Attending a Virginia Opera Company Performance with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Attending a Virginia Opera Company Performance with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

I read the Community Section of the Virginian-Pilot newspaper everyday to look for inexpensive or free things to do in the Hampton Roads area.

One day I found a free performance by the Virginia Opera Company of Little Red Riding Hood. 

“What is opera,” Florence asked.

“It is a sung play.  You will love it.  Really!”  I reassured Florence as we went to the show.

Florence sat transfixed through the performance and asked the singers afterwards during the question-and-answer period, “Do you get hot under the lights?”

“We forget about the heat when we sing,” one of the singers answered.

As we left the show, Florence remarked, “They really sang everything in the show.”

“That’s what they do in opera.  Maybe you could be an opera singer,” I said.

“I would rather sing like Selena,” she answered.  She loved seeing Jennifer Lopez sing like Selena in the movie about Selena’s life when we picked her daddy up from boot camp outside Chicago when he joined the Navy.

The following days, though, Florence sang out her favorite fairy tales despite saying that she wanted to be Selena rather than Carmen.

The kids’ opera was a fun outing with little Florence.  I think kids’ opera is the sort of thing you should have in a “village” to raise children as Hilary Clinton said in her book It Takes a Village.  (I do read a lot, including cereal ingredients on cereal boxes.)

Most of my blogs do have a back story in them of what I want in a "village" for raising children in the US.  Many of these activities require volunteer work and proven results before they can get funding, though.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk (Virginia) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk (Virginia) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

On a free day at the Chrysler Museum in downtown Norfolk (Virginia), I took Florence to the Chrysler Museum after school for a field trip.

The Egyptian mummies intrigued Florence as usual.

“Why did the Egyptians write with pictures?” she asked, referring to ancient, Egyptian hieroglyphic writing.

“Lots of people wrote with pictures before they had alphabets,” I responded.

“People like the Chinese and Japanese still write with pictures,” I said.

We looked at several busts of Buddha, which made Florence ask, “Who was Buddha?”

“He is like Jesus for the Japanese and Tibetans,” I said.

We made an elderly lady’s day in the Neoclassical statue section.

“Do you see that?” Florence said as she pointed at several statues.

“They have statues of naked people in here!!!” she exclaimed.

The lady started laughing, and so did I.

We finished our visit by looking at student artwork.

Florence could not believe that children like her received display space in the museum.

We stopped at the Dunkin’ Donuts on the way home for donuts, orange juice for Florence, and a big coffee for me with cream (pre-latte days).

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting the Mariners' Museum in Newport News (Virginia) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News (Virginia) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Laurent, Florence, and I went on a field trip to the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News (Virginia) to see the Titanic exhibit.

Florence was ga-ga over the Titanic movie, so I knew this outing would be met with enthusiasm.  At the exhibit, we all received a ticket with the name and photograph of an actual passenger on the Titanic with a scavenger hunt questionnaire.

The exhibit featured lots of photos and biographies – not too child-oriented, but I saw the film and read several history books about what happened, so I made up commentary to go with the photos.

However, finding John Jacob Astor’s gold pocket watch earned us the right to place a big, gold sticker on our scavenger hunt sheet.

In Florence’s favorite exhibit, you could put your hand in a sac surrounded by water that was the same temperature as the water the Titanic passengers found themselves in when the ship sank.

This exhibit explained that hypothermia puts you into a trance-like state.  It is not a painful way to die supposedly.

We watched a slideshow that said the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 made people less optimistic about technological progress.  The sinking of the Titanic happened when the first skyscrapers were being built.

The most chilling exhibit showed how many people died in each class of passengers.  You definitely had an edge for survival, if you were in a first-class cabin.

Several things happened regarding cruise ships after the Titanic sank.  First and foremost ships had to have enough lifeboats for all the passengers. 

From then on, the Marconi Wireless Communication Centers on ships had to concentrate on safety rather than sending messages for first class passengers as well.

The same centers also had to stay open 24/7.  The ship that was close to the Titanic did not receive a dispatch signal, because its communications center was closed.

