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	<title>Meet me in the Drawing Room</title>
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		<title>Meet me in the Drawing Room</title>
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		<title>What Tim Burton and Alexander McQueen Taught Me about Running a Museum</title>
		<link>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/what-tim-burton-and-alexander-mcqueen-taught-me-about-running-a-museum/</link>
		<comments>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/what-tim-burton-and-alexander-mcqueen-taught-me-about-running-a-museum/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Aug 2011 11:11:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kathleen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Exhibitions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[museums]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York City]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pop Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alexander McQueen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alexander McQueen at the Met]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exhibitions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fashion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[musuems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NYC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the metropolitan museum of art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tim Burton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tim Burton at MoMA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/?p=1037</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I was an intern at MoMA, the museum launched a mid-career retrospective of the filmmaker Tim Burton. It was met with skepticism. Burton&#8217;s iconic status as a mainstream blockbuster-maker, with a cult following, had critics and fine-arts-lovers questioning MoMA&#8217;s integrity. It was an exhibition that displayed process, the evolution of process, and a mental [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7683638&amp;post=1037&amp;subd=meetmeinthedrawingroom&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 297px"><img class=" " src="http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/images/McQ.1800a%E2%80%93e_mcq.1800.AV1.JPG" alt="" width="287" height="437" /><p class="wp-caption-text">The dress that made me an Alexander McQueen fan for life. There&#039;s no doubt he&#039;s an artist</p></div>
<p>When I was an intern at MoMA, the museum launched a mid-career retrospective of the filmmaker Tim Burton. It was met with skepticism. Burton&#8217;s iconic status as a mainstream blockbuster-maker, with a cult following, had critics and fine-arts-lovers questioning MoMA&#8217;s integrity. It was an exhibition that displayed process, the evolution of process, and a mental stream of consciousness. But are doodles by a director art? Is Burton a mega-museum worthy artist?</p>
<p><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/tim-burton-bombards-moma/">When I considered the exhibition at the time</a>, I decided &#8220;Tim Burton&#8221; was brilliant. From a museum-marketing, public relations point of view, I still believe &#8220;Tim Burton&#8221; was brilliant.</p>
<p>After witnessing the line-ups and the crowds, and after mingling with the audiences, I saw the value in a marquee art venue like MoMA hosting a mass-appeal exhibition. New audiences entered the museum, memberships increased, and because the exhibition had timed entry tickets, museum-visitors had time to kill by viewing the other galleries. The meatier, more academic, more stunning show &#8220;Bauhaus&#8221; was on at the same time. I don&#8217;t doubt that the increase in the number of under-20-somethings strolling the gallery had a lot to do with Tim Burton.</p>
<p>2+ years later, people are still talking about it. 2 years later, the number one search term that drives people to my blog is &#8220;Tim Burton at MoMA.&#8221; It was an exhibition that had staying power in the public&#8217;s mind.</p>
<p>Then came &#8220;Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty&#8221; at the Metropolitan Museum of Art &#8212; an exhibition with the same mass-consumer appeal.</p>
<p>Burton and McQueen are household names in a way Frans Hal and <a href="http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/LyonelFeininger">Lyonnel Feininger </a>will never be.</p>
<p>I began following McQueen&#8217;s career when he catapulted into the fashion headlines in 1990s. He revived avant-garde haute couture and breathed a much-needed breathe of the rebellious artist into a humdrum fashion world. So, of course, when the exhibit opened in May, I promised myself I&#8217;d go.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 370px"><img class=" " src="http://xf2.xanga.com/943e127433032278143852/b221555597.jpg" alt="" width="360" height="240" /><p class="wp-caption-text">people were lined up to get into the musem for blocks! records must have been set</p></div>
