Go Sox!

JetBlue Park, Fort Myers, FL

Fort Myers presented us with the best of weather.  We explored downtown and ate at Firestone Grill, which was once a fish processing plant.  There is a roof bar that offers beautiful and expansive views of the Caloosahatchee River.  The next day we stopped first at the 6 Mile Cypress Slough park before heading to JetBlue Park to see the Red Sox play the Orioles.  Without complaint from us, the 80 degree sun baked us and soothed our spirits.  The Red Sox were just as kind with a 5-1 win.  It was fun to watch Pedroia and Big Papi up close.  It's soooo nice here.  We don't want to go home!   Flickr photos.

Anna Maria Tout est Fini

Helping the Old Lady up at the final sunset viewing. 

Or at least set tout fini for this year.  We have booked the same house for February 2015.  We haven't had any specific or unusual adventures in the past 2 weeks.  

I took a watercolor class that was the worst.  Half the class did not return for the second week.  Those that did return were complaining and taking charge of events before the teacher arrived.  I did not go for the final class.  The teacher gave no instruction, spent most of the class showing his work and rearranging a sickly coleus plant.  I did continue to experiment some at home.  

Wayne and I went to the Cortez Fishing Festival where there was far, far more Budwiser than fish.  The live music was nice and I bought a neat batik t-shit of a Great Blue.  We also play golf twice which reminded me of how much I love the game I abandoned 10 years ago.  

We went to some nice restaurants that are worth mentioning and remembering:  Euphemia Hay on Longboat Key, Island Creperie in Bradenton Beach, and the Crab and Fin on St. Armand's Circle.  Crab and Fin had wonderful octopus and wins the best dining award.  We watched a couple of sunsets from Anna Maria beach, and I spent about an hour on the Tampa Bay beach one afternoon.  Otherwise, the weather and our location discouraged daily beach visits.  

Mostly, we simply enjoyed the relaxed pace of life, the beautiful beaches and ability to walk most places.  Having a pool table (and a swimming pool) are nice additions to the house and provided hours of entertainment.  

Photos at flickr.

Fishing Trip

Wayne and Christy with Captain Brady

On the best day so far of our stay, we went fishing in the Gulf with Captain Brady.  It was a glorious day with temps in the 70s and calm as glass waters.  After picking up some bait at sea from the captain's friend, we headed out into the Gulf.  There was a rather large pod of dolphins jumping playfully.  We circled them laughing at the wonder of it.  The calmness hindered the fishing to a degree, but I had rather have beautiful weather and fewer fish than vice versa.  We caught a variety of fish.  Some of them were out of season (Gag Groupers) and some were under sized (Red Groupers).  Both John and Wayne caught red groupers that were 1/8 and 1/2" short of the 20" requirement.  The hogfish feeds off coral and rock and is almost exclusively speared rather than caught on a line. This captain instructs on catching with a line, which you lay on the bottom of the gulf (about 50') with a frozen shrimp.  Check out Wayne's t-shirt featuring the hogfish. At points during the day we saw a loggerhead turtle, several large jellyfish and many varieties of sea birds.  
The trip is best described in pictures at flickr.

Anna Maria Island Oasis

Lakeview Canal, Photo by Wayne LaGue

We've been here 3 weeks now and are still very happy with the area.  It is a beautiful little island key with only about 1200 people living in the one square mile Anna Maria.  We walk everywhere.  The weather has not been great. We keep waiting for more sunshine and hot days. But it is always warm enough to go out and sure beats what is going on in Wareham with subfreezing temps and snow.  It's so routine here that I can't see posting mundane activities everyday.
The two couples take turns cooking dinner and shopping.  We go out to eat every Friday night.  Tonight we are eating at the Sandbar Restaurant and seeing a local production of Delval Divas.  
I've been trying my hand at watercolors, even taking a class at the local Art League.  The teacher is a joke, but the other painters are nice, and it gives me a chance to work for 2 solid hours.  
Our days are pretty much like those at home:  exercise, painting, reading.  The house has a pool table we use every night to great delight.  The house sits directly on a canal where John fishes daily.  Wayne and I joined the local Community Center where there is a small gym with bikes, treadmills and a universal gym.  We've played golf once, been to the St Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts, an art expo and and art opening of Clyde Butcher's photographs.  
Some pictures are at flickr.

Anna Maria Chalk Festival

Wayne and John at the Anna Maria Chalk Festival

We arrived in Anna Maria last night and were welcomed by John and Kathy with shrimp, cheese and cocktails.  After 8 hours of driving it was so pleasant to have that waiting for us. John cooked steaks on the grill, too.  Today we walked the few blocks to Pine Street where the Chalk Festival was in full swing.  Live music, food and great street art under sunny skies brought smiles to our faces.  After fish tacos for lunch we headed home to watch the Patriots lose the Broncos.  Even that can't dampen being in the sunny south.  
Pictures of the chalk art are on flickr.

