Remembrance

Photographing the 1884 portrait of one of the first female foreign missionaries today.  Cold in the historic house, but it was nice to get a good image of her for my lecture on Tuesday!

Par for the Course, Part II

Why yes, wrapping a sedan chair in plastic to prevent the spread of powder post beetles IS a normal part of my workday.  Not so much for you?

Post-Holiday Work

My first winter Tuesday working from home!  Unlike some of my working-from-home days in the past, it was a great success.  I was warm enough in my little garden house office (converted this fall), I came in the house for lunch & a dog walk midday, and I was able to work out in the garden house until 8:30pm (after a late afternoon visit from my dad & nephews).  A perfect blend of getting actual work done and enjoying being home.

Pre-Holiday Work

As you can probably tell, I was off work for quite a nice stretch (11 days) over the holidays.  Hence, no museum daily posts.  Here are a couple of images from my last week of work before the break, though:

Baking woodland creature sugar cookies for one museum's cookie social.

Schwag from my coworkers - they're so generous!

Another Put A Bistro Set On It Moment

This sad little courtyard is at one of my museums. It's been cleaned up a little in the last year or so, but it needs a complete overhaul. I ended up talking with a visitor over the weekend about how her aunt used to be the caretaker at the museum in the 1970s. The aunt lived in the ell on the righthand side here. Her kitchen window was that first floor guy in the far right corner. It looked out on this courtyard, which the niece said was in much nicer shape back then. Can you picture it? A bit of grass, some paving stones for a patio, maybe a bench, and a nice little bistro set . . . I can almost see it now.

UPDATE:  Now I'm actually feeling inspired by this project.  This is the kind of thing I'd love to be able to do to update the look of our property and make the whole campus look more cared-for.  However, I'm leery of having the time and resources to work on it alone, so perhaps I can get a volunteer team together this spring or summer.  Here's another photo from inside the building (from those two joined windows straight back) so you can see more of the weedy mess.  But think of how nice it would look with some mowing, new plantings, and attention.

#loveyourwork still

My office on Saturday.  I really can't complain ...

#loveyourwork, part 2

Just stumbled upon this 1868 print of Edinburgh's Grassmarket at work.  Love it.