Bundle 3 Blog 4 What I've learned

So this bundle has taught me this: my best ideas always come when the bundle is finished. It also looks like I have a follower, thats kind of weird. I think my best way of completing this bundle is to create the web site. I think my mother's brother will have a fit!!! I had major exposure to art over my life. As I get older I appreciate it more as I understand some of it less. I did not choose a major movement of art because I wanted to create something more unique, I think thats why alot of the time I fall back on the family thing because it was an important influence in my life and because it something that I know. Also because it is so unique. I also realize that I am rambling at this point.

Bundle 3 Blog 3 Been there done that

So for the third part of our assignment we have the go there portion. So I took myself down to RISD to take a look at the place again. I must say it never really changes that much. I've been to museums all over the world and they never really seem to change. I think that is the most upsetting part of museums they never seem to change. They get new installations, they get exciting things from around they world that they show case but the majority of works stay in the same place for decades. I also think the strangest part about art is what can define it. I have no idea of how people could consider installation art art. I went last year to the MOMAR and saw an installation piece. I walked through a dark room with odd pieces of furniture and sculpture around the room. It had this weird video playing. I don't get it the video has to be one of the strangest things that I've seen in my life. Its right up there with blue man group - another kind of odd installation art. So as my appreciation for art grows as i age my understanding of what is called art decreases at the same time.

Bundle 3 blog 2.

With this blog I will cover the materials used to research this topic. I've read the auction materials that we have left hanging around the house to see how auctions are held. Most of the documents do not contain pictures they have descriptions of the stuff that they are selling. I've not had exposure to auctions at the level of Christies and Southerbies but I dealt with national auction houses. We usually auction our stuff through a place called Knotty Pine. As for art books I've read hundreds, I've reread through a few to get an idea of how they present the art work they are dealing with to the public. One of my favorites is the Art of the Imperial Russian Court. To have lived with this wealth and to be surrounded by the stuff that these people got to be around every day is amazing. One of my dreams is to travel to Russia to see the hermitage. I will say that this is one of the loves that my uncle and I shared we both enjoyed Russian History. So how does this relate to my bundle, well in my usual ADD driven style I guess I'm trying to explain why I'm doing this. I've check out RISD's website as well to see how they promote their information. I would like to do a variety of things with this I want to do an invitation to RISD for the inclusion of uncle's stuff to the museum, a article on his history of collecting, what I have determined to be his reasons to gathering all his stuff. A press release about the opening. For the last piece I'm a little torn I can't do a online gallery of the work because of insurance reasons, reality always steps in, but I'm thinking that last piece I can do is a press release for the opening of the gallery.

Bundle 3 Blog 1 Inspiration

Growing up my mother was always into art. Her uncle was also into art. In fact he was able to collect art and other objects that he found beautiful. He house was a living museum. After his death my mother inhertited his art collection. It sounds interesting but it was more than interesting it was a chance to hold history in your hands. In my twenties I was able to hold in my hands 14th century illuminations. These illuminations were created in 1380 and were part of a prayer book written in latin. To give an idea of how often a person even gets to see these you have to go to a museum where they are kept climate controled under glass. If you get to touch them you have to wear white gloves. My uncle let me hold these. I do not have the art love that they had. I've taken art history, gone to the Prato, my trip the the Uffizi did not happen because it was closed they day we went. I've been to RISD several times, the Boston and New York Museums of fine art, the MOMAR, traveled Spain, Portugal, Greece, Crotia, and Italy. I've seen art. Yes its beatiful but I never had the love for it that they had. But because of them I learned alot, and what i didn't learn I got to hold. The collection that he passed on to my mother had several incredible peices. One that she sold set a national record and was bid on by the Cincinati Museum of art. I've held art works that have hung in the New York Museum of fine art. It had a hand written inscription form the artist to my uncle that said something that was this beatiful should be enjoyed in his home. Most people do not get exposed to this stuff. But I did and took it for granted. I have always suggested that my mother share this stuff and have it put on display. I've suggested that she contact RISD and loan some of the work to the museum. She doesn't listen but maybe when she proof reads this bundle she will get the idea that this makes more sense that what she does with the art now.

