned by artists purely for art's sake to those that were mass produced and functional. They were all ages, from hundreds of years old to new and contemporary. The materials ran the gamut, from glass and ceramic, to fibers and metal. The collection was fascinating!

Insects

I freely admit I was less than enthusiastic when my wife and a friend dragged me to the insect fair at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. I now realize that to have missed it would have been like missing a showing of the finest French impressionists. The displays were phenomenal, extraordinary, remarkable....and every other adjective I can use. The butterflies varied in size from larger than a man's hand to as small as a fingernail. They came in every color in the rainbow, with breathtaking combinations of color. Some were opalescent, others iridescent, and others translucent. Butterflies were my personal favorite, but there were also countless beetles, and like the butterflies, they varied in size and color. There were giant walkingsticks, huge mantids, and many exotic insects from Malaysia and South America. The visit was truly memorable and I look forward to seeing these incredible specimens again next year.