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When we got back home, it still wasn't 'normal' per-se, for my dad was away in Germany. Of course, that's when everything seemed to break or go wrong. On the first day, my mom and I went out for a donut run and she accidentally typed in 13 dozen into the self-checkout at the grocery store instead of 13 donuts. Also, I stepped on a gardening instrument and had to get a tetanus shot because it broke the skin (no, Aunt "Rose" - this wasn't a figment of grandma's imagination). And then on a bike ride I went on with my sister and a friend on the day he was set to be back, my bike was messed up and I had to work twice as hard to do anything. I was huffing and puffing on even the straightaways (this may be partially due to the fact I haven't ridden in a while and may be out of shape...).It turned out to be the tires - they weren't fully blown up with air, and the back one was almost slipping off the wheel. But how was I supposed to know? Before we even got to the bike ride, we had some problems loading the bikes and with the bike rack. See how everything falls apart?
On the positive side, my mom, sister, and I also watched both seasons of Downton Abbey within that span of two weeks. I had already seen season 1 and part of season 2, but it was nice to see it all in order, one after another. The ending was amazing, too! I won't spoil it like my piano teacher did, but I would recommend this series - if you aren't already hooked, you will be once you start watching this superbly acted and written show. On Saturday, August 18th, we went and visited the Titanic exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum. It was interesting to see all those artifacts, and see the differences between the different classes. Did you know that, in today's money, the first class tickets were worth tens of thousands of money, the richest being 90,000 $ (if I remember correctly)? Or that a lot more people would have survived - the first few life boats were only a quarter full - but decided to try their luck on the boat. When they realized the ship would sink, there wasn't enough room in the remaining lifeboats. That's pretty sad.
The next Monday was registration for school. I still can't believe that school is almost here! I'm still sleeping in to 10 AM or later - I don't know how I'll get back into a routine of getting up a 6 AM. For now, I'm not trying to think about that. Fortunately, my schedule wasn't messed up, although I did get the worst lunch, B, which splits my fourth hour in half. From experience, I know you never get any work done in either half. I also got the proofs back from my senior pictures. Some are better than others, but what really surprised me was how similar I looked to my sister in the studio pictures. I  guess I know why people get us mixed up. The last interesting thing that has happened recently is that my family (minus my brother) went to the DIA (Detroit Institute of Art) yesterday to see the one Vermeer painting that is there on loan from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. It was called "Woman Holding a Balance," which is a self-explanatory description of the painting. Although it was flanked by two paintings of contemporaries, it was clearly superior in every way. It was small and depicted a normal scene, but exuded some magical luminance that seemed to draw me in. It was a beautiful painting. In the same area, we saw some Rembrandt paintings, and although they weren't nearly as good as Vermeer's I did like how he showed emotion, especially in the painting "A Woman Weeping." After touring that area of the museum, we went to another exhibit showing the drawings, prints, and collages of Matisse and Picasso. Although they aren't my favorite artists, they were definitely talented. I liked in some drawings of both, it seemed as if they were unfinished because they picked a certain area to be very detailed and the rest is just a sketch. In one, it was completely shaded by stippling - dotting a lot to make different shades - which impressed me, for I absolutely hate that technique because it's so time-consuming. I hoped to visit the Rivera Court, my favorite part of the DIA, but by that time, the museum was closing up and we were forced out. C'est la vie. If you ever get out in this area, you should go and visit the museum. It is a true gem in the city.