Indian Summer/Columbus Day Weekend

The weekend prelude began at the Pump House Gallery in Hartford with an exhibition by John Murphy. After first seeing his Art, we would not have guessed he was the artist.

John Murphy with painting of Henry Paulson, 
Secretary of the Treasury  (price $80,000,000,000)

Murphy's painting of Patti Smith

The weather forecast for the Columbus Day weekend was ideal – Indian Summer. Cool nights, warm days, blue skies. Saturday morning began with the requisite tag sales, but we soon departed for Amherst, Massachusetts. First stop was the Mead Art Museum on the campus of Amherst College. Amherst is a fairly old school, as the Amherst Academy in 1815 and College in 1821. Noah Webster was a trustee of the Academy and President in 1821. The Mead Art Museum was opened in 1949, with eight galleries containing diverse collections. From American and European masters, to Assyrian carvings and Russian modern Art. Sprinkled throughout are pieces from the Ancients.

Relief of winged, human-headed genie from 
the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, 883-859 B.C.E.

Winslow Homer, The Fisher Girl, 1894

Bronze helmet from Olympia, 500 B.C E.

Peasant Woman Raking by Millet,
Jean François Millet, ca 1855-1860

Ophelia by Thomas Dicksee, 1875

Charity Enlightening the World
by Peter Paul Rubens, ca 1627-28

Tecalpexco by Diego Rivera, 1937

Portrait of Ekaterina Serebriakova, the Daughter of the Artist 

by Zinaida Serebriakova, 1928

Salome by Robert Henri, 1909

The Past by Thomas Cole, 1938

The Present by Thomas Cole, 1938

Le Travail interrompu by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1891

The Triumph of Amphritie by Hughes Taravel, 1780

There was a special exhibition of nine Thangka – Buddhist scrolls which have undergone extensive conservation. There are nine more that will be exhibited later.

Thanga depicting Bodhisattva and Shakti

A small exhibition commemorating the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War featured sculptures, paintings, photographs and lithos, such as

The Army of the Potomac - A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty
by Winslow Homer
published November 15, 1862

Sculptures on campus:

Two Lines Oblique Down, Variation III by George Rickey, 1969-73

After a short walk past the Amherst common and the reconstruction of the Lord Jeff Inn, we had sandwiches at the Black Sheep Deli. While the fillings were adequate, the bread and bagel were very hard.

We then drove west to Hadley to ride our bikes on the Norrotuck Bike Trail. First I’d like to say a bit about Hadley itself, which covers much of the valley between Northampton and the Connecticut River, and Amherst. The town was settled in 1659 and has seen its share of history. And while the mile long common seems unchanged, Route 9 or Russell Street, which bisects the town has seen extensive commercial development. Much of it in the past thirty years since I graduated from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Not a pretty picture at all.

The Norwottuck Rail Trail is an eleven-mile path from Northampton through Amherst created in the 90s. Norwottuck is the name of the natives who settled the region, and means “in the midst of the river.” The trail is very beautiful and flat, it is well-used by cyclists, walkers, wheelchairs and skaters. It is also pretty bumpy. A major refurbishment is scheduled for the near future. Here are a few scenes from our ride:

After, we visited with an old friend with whom I worked at UMass opening the Fine Arts Center in the 70’s as well as the Leonard Bernstein Festival of American Music. Barbara built a neat little house in Hadley and is busy guiding bus tours around the Northeast.

Barbara and me with Pointer

We had dinner at Zoey’s Fish House.  And while the Lost Sailor IPA from Berkshire Brewing Co in South Deerfield was tasty and my fried clams were perfect, Marie’s Maine Crabcakes were the worst we’d ever eaten.

The weather was still picture perfect, so Sunday morning we drove down to Bridgeport, CT to take the ferry over to Port Jefferson, Long Island.

On the way, we stopped in Naugatuck, to take a photo of a war memorial sculpted by Evelyn Longman in 1920. The memorial is for the thirty men of Naugatuck who died in the Spanish-American War of 1898.

The Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company was established in 1883 with the help of Bridgeport’s most famous resident, P.T. Barnum. For 128 years it has been ferrying first agricultural products from the Island to New England and now travelers. Our boat was called the “P.T. Barnum.”

The hour and a quarter crossing was almost meditative as the waters of the Long Island Sound were calm under the bright sun.

Welcome to Long Island

While most got in their cars and drove away, we, like many others, visited the village of Port Jefferson. Didn’t take long to walk around and see the sights. Mostly shops and restaurants. There was an exhibit of local amateurs in the Port Jefferson Village building:

Purple Sky by Kathy McCarthy

And a few interesting signs:

And an unnamed sculpture:

Marie got a scarf at the Barkin’ Basement, and then we had lunch on the deck at The Steamroom. A couple of Brooklyn Octoberfest beers, a bucket of steamers with broth and butter, garlic bread, a salad and fries. It was a feast and we had plenty of time before catching the two o’clock boat for our return to Bridgeport.

Before heading home, we stopped for a walk along the waterfront in Bridgeport and saw a couple of monuments:

P.T. Barnum