Bundle Two Talk to someone learn more

So my ever evolving plan for this bundle is leaving me a little divided. For major resources for the sushi part I've talked to my brother, my sister in law, my mother, and the waiter at the restaurant. I've also visted a couple of web sites but learned from my past bundle not to use all web based reasource so I've got one web page. http://www.makemysushi.com This site gives a basic over view of the types of sushi and how to make them. I also downloaded a cook book for sushi to my kindle. Yo Sushi: The Japanese Cook Book by Kim Barber. Its kind of bla, I'm not impressed with it although I still think that I'm going to give it a go. For my second idea the family restaurant I actually consulted legal zoom to see what kind of information they have on starting your own business. Although I have to be careful if my mother finds out how much research I've done I may find myself with a new career. The family had a converation the other day about the food we would serve and it would not have an ethnic flair, being that the family was raised with a more American diet than anything ethnic. But we could have a good hook with doing everything organic because of the farm. Our big family joke is what people call organic today we called poor growing up. Menu items would be inspired by family things we ate with some of the family jokes included in them. Lazy Louie's Pot Pies, Swedish Round Things (terahki chicken that my father made and when we asked him what it was this was the answer), Stawberry Butter, Grandma's Roast, Dumplings, and gravy (real brown gravy which is what we ate over noodles). So my ever bundle must decided what it wants to be when it grows up.

Bundle Two Talk to someone

Well my bundle seems to have a life of its own and its evolving as I go along. My bundle started as Caryn's sushi challenge and is turning into Ma wants to open a restaurant. My grandparents lived in one of the family homesteads. Bought in the 1920's by my great great grandparents it features a 17 room federal style farm house built between 1760 and 1780. This house has been the center of family gatherings good and bad for almost a century at this point. My mother has always thought it would be a perfect location for a restaurant with the barn turned into a function area. She has this idea that my brother the chef would run the kitchen and the rest of us would take care of running the rest of the business. I think the idea could work but I'm not sure any of us really want to dedicate the time and effort necessary to make it work. So my bundle is including a review of the sushi place I might revise it to a review of our fictitious restaurant, a menu for the restaurant, I've seen and helped my brother make menus in the past so I know how to do it, a selection of function events available, a information page included in the menu our family history with the house, maybe a family ghost story or two so its interesting. I'm still debating thank you for the extra time as this whole segment has a life of its own all of a sudden.

Bundle 2 go there "Dirty Fish Water"

Last weekend was my stupid brother's birthday. He restarant choice was Toyko, on Wickeden street. I've never been out for sushi but I do pick it up quite often at the super market. So I'm a little lacking in the "whats everything called department." So my brother and sister in law did the ordering and the rest of us ate what they picked. Except my mother who states that the rice in sushi tastes like it was cooked in dirty fish water. I like sushi and was willing to try new things. Except when it came to vegitarian sushi or vegatable, truely it was quite horrible and I've blocked its true name from my memory. I put it in my mouth and it tasted like dirty fish water. So I had to then attempt to keep it in my mouth and not spit it out on my mother who was laughing at me as I tried to say dirty fish water as I attempted to swallow what has to be the most vile thing I have ever eaten. My brother is a trained chef, in what is refered to as American Regional cuisine. He offered to teach me how to make sushi, because he makes it all the time. My sister in law is allergic to everything so they have to be very creative when cooking and careful or else the epi pen comes out. It makes cooking Christmas dinner very interesting, cross contamination is a big no no. Thankfully I'm very careful when I cook normally about cross contamination because I'm anal retentive about food born illness and food touching. My brother and I are so weird that we only eat one thing at a time and have been known to wash our dishes inbetween food. My mother swears that this is not normal but we have both done this our whole lives so we blame her for this. But away from the tangent and back to the sushi. I have now been educated in what things are called, don't ask me to write it down but I will know when I look at a menu what I like. It doesn't even have to have pictures. But please be careful having sushi and avoid the dirty fish water flavored sushi.

