Yesterday I had a cavity filled and trips to the dentist are major migraine triggers for me. Also, last week it was cool enough to sleep under the down comforter and this week we are pining for our window air conditioners. My computer is a desktop and it is located in the upstairs room that is becoming my studio. The heat is also a migraine trigger for me so I’ve been either packed in ice in bed or in a camping chair in the basement to make it through the day. In any case I wanted to give you a peak at the Breakers, one of the Newport, RI mansions we visited on our trip there.
This is the gate to the house. Pretty fancy. Here is the description from the Newport Mansions Preservation Society.
“The Breakers is the grandest of Newport’s summer “cottages” and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family’s social and financial preeminence in turn of the century America.“
While I love the doors and textures and interesting architectural features, I have to say that this one kind of bothered me. The Buddhist teacher Atisha said, “Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment.” I wasn’t sure it was resentment I was feeling, but to have doorknobs like these kind of seems like such conspicuous consumerism that I feel a little bit nauseated. On the other hand, its pretty.
The door itself is so lovely, too. Next week when the air conditioner is in and I’m feeling physically and emotionally better I will post the loveliness that is The Breakers, but for more beautiful door photographs without the emotional baggage see Norm 2.0.
I hope you have a temperate and beautiful day.
lunanista 
It’s not always easy to appreciate beauty when you can also see the mentality of conspicuous consumption that led to its creation. It is beautiful all the same.
Hope you’re feeling better soon 🙂
Thanks for the kind words. I have struggled with this issue for a long time and I struggle with it in my art. The luxury of beauty, or is it necessary to feed the soul? So I take pictures and make art and do what I can to make the world a better place.
I hope you’re feeling better soon.
Thank you for your kind words.
Jeanette, we’ve been having a variety of weather here in the Chicago area, too: hot enough for the AC a few days ago, now the heat is back on and it’s rainy and cloudy. Sigh. I guess that’s spring weather for you, at least in the Midwest. I hope you’re feeling better now, but I appreciate you sharing the opulence you saw. I don’t mind the door handle, but I’d personally pass on the painting on the panel of the door. Not my style at all. 🙂
janet
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