Errands, Lunch, and Sightseeing

Thursday, 1 March 2018
Advanced RV Resort — Pearland / Houston, Texas
Temps: Hi 78F (26C) / Lo 60F (16C)

Except for going to the Houston RV Show in early February, our plans for sightseeing around the area did not gel … until today.  The weather is partly to blame … but so is downright laziness.  Actually the latter is not really fair.  We’ve been keeping busy at home working on the routing for our spring/summer road trip and our subsequent travels overseas.  Then there is the fact that we’re giving Mui a chance to regain his strength without overdoing things.

Speaking of Mui.  He’s doing well post open heart surgery.  Knock on wood!  His recuperation has gone more smoothly than either one of us expected.  While he continues to have some pain as his ribcage heals, that is easily managed with over-the-counter pain meds.  He’s back to his usual routine, able to walk and bike considerable distances around Tom Bass Regional Park.  He began three-times weekly cardiac rehab sessions in early February and is anxiously awaiting the addition of upper body workouts to his exercise regimen at the two-month post-op mark … that will be around March 7.

But now, back to today. It started with us having a reason to go into Houston.  We had a bunch of things from an online order to return to REI.  Instead of paying to ship them back, we decided to take them to one of the stores in Houston … an instant excuse to have lunch out for a change and do a bit of sightseeing, too.  The bonus — a sunny, blue sky day that was a welcome change from the recent run of overcast we’ve had … not to mention, bouts of rain.  A perfect day to be out and about.

Our errand was easily accomplished and the timing worked out perfectly.  By the time we were done at REI, it was time for lunch.

Awhile back, a friend had recommended to us a Mexican restaurant in Houston by the name of Cuchara.  We decided to check it out today since it’s not far from the REI store we went to.  It’s a casual restaurant with what to our palate tasted more like the authentic cuisine we’ve had south of the border.  We sat outdoors since it was a nice day and dallied over our meal, wrapping up with a shared order of Cinco Leches for dessert … using five types of milk instead of the usual three that goes into making Tres Leches.

Mui manages to get the name of the restaurant into our selfie.

An excellent meal that consists of shredded beef flautas; sopa de fideo … a soup
that reminds me of a chicken/tomato broth soup mom makes … except that she uses
vermicelli instead of hand-made capellini pasta; huachinango Veracruzana …
basically, Veracruz-style red snapper; Cinco Leches for dessert.

When we set out this morning, it was with the intent to go to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts  — today being free admission at most of the Houston Museums.  After lunch, we changed our minds.  Why?  Well, for one thing, we dallied over lunch longer than expected and didn’t want to get stuck in afternoon rush hour on the way back home.  Houston is notorious in that way.  Also, when Mui was programming the GPS to get us to the HMFA, he noticed a nearby place called the Byzantine Fresco Chapel.  Byzantine? Frescoes?  Free, to boot?  Sounded like a winning combination to us.

Turns out the the chapel and the fresco (or frescoes) are gone and all that remains is the name.  I did a bit of research when we came home and learned that the de Menil Family had an opportunity to rescue some dismantled frescoes.  That was in 1983.  The origin of these frescoes was traced back to Cyprus.  Long story short, the frescoes were purchased on behalf of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus and the de Menils built a chapel to exhibit the items in Houston.  The building was consecrated in 1997 and the frescoes remained on exhibit for 15 years before they were returned to Cyprus.  Since then — the original name intact — the rather non-descript building is used for temporary art exhibits.

Indeed there was an exhibit there today —The Fabiola Project.  It’s one that revolves around images of one woman — Fabiola … a 4th century Roman saint.

Scanned cover of the exhibit brochure.

The exhibit is the work of a Belgian artist by the name of Francis Alÿs.  The images are reproductions of an original painting by Jean-Jacques Henner … a French Artist.  Turns out the original was lost in 1885.  Alÿs began his collection of Fabiolas in Mexico City’s flea markets and it ballooned from there.  I’m not sure if he owns all 450 of the images that comprise the Fabiola Project, but a good number of them were displayed on the wall of a single room at the museum.  In addition to paintings, there were bas-relief wood carvings, ceramics, needlepoints, and tapestries … all of the same woman  One piece was made from black beans, flax, and other seeds.  It was an interesting exhibit, but definitely not what we expected.  No photography allowed, though … so I’ve resorted to ‘borrowing’ one from the web.

The Wall … all reproductions of the original Fabiola painting.

The short video about the project — shown in a room with glass walls … and thus not easy to see on a sunny day — is a must for anyone who does not know anything about Fabiola or the passion of Alÿs to collect the reproductions.  We watched it before we went in to see the exhibit and it helped us to have a better appreciation of what we were looking at.  I grabbed a quick couple of shots of the jewelry on display in the video screening area.  All featuring images of Fabiola, of course.  If photography here was also a no-no … well, mea culpa … no one told me otherwise.

Some of the cameos and brooches on display.

From here we were going to visit the main collection on the de Menil campus.  As luck would have it, the building closed on Monday for the next eight months!  Sigh!  One of the attendants told us there was another chapel — no admission as well — that we could go see not too far away.  So we headed over there instead.

The non-denominational Rothko Chapel is a place of meditation … no photos allowed … although I’m not sure what visitors would take a picture of unless there is a live event when they happen to stop by.  The website describes the chapel as being something “… like you’ve never experienced.”  I’d have to agree.

The building itself is non-descript.  Inside, past the foyer, is a big octagonal room.  On the walls of the room are panels — painted solid black, but as Wikipedia describes it … “color hued.”  I suppose they make for a blank canvas on which those meditating can focus without distraction.  Sorry, not our cup of tea.  We walked in, strolled around the perimeter of the room where there were two people meditating and a guard making sure no one took photos, and walked out into the sunshine.

The other sides of the room look just like this one.
[Borrowed since no photography was allowed.]

We stopped briefly outside the chapel for me to photograph a sculpture sitting in a reflecting pool on the grounds.  This work of art — not really to my taste, either — is called the Broken Obelisk.  The signage nearby said that it represents the chapel’s “… commitment to human rights and social justice, and honors a great man whose life and ministry embodies the values of this sacred institution.”  I believe that’s a reference to Martin Luther King, Jr.  I’ll explain below.

The Broken Obelisk reflects nicely on the water as the sculptor intended it to.

The sculpture was originally installed in DC.  When the City of Houston received a grant to purchase the piece, the de Menils offered to match the grant.  However, they had a couple of caveats — that it be installed near City Hall and that it be dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr.  The City agreed to the former … rejected the latter request.  So, the de Menils bought the sculpture themselves, dedicated it as they wished, and installed it in front of the Rothko Chapel … doing so in a reflecting pool to honor the sculptor’s wish.

Don’t know that I can say that we had a good day of sightseeing.  What we saw was interesting … in an odd way.  But that’s as far as my enthusiasm will stretch.  On the other hand, our errands were concluded successfully and we had a great meal. As they say, two out of three ain’t bad.  So I’ll count this day as a win.

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