Bundle 2 what to do?

So bundle two has come up and I am at a complete loss as to what I should be trying to do for this batch. So I'm thinking its all about cooking maybe I'll perform a kitchen experiment tied in with visits and such. I think that I'm going to attempt to make sushi or the cooked version what ever that is call. I figure it can't come out that awful. It will also tie into the events that are scheduled for this week. Its my brothers birthday so we have to go out for Sushi so I get my go there and do it covered. My brother is a chef so I'll make him explain to me how its made, interview and ask someone. Although his speciality is American regional so that may be a little bit of a stretch. My list bit will be to find a cook book with sushi making in it I'd do think that will be to hard. The Rumford cook book that my mother insisted on getting me as a kid for when I grew up and had my own house probaly doesn't have a sushi section. This may all change of course because I may be attempting something better left to professionals. If you see on the news woman gives herself food poisoning by attempting at home sushi making you'll know who its is!

Bundle 1 go there

On Sunday day I drove around the park. This was the first time that I experienced the entire park. Its huge. I drove around the park and snapped various pictures of what there was to do and see because I had intend to do a photo essay about the park. The one thing that I found that was great was the number of bathrooms. I probably sound like a loon saying that, but I'm one of those people who always has to pee, and I hate porta potties. (TMI) It was amazing to see the number of people using the park for large family parties. Having a rather small family with big yards everything was done at home, so this was a new thing for me. I never thought what do you do when you don't have a large space to host a function. Plus this place has a variety of amenities that could entertain a large group. Fields to play a variety of sports and swimming for the kids. I was also surprised that there was a spot to fish and a boat launch available to the public. I didn't think there would be one. I also drove by the stables that the park has located on the grounds, I didn't go in and visit, seen one horse seen them all. I have a friend who ones a horse farm and its not a big thrill to see horses. But I do remember as a kid that I loved horses and a day spent riding would have been great fun. It was interesting to see how much could be done at one location with a little ingenuity.

Having a family that never went to parks, other than the occasional lunch with my grandparents in Colt State park it interesting to see the various activities that families can be involved in. I come from a family where everything was kept private. If we wanted to go to a beach there was a private beach at my grandparents, or the house in Maine that was on a private lake that was open to the public because of the owners. I've probably been tainted because of the elitist atitude that comes with having these things at your disposal. I've never had to think of what do people do who don't have the kind of resources that I've always had. Its the same thing with a farmer's market. I can't understand why people go to these things. But I've always been exposed to fresh produce and vegetables. We had gardens and grew food, I tell my mother that what we called poor when I was a kid people call organic today. But I've also had a change of life style I've moved from the country to the city and they way of life here is very different for what I'm used to. We canned food in my family up until 2003, we stopped because our lifestyle had changed and the family influences that kept up that life style changed as well.

I know that I'm off with my sources. I didn't realize that we needed three separate kinds so I'll ask my friendly librarian to help with that one because I'm not finding any print books that mention the park. I've even tried the state park system and there seems to be a lack of information. But I think that may be me. Thankfully my mother's a librarian and she loves the little mystery projects that I ask her to help with. Maybe there's something in the government archives because of the WPA involvement in the 1930s? Could I use the history of the WPA as a source? The basis for why these projects were done and what the public benefit was seen as being may be interesting.