Cruise ships had to run on a more southern course after the sinking of the Titanic as well to avoid icebergs and winter storms.

After the Titanic disaster, there were many fundraising benefits for the survivors and their families.  The tour guide said that every street in Southhampton (England) lost someone on the Titanic.

After the Titanic exhibit, we looked at miniature ships and the testing pools to see how the miniature ships would withstand waves, winds, and collision.  Florence had fun moving the ships in the water.

We spent 3 hours at this great museum and had fun eating at an Italian restaurant afterwards.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting the Hermitage Museum in Norfolk (Virginia) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Hermitage Museum in Norfolk (Virginia) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Laurent and I were able to think about a little history as we dropped Florence off at school one day and went out on a date.

The two of us went to visit the Hermitage Museum House in a 1908 Tudor-style home built by William and Florence Sloane in Norfolk.

Florence’s nickname was Jack, which was slang for “money” at the time of the First World War.  In the carving inside the doorway, there is a motto that says, “The house that jack built.” Mr. Sloane made his fortune selling long johns (loose thermal underwear that fits under pants and shirts) to the Navy.

My favorite piece in the Hermitage’s Chinese collection was a Chinese Kuan Yin statue carved in lindenwood from the Sung Dynasty (960 – 1279).  Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, was originally a male deity that the Chinese transformed into a female deity.

There were several figurines of horses and camels used to transverse the Silk Road and attendants in green ceramic and brown clay that were buried with the deceased.

The figurines took the place of living people and animals that used to be buried with their lords.  (Human burial with the pharaohs was also practiced in ancient Egypt.)

The Hermitage Museum had several Shang Dynasty (1523 – 1027 BC) bronze vessels with the characteristic symmetrical design on them called a taotie.  A statue of a Hindu goddess riding on the flayed skin of her ex-husband made me feel a little creepy.

Our tour guide did not like the exhibit with the three-inch shoes for Chinese ladies.  Doing away with binding women’s feet was one of the achievements of the Chinese Revolution of 1949 as far as I am concerned.

I liked the two Chinese cinnabar lacqueur boxes that the Sloanes owned as well.  Each box depicted fifty sons playing.

Families in China would give the fifty sons boxes to bridal couples and wish them to have 100 sons.  The lacqueur on these boxes was so deep that the artist was able to carve into the lacqueur and not into the wood.

Tobacco snuff bottles were all the rage in China and among collectors like the Sloanes.  To use the snuff, you would inhale it through your nose.

The more refined snuff boxes had little spoons, so you would not have to stick a bottleneck up your nostrils for the snuff.

One snuff bottle showed a reclining woman.  Her upturned, removable foot was the bottle opener.

I was impressed by this museum that reminded me of the Cernushi Museum in Paris (France) with its gem collection of Chinese artwork.

By Ruth Pennington Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting the Colonial Frances Land House in Virginia Beach with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Colonial Frances Land House in Virginia Beach with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

The eighteenth century Frances Land House in Virginia Beach (Virginia) provides another trip back in time for young visitors.

Before I could even purchase our admission tickets, my little daughter Florence found a colonial toy called a Jacob’s Ladder whose three pieces constantly climbed towards the ceiling in the gift shop by turning over and over.

I bought Florence the Jacob’s Ladder and let her play with it during our visit and a wooden bear on two strings that climbs up on two strings that you attach to the wall.

The Frances Land House has the best display in the Hampton Roads area about the stages that flax goes through to become linen.  Our guide encouraged us to crush a flax bud between our fingers and feel what the flax feels like after it has been combed out.

The most interesting display upstairs was a puddin’ cap, a sort of cloth helmet, which children wore in colonial times when they were learning to walk.

Children can also smell rosemary and lavender used to freshen up clothes and touch a leaf of lamb’s ear that was used as a bandage in colonial times.

After visiting a colonial house, it is always interesting to hear what your child has to say about it.

I liked to ask my little Florence, “What is the same and different about this house and our apartment?” to train her to be observant.

Florence and I agreed that indoor plumbing, air-conditioning, and TV were good things about modern houses.

By Ruth Pennington Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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