<p>&#8220;Savage Beauty&#8221; closed yesterday, and all  I saw of it was a line of waiting people stretching south along 5th Avenue and fading into Central Park. I can&#8217;t, therefore, comment on the show itself. But that doesn&#8217;t mean I don&#8217;t have opinions on &#8220;Savage Beauty.&#8221;</p>
<p>Drawing on global culture as much as on his native Scotland, McQueen&#8217;s career echoes those of artists like Matisse and Picasso who took the history of their medium and infused the traditional with a sense of the exotic, the other-worldly. For anyone that has ever seen a McQueen show or seen his clothes in a Vogue spread, there is no doubt that McQueen is an artist. The Costume Institute is an integral part of the Met&#8217;s collection and exhibition schedule. Fashion as art and the art of fashion is, essentially, part of the museum&#8217;s DNA.</p>
<p>A retrospective at the Met on McQueen was not only natural, but inevitable.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 269px"><img class="    " src="http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/images/9.McQueenBlackDuckFeathersFall2009-10.EL.jpg" alt="" width="259" height="346" /><p class="wp-caption-text">always the showman, his work was as carnal and disquieting as it was beautiful</p></div>
<p>But what about the management of the exhibition? My understanding is that there were no timed tickets for &#8220;savage Beauty&#8221; &#8212; if you wanted to see it, you had to wait your turn. Standing in line for 2-5 hours &#8212; did that permit visitors an opportunity to tour the museum? I&#8217;d be interested to see gallery counts. Thousands lined-up, thousands saw McQueen. Did thousands see &#8220;Reconfiguring an African Icon: Odes to the Mask?&#8221;</p>
<p>Membership increased, but then the Met stopped granting early morning member-exclusive previews. Considering that the Met&#8217;s ticket price is technically voluntary, the only benefit to becoming a member is the privileged viewing. I bet there were some very angry new members. Were refunds requested? Were they granted?</p>
<p>On the one hand, it&#8217;s exciting to see a line thousands deep waiting to get into a museum of fine art. On the other, you can&#8217;t help but wonder, if that&#8217;s the only exhibit they get to see, will they be back?</p>
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			<media:title type="html">kareckling</media:title>
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		<title>Don&#8217;t Touch the Money Bunny!: Artwork of the Week Makes a Comeback</title>
		<link>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/dont-touch-the-money-bunny-artwork-of-the-week-makes-a-comeback/</link>
		<comments>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/dont-touch-the-money-bunny-artwork-of-the-week-makes-a-comeback/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:10:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kathleen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeff Koons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeff Koons is a Big Blow Hard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[money bunny]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ray Beldner]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/?p=1025</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If my gallerinas and I said it once, we said it 100 times a day &#8212; &#8220;Please don&#8217;t touch the money bunny!&#8221; There&#8217;s no denying that there&#8217;s something cuddly about Ray Beldner&#8217;s rabbit made out of sewn dollar bills. Maybe it&#8217;s the tilted head and the carrot that screams &#8220;pat the bunny!&#8221; And then you [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7683638&amp;post=1025&amp;subd=meetmeinthedrawingroom&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 261px"><img src="http://www.raybeldner.com/i/Counterfeit/Koons_1.jpg" alt="" width="251" height="510" /><p class="wp-caption-text">&quot;Jeff Koons is a big Blow Hard,&quot; Ray Beldner. Sewn US currency (after Jeff Koons&#039;s Rabbit, 1986)</p></div>
<p>If my gallerinas and I said it once, we said it 100 times a day &#8212; &#8220;Please don&#8217;t touch the money bunny!&#8221; There&#8217;s no denying that there&#8217;s something cuddly about Ray Beldner&#8217;s rabbit made out of sewn dollar bills. Maybe it&#8217;s the tilted head and the carrot that screams &#8220;pat the bunny!&#8221; And then you read the wall label and take note of the title, <em>Jeff Koons is a Big Blow Hard</em>, and suddenly it&#8217;s not so cuddly.</p>
<p>Commentary on the nature of the art market and the subsequent commoditization of art and artist, <em>Jeff Koons is a Big Blow Hard</em> attacks the blue-chip popular artist Jeff Koons while asking the question: what makes a work of art valuable &#8212; the artist, the medium, the subject, or the market?</p>