Charleston Rock and Roll

Wayne, Looking Down Vendue St, Charleston, SC

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood, sunny and warm and calm.  What a joy after the cold days of New England.  We walked to the end of the city pier and then along the Waterfront Park.  There are beautiful homes and gardens facing the Charleston Harbor.  We walked back on Concord St where we visited several galleries.  I didn't see any works that were particularly outstanding.  We had planned on this visit to go out to Fort Sumter, and decided to walk to the National Visitor Center where we could catch a ferry.  The walk was a little over a mile.  But when we arrived it was 12:30 and the next ferry left at 2:30.  Rather than wait around 2 hours in a district with nothing to do, we walked back to downtown, had lunch at the Southend Brew and took a carriage tour of the city.  It was lovely to ride and look at all the varied architecture.  My complaint was the guide focused most of her information on real estate prices quoting the latest sale prices. This happened to us in New Orleans, too.  I was much more anxious to learn about the architectural styles and history of the city's development.  
Tonight we went to the North Charleston Performing Center to hear the Tedeschi Trucks Band led by Susan Tedeschi (from Norwell, MA) and Dereck Trucks.  They are a hard driving Blues Rock band with 11 members: 2 sets of drums, bass, trumpet, trombone, sax, keyboard, 2 vocals/percussionists. Tedeschi sounds a lot like Bonnie Raitt.  This little video I took missed her voice, though, and is a quiet piece.  The guy in front of me went for a beer which determined when I took the video.  :-)  Additional pictures at flickr

Charleston, NC

Wayne, UNC, Chapel Hill

Before leaving Chapel Hill we rode through the UNC campus.  There were beautiful Crepe Myrtles lining the streets.  The Ackland Museum in on campus. The Museum was small and held paintings mostly "from the school of". The most interesting was The Study Gallery where pieces chosen by professors to complement their course were hung in dedicated areas.  For example, the Dismal Science course about European economics showed works by Daumier and Benton.

The drive to Charleston was short enough and the sun shown on us while we continued our listen of King's Dr. Sleep. We've returned to The Doubletree which is adjacent to the Market and in the Historic District. We walked to The Charleston Grill for dinner. Everything was superb: a beautiful room, live jazz and excellent fare. Charleston has much more the feel of New Orleans than of Savannah.

Location:N Market St,Charleston,United States

Chapel Hill, NC

There is nothing interesting to post today.  We spent about 9 hours in the car fighting one construction site after another.  The first one hour delay took place around Philadelphia where a crew with 3 large trucks had closed down the entire highway to fill in pot holes.  OY.  When we finally got to the hotel it was a delightful room.  More kudos to the Hilton family.  The most laughable moment came when we were in the elevator and discovered that the inspector (with picture included) was named Cherie Berry.  Now, come on.  You can't stop laughing either, can you?

Princeton University, On the Road Again

Wayne and the Princeton University Chapel

We've begun our winter 2014 sojourn to Florida where we will spend the next 6 weeks with our friends Kathy and John Lima in Anna Maria on Anna Maria Island.  It was a dark and stormy beginning; heavy rain followed us all the way to Princeton, NJ. The trek was made tolerable with Stephen King's newest book, Dr. Sleep, which is a sequel to The Shining.   We arrived in Princeton about 3:30 pm, checked into the local Hampton Inn and dashed immediately to Princeton University.  The University sits adjacent to downtown Princeton, the campus lining one side of Nausau Street and shops lining the opposite side.  We were simply wowed by the beauty and extent of the campus.  It rivaled any campus we have visited including Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge, and Yale.  The art museum has a respectable collection of the usual suspects (Medieval, European, American, etc).  The pieces that linger in my mind were Bosch's Christ Before Pilate, a most unusual Toulous Lautrec parody of Puvis de Chavannes, a Van Gogh and a beautiful Lucas Cranach.  The University chapel is a beauty claiming to be the 3rd largest university chapel.  It was well past dusk when we entered the chapel which denied us the complete experience of the stained glass and the soaring nave.  

Back at the Inn we took advantage of the offered free Italian dinner.  Agreeing before we went downstairs to head back into town if the fare proved not to please us, we were delighted with a great salad, stuffed shells and meatballs as good as anything we could prepare ourselves.  The meal came with wine and beer, too.  Oh!  And desert!  Hampton Inn has regained its spot in our hearts.  

