Stroke of serendipity

I just love serendipitous days. Those days where one good thing leads to another, & you find yourself somewhere you had not intended to go, but exactly where you want to be.

For me this often involves a museum. I love museums and cultural experiences. When I returned from my semester abroad in college, I vowed to visit a new museum every month. Um, yeah, that hasn't happened. I love museums but at terrible about planning to visit them. I lived 1/2 mile from the Bowers Museum for over 2 years, and even though they have advertised amazing Tibetian and gemstones and mummy exhibits, I never visited! Last February I had a serendipitous day at the Malibu Getty where I had the most amazing tuned in tapped in turned on experience, but that's another post altogether.

Today serendipity took me to the Bowers. Here's what happened...

I'm going out of town for a family party this weekend, and my grandma asked me to pick up the biggest box of Sees candy I could find. I was about to pull into Main Place Mall, when I saw a sign saying that the Bowers Museum's Terra Cotta Warrior exhibit been extended through October 16. I have been wanting to see the exhibit since it had been announced, but, well, I've told you I'm bad at planning museum visits. I bypassed the mall & headed right to the Bowers.

There were about 15 full Terra Cotta Warriors, a gorgeous metal crane & swan, various replicas, and many fragments. One of the fragments showed the inside of a Warrior's torso (the torsos were created by coiling clay, like making a vase, so they are hollow), and you could see how the craftsman had worked the clay. The plaque said that you could see fingerprints, but, to be honest, I couldn't see them. This human aspect is my favorite thing about art. I'm the person in museums who cranes my neck to see the bottom of the vase or the back of a figurine. There is so much human-ness in the raw "back" of art. I love that.

I also spent some time in the Ancient Arts of China collection. I'm glad I did, because I saw something really cool. Picture a bronze disk, perhaps 6 inches in diameter, heavily inscribed with vines and Chinese writing. The opposite side of the disk would have been shined & used as a mirror. The inscribed side, translated, says:

May you enjoy everlasting fortune.
May you enjoy wine & food.
May you enjoy freedom from worry.
May your days be replete with happiness.

I just love this quote. It really makes me happy. I'm going to use it for something in my house, but the idea hasn't formed yet. Such inspiration from a 2000 year old mirror!

One last note ... There was a plaque on the wall listing the names that Bronze-age Chinese used for different food & beverage vessels. There were at least 12 words for vessels used to carry wine. Bronze-age Chinese were my kind of people! Haha! =)

I just wanted to share my serendipitous day with you. I love days when things line up & you know that you're tuned in tapped in turned on. Those days are happening for me more and more.

So, now it's your turn. How did serendipity strike you today?