<p>The soft sculpture effectively renders the dollar bills useless as currency. The bills are no longer tradeable on the market they were designed for. They enter a new market with a new value &#8212; as art. Each bill is meaningless. Their value exists only stitched together as an entire work of art. Their value becomes what a collector will pay for them as a unit entitled <em>Jeff Koons is a Big Blow Hard</em>, by Ray Beldner.</p>
<p>Meanwhile the piece asks a number of other questions:</p>
<p>Is Jeff Koons a sell-out &#8212; sculpting lite subjects that people want to buy &#8212; or a veritable &#8220;Pop-Artist&#8221; whose work actually comments on the nature of the art collecting as its being collected?</p>
<p>And then again, what about Ray Beldner? Where does he fit in? Is he capitalizing on another artist&#8217;s reputation? Is his copy of a popular sculpture a work of art, a statement, or simply a pile of mutilated, worthless dollar-bills?</p>
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			<media:title type="html">kareckling</media:title>
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		<title>Fencers Step Out to Save Lives</title>
		<link>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/fencers-step-out-to-save-lives/</link>
		<comments>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/fencers-step-out-to-save-lives/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Oct 2010 06:25:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kathleen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[New York City]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[people]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[charity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fencing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tim Morehouse]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/?p=1005</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On September 17th, members of the Fencing Masters NYC team joined forces with Esmeralda Williamson-Noble to raise awareness about suicide and to promote mental health and well-being. At the inaugural Get Your Wellness On! fair fencing was presented as a form of &#8220;alternative healing&#8221; &#8212; a sport that strengthens both the mind and body while [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7683638&amp;post=1005&amp;subd=meetmeinthedrawingroom&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>On September 17th, members of the <a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/rumble-in-the-city-taking-the-sport-of-fencing-to-the-streets-of-nyc/">Fencing Masters NYC</a> team joined forces with Esmeralda Williamson-Noble to raise awareness about suicide and to promote mental health and well-being. At the inaugural Get Your Wellness On! fair fencing was presented as a form of &#8220;alternative healing&#8221; &#8212; a sport that strengthens both the mind and body while also providing a supportive community people can turn to in times of need.</p>
<div id="attachment_1008" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/img_2563_2.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1008" title="IMG_2563_2" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/img_2563_2.jpg?w=300&#038;h=188" alt="" width="300" height="188" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Members of Team Fencing Masters NYC at the Get Your Wellness On Fair (Kathleen, Kurt, Tim, Daria, Melvin)</p></div>
<p>Inspired once again by Esmeralda&#8217;s endeavors, <a href="http://www.fencingmastersnyc.com/">Fencing Masters NYC </a>stepped out on the town on October 28th to use the sport of fencing to help save lives.  After losing their infant son Alexander to SIDS, Esmeralda and her husband Hugh began the Windflower Charity Ball as a fundraiser for <a href="http://www.firstcandle.org/about/">First Candle</a>. Over a decade later, the well-attended Charity Gala, with its live and silent auctions, is the organization&#8217;s major annual fund-raising event.</p>
<p>To help First Candle in its efforts to unite  parents, caregivers and researchers nationwide to advance infant health and  survival, the <a href="http://www.fencingmastersnyc.com/">Fencing Masters NYC</a> co-chairs (Tim Morehouse, Daria Schneider, &amp; Kathleen Reckling) donated 2 VIP tickets to our Hammerstein Ballroom event on November 17th. To compliment the auction winner&#8217;s introduction to fencing, Olympic Silver Medalist <a href="http://www.timmorehouse.com/">Tim Morehouse</a> donated an hour fencing lesson.</p>
<div id="attachment_1011" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 304px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/img_3287.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-1011  " title="IMG_3287" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/img_3287.jpg?w=294&#038;h=368" alt="" width="294" height="368" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Tim poses with the auction item winner! His 5 daugthers can&#039;t wait for their fencing lesson with Tim or to attend Fencing Masters NYC on Nov. 17th</p></div>
<p>The total package was valued at $750&#8230; and as the night began, Tim and Kathleen crossed their fingers! Please! Someone! Bid on us!</p>