For pictures of the University please visit Flickr

Berkshires, Redux: Northampton

Smith College Art Museum

I was thinking that today we would attend the Scottish Festival in Northampton, about a 55 mile drive from here.  As it turns out, it was so hot that we couldn't imagine enjoying log tossing.  Instead, we went to the Smith College Art Museum.  They have very impressive holdings.  The special exhibit was of posters from the 60's, Summer of Love.  For the first time, I realized how much influence the Art Nouveau had.  It was a wonderful nostalgic visit complete with 60's music playing.  The remaining 3 floors of the museum included new acquisitions that impressed me with the effort put forth.  The focus seems to be on works that are contemporary works which address political and social issues.  One thing I liked was a variety of benches made by artists and intended for sitting a viewing the art.  First, they were beautiful and unique.  Secondly, how nice to consider art while sitting on art, a continuum.

Tanglewood

This evening we returned to Tanglewood for Wagner's Ring Cycle, 2nd Act, The Valkyrie.  To me the voices in this opera are quite harsh.  But I love the instrumental section of the flying Valkyries.  Everyone else was enthralled and applauded, applauded, applauded, cheered, cheered, and applauded more.  It was a wonderful evening and way to end our time here.  Tomorrow we return home.  

Berkshires, Redux: Dream Away Lodge

Dream Away Lodge, Becket, MA

It is southern hot today, in the 90's.  It's been this way since yesterday and is predicted to stay so through tomorrow.  We had nothing specific planned so opted for indoor activities where air conditioning is available.  At the Rockwell Museum we saw a Disney Snow White illustration show.  Jack Craib would love this.  Also, there was a show by Jarvis Rockwell, Norman's son.  His portrait drawings were elegant and beautiful.  But he is also a collector of mass manufactured plastic toys which were displayed....not so interesting.  Most interesting to me were photographs of him in recognizable poses for his father's paintings.  I never knew Rockwell used his son for that. 

Next we went to Edith Wharton's The Mount.  We have not been there in several years and it was pleasurable to see the progress they have made in restoration.  The plaster carved ceilings were impressive.  The only Wharton book I've read is Ethan Frome.  

This evening we went to a fun and funky place, The Dream Away Lodge.  I discovered it by reading a previous guest's notes in the guest book.   The drive is about 8 miles up the mountain, through deep woods, past a few homes; no cars were on the road.  One pulls up to a large white house on a small hill with dozens of cars parked on the lot.  Where did they all come from?  Directing parking, the valet was dressed in torn off shorts, red tee shirt, floppy gray felt hat and sporting a beard.  Immediately, I knew this would be fun.  The front yard sloped down to the road with a scattering of chairs and tables.  To one side a big fire pit was billowing smoke and hosting a few people who were cooling off with beer.  Kids were running all over.  We ate on a rambling porch that wrapped around the house.  Plenty more seating was inside in rooms that had never been altered to become a restaurant.  The center room held a stage and musical instruments.  Every Wednesday and Friday local musicians play.  Once upon a time, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Dylan, Guthrie, etc have all played here.  What history.  After dinner we stayed for a bit of music from Podunk.  This will become a tradition, I think.   

The Berkshries, Redux: Williamstown Theatre Festival

Wayne in front of Louise Bougeois' Eyes, Williams College

Williamstown is a beautiful little college town nestled in the Berkshires.  Williams College is here as is the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute and the Williamstown Theatre.  We spent the day there and took advantage of all these venues.  The little town has one main street that is filled with galleries.  My favorite is the Harrison Gallery.  This year the main show was a tribute to Henry Geldzahler with works by 4 artist who knew him.  Geldzahler was the first curator of contemporary art at the NY Met.  

Williams College is off main street and we walked to their little museum.  They were hanging a new show so all that was available to see was a bit of the permanent collection.  Most interesting was a maquette of Louise Bougeois sculptures that are on campus.  Eyes, Nine Elements was commissioned by the Museum in celebration of their 75th anniversary.  

Our next stop was the Clark, where a Winslow Homer show was in progress.  Sterling Clark owned more Homer's than any other artist, over 200 works.  I like Homer but Wayne does not.  Or, at least, does not like the ocean coast paintings.  This show had multiple wood engravings and watercolors, too.   I enjoyed seeing Homer's dedication to working and living in a place through his works.  

We still had time to kill before the theater and went to Bennington, VT.  Bennington is home to Bennington (duh!) Potters.  The pottery is very distinctive, stoneware with a speckled glaze.  We've bought things here over the years and today was no exception, coasters for our new table.  Bennington was readying itself for Midnight Madness that evening when all the stores open from 7pm to midnight with sales.  The town was jumping.  We had a great dinner at Allegro and then headed back to Williamstown.

