My rural midwestern upbringing had one big drawback: I was not introduced to the “finer things” until later in life.
I cracked my first lobster tail in my 20s.
Before that, I thought fish sticks were “fine seafood” and that buttered corn on the cob made a nice entree. I knew I was in over my head when I attended an art show with my gift of the finest wine 7-Eleven had to offer. I had even brought two boxes with their bladders full of my favorite vintage, but most of it went untouched. Instead of being a patron of the arts, I found a career in the HVAC industry. My love of art combined with my job helped me appreciate how fragile some of the world’s great oil paintings are. This is especially true for oil paintings made before products were available to prevent the canvas surface from moisture. The old artists had to boil up a batch of “rabbit-skin-glue”, described by some as a “smelly and horrible substance”. It was used as a sealant and mixed with calcium carbonate to make “gesso”, a primer for canvas. Rabbit-skin-glue has a problem in that it is reactive to humidity, a big reason why an art museum’s HVAC system must meticulously maintain a fixed climate. If the humidity rises, that glue will expand as well as the wooden frame causing cracks in the painting that can cause irreversible damage. The art snobs at the museum may not like my wine selection but they are all ears when I give HVAC advice. I tell them they must protect their paintings by keeping the relative humidity lower than 60% and to be absolutely sure there are no drastic fluctuations in temperature.