My apologies for a break in continuity occasioned by some time away. For readers who live in the Los Angeles area or may be heading there, here are a few notes:

The Getty Center has a superb traveling exhibit called “Power and Pathos,” a collection of Hellenistic bronze statues, gathered from many different museums, all of them showing the radical shift in classical art from the idealism of the earlier Hellenic style to the realism that was characteristic of the period between Alexander the Great in the fourth century BCE and the transition to Late Antiquity in the third century AD. It’s extraordinary to stand as close to these works as people of antiquity would have stood and to see the fine detail of the craftsmanship. One also learns something of the technology that made these bronze sculptures possible. The show remains at the Getty until November 1 and then moves to the National Gallery in Washington, DC, where it is to open in mid-December.

We also saw a much smaller but equally intriguing exhibit on illuminated manuscripts and their manufacture. Alas! it has just ended its run.

We can also recommend a couple of restaurants in the Silver Lake area. One is a Middle-Eastern restaurant called, no doubt for reasons lost in the dim mists of the past, Bowery Bungalow. We took family and friends there for Sunday brunch. Jon and I shared a brunch plate for two that included all sorts of delicacies. The beer on tap is good, too. The other restaurant is Night and Market Song, specializing in Thai street food. We learned from them that an ear of corn that’s been slathered with coconut milk and grilled is a great treat.