Farewell October

I've turned the page in my calendar and discovered that October is gone!  How did that happen?  The last days of the month just flew by, in a good way.  So what's kept me so busy?

Element of Roger Horns' Untitled in foreground;
Nick van Woert's Untitled in background
SupraEnvironmental opened!  I've been guiding tours and getting fabulous questions, insights, and comments on the art as I've led discussions with museum visitors.  It really is an incredibly rich experience to share the artwork in conversation with a group of people who've come together simply because they share a common interest in art and inquiry.  Let me know when you'd like to visit the museum; I'd love to give you a tour.

My new profile picture on Facebook
I've returned to my habit of regular walks;  I got a bit sedentary while I was doing all my exhibition research and training.  But fortunately, the weather has been glorious and I'm marveling every day at the colors of the Hudson Valley.  I took the picture above during one of my morning walks -- look at the intensity of orange and blue!  This is an unaltered photo; I didn't do anything to achieve those colors except to hold still as I clicked the shutter.  Marvelous, yes?

A picture of my computer screen during one of the Wharton lectures about
what it means to be a customer centric company.
I've been continuing my own personal adult education journey.  I've just finished my Introduction to Marketing class offered by the Wharton School of Business through Coursera.  Lots to think about and learn, though I confess this was much easier for me than the Corporate Finance class I took.  Egad, that class required lots of note-taking and concentration.

The turn in the weather has also meant lots of cleaning-up, both outside in the garden and in the house.  I've boxed up and sent off old clothes and jackets, pulled annuals, and in a fit of extreme cleaning, I threw out old quilts that were taking up space.  It was very liberating to lighten the storage load.

The colder weather and shorter days also means more reading time for me.  Though I've fallen behind my daughter's class, I continue to read Moby Dick. Yes, there are times when I'd like to shake Ishmael and say, "Enough already!  We get the point!"  But I can't possibly stop reading when there's such beauty in the writing as this:

       He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it.

It rather takes your breath away.

You can read about the book on Amazon here

Nonetheless, I'm already looking ahead to my next book --  as I always do -- which will (probably) be  Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher by Timothy Egan.  It's a non-fiction account of Edward Curtis's efforts to document the "stories and rituals of more than eighty North American tribes" with his camera.  The book type is in sepia, referencing the palette of Curtis's photographs.  I confess I'm a sucker for those types of touches.

In other exciting news, my newsletter is scheduled to come out this week!  You can sign up to get your copy here.  In my newsletter I share museum education + visit ideas, studio and exhibition notes, along with a favorite photograph, before I share them anywhere else.  Be sure to get your first peek as well by being a subscriber.

Finally, November is going to be a month-long exercise of explicit gratitude for me.  Each day on Instagram and Facebook I'll be sharing some thoughts on what I'm thankful for in my life.  Here are my first two:

Day 1/30 in a month of gratitude: Magnificent redwoods shared on
25th anniversary trip with my husband.  I'm lucky to have found a partner in life.
Day 2/30 in a month of gratitude: I've been blessed with three healthy children
who've grown into wonderful people I'm proud of and whose company I genuinely enjoy.

What are you thankful for?  I'm certainly thankful you all take the time to read my posts and share my journey.  Thank you.



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