Williamstown Theater is a nationally renowned summer stock theater that performs internationally recognized play writes and attracts significant actors such as Christopher Reeve, Blythe Danner and E.G. Marshall.  We saw, Hapgood, a play by Tom Stoppard starring Kate Burton.  I found it delightful.  The stage was perfect in deep grays and lit with a blue tone, perfect for the spy thriller.  The acting was so spot on, not a bit of over acting that I often feel is present on the stage.  

The Berkshires, Redux: Shakespeare and Co.

Wayne on the Grounds of Shakespeare & Co.

We have attended some of the best Shakespeare productions at Shakespeare and Co.  Founded by Tina Packer and originally performed on the grounds of The Mount, Edith Warton's Lenox home. The Company has moved to its own grounds in the center of Lenox. The extended facilities include training for professional and student actors, a footprint stage for a future replica of The Globe Theater.  Today we saw Richard II, first performed late in Elizabeth I reign.  This was also the time when Essex moved against the Queen to depose her.  The play was commissioned by supporters of Essex and seen as a means to help with the uprising.  It failed and Essex lost his head.  Elizabeth said, "Don't you know.  I am Richard II."  Chamberlain's Men (Shakespeare's troupe) were not punished.  You can see a bit of the play here.

The Berkshires, Redux: FDR Library

Stone Cottage at Val-Kill

It's a scorcher today, 90 degrees.  I love it.  Everything is soooo green and lush.  We drove to Hyde Park, NY down the Taconic Parkway with the glorious Catskill Mountains off to our west.  FDR's library was our destination.  We had been there in June to see the home and museum, but the library was closed for renovation.  The renovated library is very nice, beautifully captures FDR's personality and the period.  Boy, how I wish we had a politician like him again.  I think Bill Clinton came close to having FDR's empathy.  Of course, FDR had a Congress of his own party that backed his efforts.  There is so much today that echoes his era:  extreme disparity in wealth, efforts to undermine and extinguish social programs by business.  After, we drove over to Val-Kill.  It was closed but we could walk the property.  I am as much interested in Eleanor as Wayne is in FDR.  She was such a strong and caring person.  I find both of them amazing in their ability to empathize with the disenfranchised when they came from such privileged beginnings.  

The Berkshires, Redux: Mass MoCA

Rising Phoenix by Xu Bing at Mass MOCA

Our friends, the Lima's, left today.  They will continue their vacation in Philly.  We continued our's by going to Mass MoCA in North Adams.  Mass MoCA is a museum of contemporary art located in an abandoned mill which also offers a variety of music, dance, performance and education.  Thus, there are huge open spaces that offer wonderful opportunities for artists to come and built works.  Nothing is permanent here.  All shows are truly the newest works.  There were two artists exhibiting that I was interested in seeing. The photo above shows Wayne standing under the tail of one of Xu Bings sculptures of a phoenix.  For a better look visit  Xu Bing.  He has built two huge phoenix sculptures out of waste materials.  The other artist, Jason Middlebrook has pieces that address his relationship with nature.  He has taken vertical slices of huge trees and drawn or painted on them.  Both these artist's works are most impressive in person because the size and scale are so powerful.  

The Berkshires, Redux: Jacob's Pillow

This afternoon we went to Jabob's Pillow to watch Companhia Urbana de Danca.  Jacob's Pillow is a dance center, school and performance space in Becket. The organization is known for the oldest internationally acclaimed summer dance festival in the United States. The facility also includes a professional school and extensive archives as well as year-round community programs.  The Companhia de Urbana troupe consists of 7 men and 1 woman from the favelas of Brazil.  Their performance is a mixture of hip hop and Brazilian dance.  They were certainly impressive.  Watch a clip of their strength, flexibility and control on Youtube
This evening we ate at Bistro Zinc in Lenox, then returned home for a repeat performance of Friday night.  Oy!  

The Berkshires, Redux: Tanglewood

After a lazy beginning to our day (who can doubt that after our 2am bedtime), we drove to Great Barrington for the Berkshire's Annual Arts Fair.  It really is a nice fair with very high end goods presented by over 50 artists and performers.  None of us bought anything although we were tempted by some beautiful silk jackets and inventive glass vases.  There was an area dedicated to local artists where 2 were painting the surrounding mountains.  The fair is on the Butternut Ski grounds where a little slope was covered with wild thyme wafting its aroma throughout.  We left the fair to have lunch at a local Greek restaurant and then shop for tonight's Tanglewood picnic.  The shopping was something of a Whole Foods repeat performance complete with more smelly cheese and sweet things. The crowds this year seem light; very few people were at the crafts fair, and parking at Tanglewood was easy and close to the gate.  We settled on the grounds with our blanket, table and food for a full evening of Bernstein's West Side Story.  The rain even cooperated and vanished.  This is one of my favorite musicals.  I had the album as a teenager and know all the words to every song.  The movie has been re-released in high def and was shown on big screens with the BSO accompanying it.  "Tonight, tonight won't be just any night."  