<p>Do we have $500? Yes!</p>
<p>How about $1,000? Yes!</p>
<p>Can we have $1,250? Sure!</p>
<p>What about $1,500? SOLD!</p>
<p>At the end of the night, we had met several former fencers and children of fencers &#8212; a neat reminder that everyone does in fact know someone who fences. The most exciting parts of the evening? Seeing the Fencing Masters NYC donation become one of the few lots to exceed its estimated value and watching the sport of fencing raise $1,500 for First Candle and SIDS research.</p>
<p>Tim &amp; I were honored to be the Williamson-Nobles&#8217; guests and were proud our donation was able to support First Candle&#8221;s mission to &#8220;provide every baby with the best possible chance to survive and thrive.&#8221;</p>
<p>For those of us working on Fencing Masters NYC, there is nothing more  invigorating than sharing fencing and using it to serve others. The  auction results are a testament to the power sport has to do good in the  community &#8212; an athlete doesn&#8217;t have to be a Peyton Manning or a Lance  Armstrong to raise awareness for a cause, they just have to be ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work.</p>
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		<title>Why Blogging Matters</title>
		<link>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/why-blogging-matters/</link>
		<comments>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/why-blogging-matters/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:41:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kathleen</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/?p=991</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Nearly 6 months ago, I wrote about my beloved dog Jessie, about how she chose to be part of my family and how eventually we had to choose to let her leave this life. Last night, a man named Greg found that now long-ago post. &#8220;I&#8217;m scanning and commenting on posts made by fellow dog [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7683638&amp;post=991&amp;subd=meetmeinthedrawingroom&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Nearly 6 months ago, I wrote about my <a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/saying-good-bye-to-mans-best-friend/">beloved dog Jessie</a>, about how she chose to be part of my family and how eventually we had to choose to let her leave this life. Last night, a man named Greg found that now long-ago post. &#8220;I&#8217;m scanning and commenting on posts made by fellow dog lovers because  it must be therapeutic in some way,&#8221; he wrote.  He recently lost his 6-year old Irish Terrier and was &#8220;reaching out to others who  understand.&#8221;</p>
<p>Greg&#8217;s comment got me thinking. Isn&#8217;t that what blogging is really all about &#8212; reaching out to others who understand? I went back and looked in my leather-bound journal. I never wrote about Jessie there. I guess when she passed, I needed to share my loss with something less solitary than a diary.</p>
<div id="attachment_995" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 352px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/img_3286.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-995" title="IMG_3286" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/img_3286.jpg?w=342&#038;h=227" alt="" width="342" height="227" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Why do we blog? Because sometimes we need to share something personal with something less solitary than a journal. </p></div>
<p>A year ago, a young man I knew died by suicide. As a way to both cope with her grief and to provide a support network for others touched by suicide, his mother launched a blog called<a href="http://foreverinvictus.com/"> &#8220;Forever Invictus.&#8221;</a> One day, she posted a proposal to hold a suicide prevention/wellness  fair in New York City&#8217;s Washington Square Park. Readers from around the country rallied together to help her realize this vision. On September 17, 2010, the first &#8220;Get Your Wellness On!&#8221; event welcomed over 1,000 participants and saved a life. The event was organized and executed by a group of people who met for the first time the morning of the fair, but had already known each other only through Esmeralda&#8217;s blog.</p>
<p>Tim is an Olympic Silver Medalist in fencing. <a href="http://timmorehouse.wordpress.com/">He has a blog too</a>. So does Maria, a literature teacher in Italy. They don&#8217;t talk about death. Tim talks about fencing, about traveling around the world as he prepares for London 2012, about chilling with Apolo Anton Ohno. Tim&#8217;s blog has become an online venue where the American fencing community, a diverse and dispersed group of people who share a sport, can congregate and get caught up on the latest news or pick up some training tips. Maria&#8217;s blog <a href="http://flyhigh-by-learnonline.blogspot.com/">&#8220;Fly High&#8221;</a> is an online book &amp; movie club for Jane Austen and Richard Armitage fans around the world. We hang out on Fly High and gush about our love for 19th century British literature and its 21st century screen adaptations.</p>
