MASSACHUSETTS, August 10, 2011
Dear Ones,
It rained all through the night, and as a result it was quite a bit cooler this morning, but still rather humid. Marthe was up by 8:00 and disappeared in her studio to get some last-minute details taken care of regarding the show. Josh called, but was sounding infinitely worse, and had not tolerated the penicillin well. Of course Marthe was very worried about the state of his health, but had to carry on in spite of it all, as she had a show to mount.
Works were taken down from either hanging on walls or leaning against walls, and especially the large, hanging pieces had to be carefully folded and deposited gingerly. After readying all the art work, of course Baby Owen and his entire host of paraphernalia had to be considered as well. I had forgotten how much material was necessary to transport a 3-month-old from Point A to Point B. I did learn one thing, however: when I sang to him, he immediately got calm and started smiling at me. The most effective type of songs for him were definitely the Irish ones such as "Kerry Dancing." He also loved "Edelweiss" and Gershwin's "Summertime." However, not every song was to his liking, and when he started wrinkling his forehead, I became wary and would quickly give him back to his mother. That's the nice thing about being an ancillary party to a baby--you can give him / her back if they become petulant!
In the early afternoon, we got in the car and traveled to the Hall Haskell House in Ipswich, also site of the Visitor Center. Here, we spent our time cleaning the windows, window ledges, tops of radiators, and sweeping the floor. We discovered a leak in the corner of the building, and alerted the staff about that, but continued in our efforts to hang the major artworks, especially the central hanging and all the illuminated pieces around it. Sue Ann brought in all her small framed pieces as well, and I photographed all of them for her. Scilla, Marthe's daughter,arrived also, and with five of us putting our two cents' worth in about hanging and displaying artworks, the din was quite extraordinary. At about 6:00 we finished and decided to go to Essex and have seafood at Farnham's, a locals hangout specializing in seafood and located next to the Essex Marsh--a beautiful place in the late afternoon sun. I had crabcakes which were excellent, and the others had a salad, fried haddock, fried onion rings, and friend clams, as well as clam chowder. We drove to a local ice cream place afterwards, and I treated everyone to dessert--I myself tried a local favorite, the dark raspberry ice cream, which was scrumptious. Their concept of one scoop, for $3.50, was as big as three scoops anywhere else.
We have returned home now, and everyone is playing with Owen. I still need to photograph Sue Ann's necklace, which she will place in the exhibit tomorrow, and so I will place that against several different backgrounds and see what I can come up with that will make the piece "sing." Then packing, and off to bed for tomorrow's last travel flurry before the reality of school sets in with a vengeance. One more good thing before that, however: Alexandra is coming to visit me over the weekend, and we will celebrate her birthday. Also, I have done some research concerning a possible international venue for next year, and think perhaps it might be Sweden. For now, off to bed and good night!
It rained all through the night, and as a result it was quite a bit cooler this morning, but still rather humid. Marthe was up by 8:00 and disappeared in her studio to get some last-minute details taken care of regarding the show. Josh called, but was sounding infinitely worse, and had not tolerated the penicillin well. Of course Marthe was very worried about the state of his health, but had to carry on in spite of it all, as she had a show to mount.
Works were taken down from either hanging on walls or leaning against walls, and especially the large, hanging pieces had to be carefully folded and deposited gingerly. After readying all the art work, of course Baby Owen and his entire host of paraphernalia had to be considered as well. I had forgotten how much material was necessary to transport a 3-month-old from Point A to Point B. I did learn one thing, however: when I sang to him, he immediately got calm and started smiling at me. The most effective type of songs for him were definitely the Irish ones such as "Kerry Dancing." He also loved "Edelweiss" and Gershwin's "Summertime." However, not every song was to his liking, and when he started wrinkling his forehead, I became wary and would quickly give him back to his mother. That's the nice thing about being an ancillary party to a baby--you can give him / her back if they become petulant!
In the early afternoon, we got in the car and traveled to the Hall Haskell House in Ipswich, also site of the Visitor Center. Here, we spent our time cleaning the windows, window ledges, tops of radiators, and sweeping the floor. We discovered a leak in the corner of the building, and alerted the staff about that, but continued in our efforts to hang the major artworks, especially the central hanging and all the illuminated pieces around it. Sue Ann brought in all her small framed pieces as well, and I photographed all of them for her. Scilla, Marthe's daughter,arrived also, and with five of us putting our two cents' worth in about hanging and displaying artworks, the din was quite extraordinary. At about 6:00 we finished and decided to go to Essex and have seafood at Farnham's, a locals hangout specializing in seafood and located next to the Essex Marsh--a beautiful place in the late afternoon sun. I had crabcakes which were excellent, and the others had a salad, fried haddock, fried onion rings, and friend clams, as well as clam chowder. We drove to a local ice cream place afterwards, and I treated everyone to dessert--I myself tried a local favorite, the dark raspberry ice cream, which was scrumptious. Their concept of one scoop, for $3.50, was as big as three scoops anywhere else.
We have returned home now, and everyone is playing with Owen. I still need to photograph Sue Ann's necklace, which she will place in the exhibit tomorrow, and so I will place that against several different backgrounds and see what I can come up with that will make the piece "sing." Then packing, and off to bed for tomorrow's last travel flurry before the reality of school sets in with a vengeance. One more good thing before that, however: Alexandra is coming to visit me over the weekend, and we will celebrate her birthday. Also, I have done some research concerning a possible international venue for next year, and think perhaps it might be Sweden. For now, off to bed and good night!
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