It had been 30+ years since Suzanne had been to The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens so since I still had my active membership, we planned a day of exploration together.

After traveling from Oregon by boat, the flagpole was carted by a team of horses from Redondo Beach to its location here, where it has been standing tall ever since. Yes, exciting, indeed.

The gardens always delight. Nature is on show here.

A must for me was the Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science which houses interactive exhibits designed to engage children and families in a wonder-filled scientific exploration of plants. We walked in and were greeted by this spectacular photo opportunity. WOW.

Living plants fill a 16,000 square-foot greenhouse that comprises three different habitats (a lowland tropical rain forest, a cloud forest, and a carnivorous plant bog) and a plant lab devoted to experiment stations focusing on the parts of plants. We barely scratched the surface and a return is necessary. Though we delighted in all we did see.

I loved these informative signs, scattered about.

The sign above describes this plant and reads, "Botanists theorize the orchid's leaf mottling imitates lichen or moss, defending against predators. By resembling tree surfaces, it blends into environments, enhancing its camouflage."

Suzanne was quick to share this discovery with me. "The flowers of this evergreen shrub immediately give away its relationship to other members of the sunflower family. Looking only at its leaves and stems, however, most botanists have difficulty identifying the family it belongs to." Nature is awesome.

Another since Suzanne was there was the Virginia Steele Scott Foundation building, home to 31 galleries of American art, ranging from the early Colonial period to the present and representing painting, sculpture, photography, film, decorative arts, architecture, and textiles. I explored this treasure trove the last time I visited but there wasn't enough time to see it all. How exceptional is Pandora (1858) by Chauncey Bradley Ives?

"Depicted just as curiosity has gotten the better of her, Pandora is about to open the box that, unbeknownst to her, will unleash horrors into the world. By focusing on this quiet but decisive moment in the Greek myth, instead of its dramatic results, Ives invites viewers to contemplate the ideas of choice, consequence, and culpability as they apply to their own lives. The sculptor worked in the Neoclassical mode, basing Pandora's idealized beauty and proportions on ancient Greek art, but also retelling stories and myths from antiquity, thought to provide a source of moral uplift to audiences."

I am most impressed by sculpture. The artist's ability to birth something from a blank piece of marble is mind-blowing. Harriet Goodhue Hosmer was one of the nineteenth century's most accomplished female artists, gaining a reputation not only as a talented sculptor but also as a pioneering advocate of women's rights.

Her Puck, a cherubic depiction of the mischievous character from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, was one of her most popular sculptures and exists in many versions. It demonstrates Hosmer's command of the marble medium and love of detail, such as the mushrooms supporting Puck and the delicate structure of his wings.

I'm a fan of textiles, too. How about this Sampler by Eunice Hooper (1781-1866)? "Colorfully embroidered samplers made by girls between the ages of eight and eighteen were typically the result of a creative partnership between a gifted teacher and a remarkably diligent student. These compositions were based on designs sketched or blocked in by the teacher and subsequently stitched by her pupil. As proudly stated in big, bold letters, this sampler was worked by Eunice Hooper in the ninth year of her age. Typical of needlework produced in Marblehead, Massachusetts, in the early 1790s, it combines a remarkable level of naturalistic detail with neoclassical elements such as a fantastical representation of a horse-drawn chariot."

The modernism look of this rug intrigued me. Mary Peters Hewins wove this masterpiece in 1800. So dang cool.

This piece, Thankful Smead Chest with Drawers (1695) is a sad tale. "Most late 17th-century households in America had at least one large wooden chest used to store linens, clothing, and other household goods. From the T. S. carved on its front, we know this chest was made for a young woman named Thankful Smead, who was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1677. It may have been presented to Smead around 1695 upon her marriage to John Hawks Jr. The couple and their three children died in a raid of Deerfield by French soldiers and Native Americans in 1704."

A feature that I really appreciate in this gallery is seeing artifacts, from a painting, showcased near by. For example this Teething Stick and Whistle (1805) held by the child in Mrs. Elijah Boardman and her Son, William Whiting Boardman by Ralph Earl.

The child holds a teething stick and whistle, a luxurious baby toy that also served as an amulet to ward off evil spirits. For centuries, coral was believed to serve as protection for young children. Hard and smooth, it could be polished to a glossy shine while retaining its vivid, red color. Coral did not chip or splinter when chewed, and it was cool to the touch, which was soothing for a teething baby's gums. Precious metals and red coral were quite expensive, so these elegant toys were status symbols for affluent families as well as practical devices for dealing with fussy children.

Who knew?

I think you know that I'm extra pleased when there is a Disney tie-in. Tyrus Wong made this mural for the Los Angeles Chinatown restaurant the Dragon's Den, which opened in 1935. Sitting on the branches of a tree, a mother monkey clutches her baby. Nearby, three mischievous adolescents climb and play, passing a fruit down the line. The image stretches over two plywood panels, which come together like a folding screen-evoking Chinese and Japanese animal painting, and the language of murals from Wong's WPA-era Los Angeles.

Wong is a key figure in the history of Asian American art, most famous for shaping the art of Disney's iconic film Bambi (1942). He immigrated to the United States in 1920 from China, through Angel Island when he was 10 years old. Eventually settling in Pasadena and then Los Angeles, Wong trained as a modernist painter at the Otis School of Art and Design. In the 1930s, he became a central member in the of the Los Angeles Oriental Artists Group, a circle of Asian American artists who developed a distinctly homegrown style of modernism. Wong traversed media throughout his eight- decade career. covers for Reader's Digest, storyboards for Hollywood films, greeting cards for Hallmark, painted ceramics, murals and signs, and sculptural kites which he would fly at the beach. What an interesting man.

What impressed me the most about The Locomotive (1935) by Reginald Marsh was the fact that it was tempera painted on concrete (and its realism).

Marsh painted The Locomotive in preparation for a commission he received in 1935 to make two murals for the Post Office Building in Washington, DC. He wished to execute the murals in fresco, a technique in which pigment is applied to wet plaster, and he used this painting to master the process. Working directly on a studio wall, Marsh divided the composition into five sections, painting some areas, such as the gears of the train, on smooth plaster and others, such as the sky, on rougher plaster. These variations in surface texture help create a sense of atmosphere and depth.

We turned a corner to find this blue room. "Renowned American artist Betye Saar’s large-scale work Drifting Toward Twilight—recently commissioned by The Huntington—is a site-specific installation that features a 17-foot-long vintage wooden canoe and found objects, including birdcages, antlers, and natural materials harvested by Saar from The Huntington’s grounds."

Adding to all the highlights of this incredible day was seeing this painting, one of my favorites- Breakfast in Bed (1897) by Mary Cassatt. Mary Cassatt was one of the first American women to achieve international recognition as a painter. Born into a prominent Pennsylvania family, she spent most of her life in France after traveling there to study art in 1866. She became close friends with the French Impressionists, including Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Berthe Morisot, and she was the only American to officially join and exhibit with the group. Impressionists used small brushstrokes and unmixed colors to capture a quick, visual impression of a scene.

In the 1880s, Cassatt began depicting the subject that absorbed her for the rest of her career: mothers and their children. She often dealt with the tension between a mother's focused attention on her child and the child's desire to explore the world. In Breakfast in Bed, the mother gazes at the child wrapped in her arms while the child looks out into the room. By focusing closely on the figures, Cassatt draws the viewer into the intimate scene. WOW.

This long awaited outing was one of great conversations, exceptional art, good food, and unforgettable memories. Day #6 was a great success.