Bundle 1 talk to stangers

Well lets define strange first. The girls at work are quite odd and they are the ones that let me know about the farmers market at Goddard Park. So they were able to turn me on to something new that i did not know, even as I was researching very little came up about the farmers market. So I learned that there is a farmers market every Friday 9 - 1, as an added aside they thought it was Saturday 9 -1. My desk at work has a picture of my dog when he was a baby taken at Goddard Park. The picture has actually stirred up many conversations about the park with various people how walk by my desk. I actually had a conversation on day with a man who lived down the street from the park and had never been there. I found it a little odd that living right there would inspire you to a least go in one day and take a look. So this conversation has merit because it makes you wonder why people that have this beautiful resource don't go and make use of it. I have to drive to get there. As a non native Rhode Islander driving was never an issue but now that I do live here I can attest that the disease of not wanting to drive is defiantly contagious. So this makes me question how much are people of the state taking advantage of the resources they have. So once again the question comes in is this person a stranger. Well it comes down to the person is strange not a stranger. The last person that I talked to about Goddard Park was the old man. He is the strangest of them all. He introduced me to the park a few years ago and he started going to Goddard Park when he was a child in the 1960's. His family would travel down to the park and spend the day swimming at the beach. He always thought sandwiches were called sandwiches because of all the sand that was in them because of the beach. We started going down to the park with the dog and the kids. Run them both around all day and get them tired so they sleep. We have continued taking the dogs, every year there seems to be one more who needs to learn off leash commands and experience swimming for the first time. In fact two out of the three dogs swam for the first time at Goddard Park. So this is how I learned about and became acquainted with Goddard Park. I know that this doesn't completely fit the bill of talking to strangers, but I have a problem talking to people I'm not acquainted with. So please forgive a crazy agoraphobic.

As I try to learn more about Goddard Park it was amazing how much information there isn't availible. There is the state web site. An article from the Rhode Island Roads Magazine about the park. There is also some DEM information about the Farmers Market that occurs every Friday at the park. So this begs the question that if this is for everyone in the state to use why isn't the park put into the public's eye more often. Why aren't all the parks in the state promoted more vigorously to the public. Lets face it in the ecomony that we have right now and the era of the staycation what a perfect spot to promote, this is an example of what is availible for the public with in the state. The park was a gift to the people of the State of Rhode Island in 1927 as a gift from the family of Colonel Robert H.I. Goddard. The land had been a barren set of dunes when its owner Henry Russell began walking his property and planting trees. New England has sufferd a major deforestation because of farming and other activies that needed clear fields and wood for burning and building. When purchased by the Colonel he continued the reforestation project that had be begun by the previous owner. The land included a 33 room mansion and several barns and out buildings. The mansion burned in 1979.

The park was opened to the public on June 1st 1930. It under went extensive renovations and improvements due to the WPA, the Works Project Authority, part of FDR's new deal to put Americans to work. The WPA was very active in the state on public and private land. It even featured a carousel that has been since removed and is now used as a performing arts and wedding center.

Toughted as on of the greast examples of private efforts at reforestation in the early 1900's the park features 62 decidous species and 19 evergreen trees.

Located on an amazing 498.2 acres of land. The park has a variety of amenities to offer to the public. A nine hole golf course, stables for riding, fishing and boat launch, a farmers market on Fridays May 6 - Oct 26 2011, and my favorite restrooms at three seperate locations.

Open from sunrise to sunset daily no dogs are allowed after April 15. But I'm pretty sure that that rule is broken quite often, but dogs are not allowed on public bathing beaches. Whoops that's a rule I did not know and juding by what goes on quite a few people are unaware of that rule.

For Furthur information please visit:
http://www.stateparks.com/goddard_memorial.html
http://www.riparks.com/goddard.html
http://riraods.com/outdoors/godard_park.html

Parks, Momuments Blog Bundle 1

As this bundle was assigned I thought what parks do I actually use? Have I even been to a park since high school. The answer came to me in a flash. Goddard park. We take the dogs there to play all the time. As I thought of it I wondered why I never thought of Goodard Park as a Park. I thought of it as more of a beach where the dogs could run and swim. Not that they like to swim but if mommy goes in they go with me. I had even been there for other activities, the state cross country run for elementry school was held there a few years ago and we went because my partners children where running in it. Its amazing how the events that were involved with going to the park over shadowed its actual purpose. I go there but never think of it a state park with a larger purpose. So having traveled quite a bit of the park in the past and walk from one end to the other on the beach how could I not define this space as a park. My personal experience with the area have overshadowed what it really is. Amazing how the mind can blot out what something really is.