o say can you see
I have so much to process from our recent trip to Washington, DC, I don’t know where to begin. We traveled with friends, saw old friends, and plenty of art and monuments in between. The change in administration and spring blossoms drew crowds just like us, so we didn’t get our White House tour tickets. But it’s the very first sight we needed to see upon arrival. Isn’t is beautiful? The next day was sunny and sublime, taking in the glories of the National Mall. Both my daughter and I took photos of Alexander Calder’s “The Gwenfritz,” a 35- ton stabile...
Read Morenew eyes
How did this happen already? Today I have been on Peaks Island 17 years! I take anniversaries seriously, or at least give them a moment for celebration, reflection, and a deep sigh of gratitude. Ahhhh, island life. What a trip it’s been. Marty and I traveled from San Francisco via Daly City (could barely make it out of city limits on the first day of the move), Los Angeles (thanks, Ged), Quartzite, AZ, Albuquerque, NM, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Old Saybrook, CT, and then…Portland. We showed up for the very first ferry at Casco Bay Lines at 5:45 AM, but no Mayflower...
Read Morethe goddess tour
Bravo to Acorn Productions! They have pulled off another great presentation of Maine playwriting. This year’s Maine Playwright Festival included seven short plays and two full-length plays. I was in the front row for The Goddess Tour, ready to applaud my island neighbor and good friend, Peg Astarita, who played Boo, one of six women gathered at an Irish inn on the Burren of County Clare. Peg is a goddess in her own right, creator of divine figures such as the one above. Thanks, Kathie Schneider, for this photo. Also in the cast was fellow islander, Stephanie Eliot, who played half of a...
Read Moreviva la victoriana
I’m always up for a spectacle and when I heard from Tracy Quimby at Victoria Mansion that a performance artist would be dressing from corset to cape, I had to be there. As part of the NEA’s Big Read initiative, Victoria Mansion had chosen The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. All kinds of book discussions, film screenings, and lectures are happening around this book. I met up with two Victoriana fans in the front row of the PMA auditorium: Lex Golubow, a former student and recent MECA grad. She came dressed in her best Victorian outfit and ready to get a good look. Lex often...
Read Moresweet zeitgeist
I enjoyed a sweet return to the House of Ninja this week, otherwise known as the Illustration department at Maine College of Art. The Illustration and the Graphic Design departments now share studio space, allowing for an energetic cross-pollination of disciplines. For the first time, both departments hosted an Open Studio. I’m not really sure how much mixing goes on, but it was a full house of curious and curiouser. Megan Walker and Mary Blaxland stood at the door exercising their considerable satiric skills in caricature, probably drawing me as the Faculty Beasty. I spied a new face,...
Read Moreblizzard blues
Some people loathe winter. I am not one of them. I love it. Every new snow fall is cause for celebration. Yes, there is shoveling and scraping ice, slogging through snowbanks and shivering in bitter winds. But the rewards! A snow day is a gift from above, a chance to get out. Hey, I grew up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, thanks to parents who met in Aspen and wanted to settle near ski areas in New England. Here are the happy ski bums, circa 1955. I enjoyed a childhood of skiing every spare moment. Family portraits from this chapter would be the line of skis, from small to tall, in...
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