The Berkshires, Redux

We arrived for our annual sojourn in The Berkshires around 4pm and waited for our friends Kathy and John Lima to arrive.  On the way in we stopped at Whole Foods to stock up on goodies needed for an uplifting week end.  All the foods we never need or should eat can be found there:  smelly ripe cheeses, salty fried crackers, deeply processed and very hard meats, buttery and sugary deserts.  Wayne bought dry aged steaks which were grilled after a period of swilling gin and vodka to wash down the aforementioned smelly cheeses and crackers.  Have you gotten the drift of the upcoming week end?  The steaks, btw, were delicious.  
We are staying at Fern Hollow in Becket, MA at the home of Kate and Greg Losi.  They, meantime, are staying in our Wareham home.  This is our 3rd year to exchange.  So far it is a mutually beneficial adventure.  Fern Hollow is set in a hollow about 1/4 mile off the road.  We are isolated and surrounded by woods. There is always the possibility of spotting a black bear.  We spend a lot of time on a lovely screened front porch where we can eat and relax beneath the giant trees.  
Our evening ended the next day about 2 a.m. after solving all the political, legal and familial problems (at least for the moment).  

Washington DC

National Portrait Gallery, Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Today was my kind of day.  It was saturated with art. As I've stated before, the hotel is in a prime location, and we were able to walk about 5 blocks to the National Portrait Gallery.  We began our visit with the  "Portraiture Now" series' seventh installation.  Last year we saw the sixth installation of miniature portraits that were amazing in their detail and realism.  This exhibition looks at the narrow boundaries that once defined drawing and portraiture with artists who explore the melding of painting, video, writing, computer technology and photography as well as drawing.  All the artists are meticulous in their work, probe the psychological make up of their subjects and use scale to a very effective degree.  Please take a look at their works here.  Each artist is listed to the side with links to view the works.  

We took a long look at the early works that documented the beginnings of our country from the earliest settlements through the Civil War and Reconstruction.  Particularly, I remember portraits and busts of Pocahontas, Abigail Adams, Booker T. Washington, John Brown and Elizabeth I.  

The American Art Museum is attached to the Portrait Gallery.  We crossed over to see an exhibit , The Civil War and American Art, that examines how American artists represented the impact of the Civil War and its aftermath.  There were amazing works from the Hudson River Valley artists, Bierstadt, Church and Gifford, and, for me, a new look at Winslow Homer. Here is a video trailer of the show.   There is a large, beautiful atrium that connects the two museums.  We sat there for a lunch and rest before heading out to the National Gallery

The National Gallery, about 20 minute walk, took us past the Naval Memorial.  It had lovely high relief sculptures circling a open area.  The National Gallery is exhibiting Pre-Raphaelites, one of Wayne's top see list schools of art.  He fell in love with them while attending Oxford University.  They hold several levels of engagement for him.  This show was a curator's coup.  Neither of us have seen such a large grouping before.  There were 130 paintings, sculptures, works on paper and decorative art objects.  It was a fabulous show.  

We ended our day with dinner at Caiba (pronounced Say-Bah), a Latin American restaurant near the hotel.  You can see my interesting fish dish on flickr.  We had Italian Cream Cake for dessert back at the hotel provided by Aunt Juanita.  A perfect ending to a perfect day.  Flickr Pictures Here.

Washington DC

National Women in the Arts Museum:  Freya Grand Landscapes

We are in DC staying at our usual Hilton Hotel which is in a perfect location for us.  We are about .5 mile from the mall and the White House.  After checking in and eating at Cafe Mozart, another regular dining spot when we are here, we walked 2 blocks to The National Women in the Arts Museum.  In a small gallery on the first floor was a show by Freya Grand of landscapes she painted from visits to remote uninhabited places in Ecuador, Peru, Scotland, Ireland, Botswana and the Pacific Northwest.  I am glad we saw this as Grand develops the compositions of her paintings and drawings in her studio.  This means she is using photography and memory to paint the idea and emotional content in the landscape rather than an exact replication.  She certainly captured that idea in her paintings of Scotland.  Having just been there it was so clear how she had captured the essence of the place. 
We met Adam at the hotel for dinner and caught up on family, work and future plans.  Flickr pics.