New York, New York

View of Chinatown

Last stop on the summer road trip was New York. It is great to be able to combine a family visit with some culture and fun! Thanks to the 'rents for putting us up, and treating us to dinners out and theater seats! Highlights of the trip included cake tasting with DD as well as a whirlwind trip to Chinatown and the Metropolitan Museum.

There was a rumor afloat that showing one's Docent Badge could get one into museums for free. We tested this out and found it to be TRUE! Plus, the docent's guests can also enter for free, although each museum has different guidelines as to how many guests: MoMA allows one free guest, the Met allows up to 4 free, the Cooper-Hewitt let in 2 guests. This is great news and should be shared with all docents! Quite a cost savings, as MoMA is now up to $20 entrance fee, and most other museums heading into double digits as well.

The best way to see the Metropolitan Museum is in short, targeted strikes. We went on Friday evening, when it stays open until 9pm and there are drinks on the roof. We saw the new Greek and Roman Galleries and the temporary exhibit on the Clark Brothers' Collections. We also ate in the small cafe (which has been moved since the opening of the new galleries). The food and service were quite good, although not cheap. But it is in a nice area near European Decorative Arts with a bank of windows that looks onto green space. The restaurant stays open until 10 pm so you don't feel rushed.

There are weird flowers outside of the Cooper Hewitt Museum and Richard Sera sculptures at the Museum of Modern Art and that pretty much concluded the culture for this trip.


We also were in NY for Harry Potter weekend, and I was able to read
about half of the book before I left for home. Thanks to DM and DD for that!

I have to report the demise of my beloved Casio Exilim camera, as DH took it on his fishing trip and accidentally let it go swimming......Vacation pics will be up on the Flickr site soon. Any suggestions for a new, waterproof camera?

Summer School For Docents

The Road Show is still on the road, and behind in the posts!

From July 9 to July 15 I was part of a group of docents from all over the country that came to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA to learn more about how to talk about art. We were taught primarily by Michael Cassin, the Curator of Education for the Clark, an energetic (to put it mildly!) teacher whose love of the arts drives his passion for teaching. The Clark has a treasure trove of Impressionist art, as well as American, Medieval and European art, and collections of decorative arts and English silver (and a few sculptures!)

We also had other excellent tour guides as we took in contemporary art at MassMoCA, a new exhibit on Gerald and Sara Murphy at the Williams College Museum of Art , and several tours of art on view at the Clark. I loved the area as this view of the hill behind the Clark is typical. Lots of Berkshire Mountains around, too!
We stayed on the Williams College campus in Dodd House, which was adequate, but not heavy on amenities.


We also enjoyed 2 nights of the Williamstown Theater Festival, seeing "The Front Page" and "Villa America", both with recognizable actors from TV and movies, notably Nate Coddry from Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Matt Bomer from Traveler, Richard Kind from Spin City.

I worked pretty hard during the docent classes: we looked at a lot of paintings and objects from all genres, and had to do group exercises and presentations. I hope I can practice what I learned and improve my "gallery talks." It was great getting to know some more docents-hopefully we can visit each other's museums and get some wonderful tours from each other!
This is a photo of Michael teaching-we spent almost as much time in the classroom as touring. The Berkshire Eagle did a story about us. I did not get in the photos or the article!

With a day or two on either end of this trip to visit with friends and family in the Northampton area, it was a great week!

Camp Reunion

The Road Show has been on the road!
If you ever went to camp, you will know how nostalgic you can get for those summer days by the lake. If you never went to camp, you will think people are slightly crazy....The radio show This American Life did an episode about camp that was rebroadcast recently. You can check it out here


Anyway, my camp (Camp Northland for Girls) was in northern Minnesota outside of Ely, the gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. It was on the North Arm of Lake Burntside. It was started in the late '40s by a couple of teachers, and was run by them and their son until 1980. The property was subsequently bought by the YMCA of St. Paul, MN and added to their existing family camp. So, over the years, we Camp Northland girls have returned at various times to relive our childhoods. We have slept in the original cabins, used the outhouses and saunas, swam in the lake and taken out canoes and sailboats.

Thanks to the internet, we have found over 75 people who attended camp as campers and /or counselors and this reunion (6/30/07-7/7/07) proved to draw the most people to date.

The YMCA has expanded their property and built some nice log cabins with amenities about a mile from the original camp. As we are all getting older and need more creature comforts, we opted for the nicer digs. We could still do all our old camp activities and some new ones, too.

I really enjoyed the chance to connect with childhood friends, both from camp and my elementary school years. It was as much fun to find out what these people are doing now as to remember activities and canoe trips with them.

Many people brought their Memory Books and we spent hours looking at all the kids over the years and trying to remember everyone in our cabins. We shared secrets that had never been told (kids who snuck over to the boys' camp down the lake, took food from the kitchens, things like that) and learned lots about the history of the camp and what led to its closing.





Of course, I had great new experiences this trip. I got to go sailing, which I really liked but never did much as a camper. I canoed and hiked and got 2 tours of the bigger part of Lake Burntside. I was in a car that ran out of gas and a boat that almost ran out of gas.













I reconnected with the people and the lake and the woods.



And now for a camp song!

Tall girls, short girls, fat and thin,
Whatcha gonna do when the heat sets in?
Nothin' to do, nothin' to say,
That's the time to pack your bags and go away:
Come to Camp Northland where the breezes blow,
Come to Camp Northland where you swim and row;
Answer the ever luring call:
Camp Northland girls, the best of all!
Boom dadi yada, Some Girls!