Coppery

The copper beech tree at the museum finally leafed out!  Later in the season, the leaves will take on a darker red-brown hue, but I love its early spring rosiness best.

Getting Outdoors

A sampling of images from my work week:

Blue Bells in the (Colonial Revival) 17th century garden

Lunch in the sunny courtyard!

The 200 year old copper beech tree.

Afternoon sunlight on the side of one of my 18th century houses.

Another Selection of Images

The last few weeks at another museum:

October 17th delivery of small pumpkins for Harvest Supper and kids' Halloween Party

October 19th cleaning & prep of small cobbler's shop for upcoming 17th century programs

October 19th view of reproduction 1657 house soon to be completed/opened

October 22nd view of a sun-dappled copper beech

October 22nd view of haunted house preparations.  Love the Elvira at the end of the hall!

October 24th shot of medieval-looking hearth at 1657 house

October 24th - overly dramatic shot of marble bust at Harvest Supper.  I blame the red wine.

November 5th peek at the loft of the 1657 house.  I love that I get paid for this kind of thing!

Sun/Shade/Sundown

The 1710 house at one of my museums in the shade, full sun, and dusk.  All taken today - the first two this morning before 10am and the final one as I was leaving around 6:15pm.  And yes, I totally waited around this morning for five whole minutes for the sun to come back out in order to get the second photo!

Green, Red, and Gold

Afternoon granola bar break @ the museum today. Can't complain about the view!

Al Fresco

The lunch table I set up for the volunteers I was supervising today at work.  Not a bad lunchtime view!

Venerable Oak

Now, remember this tree?  Here it is up close.  It's really huge.  Still in pretty decent shape for its age, too (it's at least 364 years old).

More Museum Trees!

Both from the grounds of one museum.  A maple tree through the second floor window in the first shot and a linden tree in the yard in the second.  They're pretty young trees (~40 years old), but they've got time to grow!

Another Museum Tree

A lovely, large museum tree at the Langdon House in Portsmouth tonight.

Through A Glass Darkly

Rainy day at the museum today . . . 

Beech, from Two Angles

The 200+ year old copper beech at one of my museums, shot from below and through an upstairs window.  The first one has a simple filter, the second a filter with a bit more oomph.  I like them both for different reasons.

I've taken photos of this tree before, last October and in February and April of this year.  I've also taken photos of some of the trees at my other museums, some published here and some not.  Makes me think I should start a new series called "Museum Trees."  :)

Recording the Moments

I'm presenting at a workshop tomorrow night in Boston and spent some time last night working on my notes. The workshop is about things that the panelists wish they hadn't learned the hard way, but I wanted to end on a positive note. I'm constantly rediscovering how much fun museum work can be and I think it's important to record those rediscoveries. That's part of why I post my "Museum Dailies" so I don't forget those great moments when I'm bogged down in grant paperwork or Board squabbles.

This moment wasn't a huge, top-of-the-list moment, but worth recording nonetheless. One of my museums is hosting around two hundred seventh graders over the course of eight days in May. This is a new program for us, so I met with the teacher who's coordinating the visit to brainstorm some activities. She suggested an outdoor scavenger hunt, which I thought was a great idea.

Thus, I found myself wandering around the grounds of the museum this afternoon looking for scavenger hunt questions. I found this tag on the big copper beech by the door and it sparked an idea. I'm having the kids look for all of the tagged trees on the museum grounds and record their scientific names. As I said, not a top-of-the-list, "this is why I do what I do" moment, but a nice eureka moment anyway.

Inching Towards Spring

The copper beech at one of my museums on this warm(ish), sunny February day.  We haven't had much of a winter, but that doesn't stop me from looking forward to spring.  And days like today don't help!

Shadows & Light

Passing by the windows of one of my museums last Thursday, I was struck by the pattern of shadows on the snow - amidst my excitement at actually physically being at work, for the first time in two weeks!  So I snapped a picture.  Also - that large oak on the right is at least 363 years old and was used as a prayer meeting location for early settlers of the town from 1648 on.  Very cool.

Museum Daily #15

Pumpkins! A fun image today, of the 89 or so (it was a rough count) little pumpkins we have stockpiled for the museum's Halloween party next week. I love how one of the staff members piled them in the nooks & crannies of the oak tree's roots. :)