Searching for the sun in Dallas

We came to Dallas for a few days to visit David's parents, and secretly hoping to see the sun again. Is it still there? Does anyone know?

Instead, we've been sitting in the family room of David's parents' nearly-empty house looking longingly through the sliding glass doors to the overcast skies and the pool in the back yard. I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to sit by the pool soaking in the sun after the longest, drearies, snowiest winter in history. But alas, my dreams of the sun are only dreams.

The only time I saw the sun this weekend was when we ventured to the Dallas Museum of Art for the J.M.W. Turner exhibit. Light and sun appear in most of his paintings...which are amazing. I really have no words to describe the exhibit. It was overwhelming. It's the largest collection of Turner paintings ever exhibited in one place and after a while it's "beauty overload". He's one of the first landscape painters and through his use of light and color and sky portrayed a sense of the "sublime". He also wrote poetry and in his later years (early -mid 1800s) started painting more impressionistic -- before there was anything called "impressionism". The only reason I know all of this is because I saw the exhibit with David, who used to write about art for the Tribune, and his friend, Stephen, who's an artist. These two guys know art...and I often feel a bit ignorant around them. I stand there looking at a painting, trying to come up with at least an intelligent question to ask. Mostly I just stand there admiring the painting while I listen to the two of them talk. It's like having my very own art tutors.

We are flying back to Chicago tonight (after having our flights canceled yesterday), and it's supposed to be sunny in Chicago tomorrow. We'll see. I may have to hang on to my memories of Turner's paintings to remind me that there is still something called "the sun", and that it's yellow and warm -- and sublime.