<p>When I started blogging, I was really only in it for myself. I wanted to write about me. I wanted people to read my writing. I wanted  someone to love my writing enough to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozRK7VXQl-k">offer me a book deal</a>. My alter-ego  blog,<a href="http://findarichhusband.wordpress.com/"> &#8220;They Told Me to Find a Rich Husband,&#8221;</a> has been more  successful in this endeavor. It&#8217;s where I write about the way we love and are expected to love now. Thousands of WordPress readers responded to my post &#8220;You Borrowed My Dylan CD and Stole My Heart, I&#8217;d Like them Back Now Please&#8221; &#8212; a little piece about reclaiming the intangibles when a relationship ends. It seems every past relationship leaves a trail of damaged songs in its wake.</p>
<p>Reading Greg&#8217;s  comment put Esmeralda&#8217;s and Tim&#8217;s blogs and the outpouring of response to &#8220;They Told Me to Find a Rich Husband&#8221; in perspective. Turns out, when I write about myself, I&#8217;m writing about you, and him, and her too. While blogs may be the vanguard of political analysis or the source for the latest entertainment news, at the end of the  day, blogging is about <em>community</em> &#8212; at the end of the day, we want to  read about things we can relate to. Bloggers and their posts remind us all that, no matter how unique each of our lives are, living is a common experience. In this digital community of words and comments, there&#8217;s always someone we can reach out to who understands.</p>
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		<title>Rumble in the City: Taking the Sport of Fencing to the Streets of NYC</title>
		<link>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/rumble-in-the-city-taking-the-sport-of-fencing-to-the-streets-of-nyc/</link>
		<comments>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/rumble-in-the-city-taking-the-sport-of-fencing-to-the-streets-of-nyc/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Oct 2010 14:15:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kathleen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[New York City]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/?p=967</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I remember the first time the elevator doors opened onto the New York Fencers Club. I could hear the fencing before I could see it. The clangs and clacks of the blades, the thuds of people lunging, the John Cage-esque random boooop of the scoring machines &#8212; you could feel it; it was electric. This [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7683638&amp;post=967&amp;subd=meetmeinthedrawingroom&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text/html' width='600' height='368' src='http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZRThIbaK4rk?version=3&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0'></iframe></span>I remember the first time the elevator doors opened onto the <a href="http://www.fencersclub.com/">New York Fencers Club</a>. I could hear the fencing before I could see it. The clangs and clacks of the blades, the thuds of people lunging, the John Cage-esque random boooop of the scoring machines &#8212; you could feel it; it was electric.</p>
<p>This past June, while the FIFA World Cup was raging in South Africa, another World Cup was underway here in New York. Olympic medalists. National Champions. Champions in the making. Yes, the best and brightest fencers in the world converged on the Brooklyn Marriott, only a short subway hop away from downtown Manhattan, and you missed it. An opportunity to see Olympians in action and fulfill <a href="http://guestofaguest.com/politics/photo-of-the-day-barack-obama-duels-on-the-white-house-lawn/">your inner-child&#8217;s Star Wars/Robin Hood/Three</a> Musketeers fantasies, and <em>you missed it</em>.</p>
<div id="attachment_973" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 235px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/fencing-masters-poster.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-973" title="Fencing MAsters poster" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/fencing-masters-poster.jpg?w=225&#038;h=300" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Fencing Masters NYC comes to the Hammerstein Ballroom Stage on Nov. 17</p></div>
<p>But have no fear, fencing is back for the New York public in a BIG way. The Olympians are coming, and  they&#8217;re doing it up for you in style.</p>
<p>On November 17, 2010, the Hammerstein Ballroom will be home to a landmark fencing event. Featuring the living-legends of the sport, <strong>Fencing Masters NYC</strong> is a celebration of fencing’s history, honor, and athleticism. Olympic champions from around the world will square off against members of Team USA in a quest for the title of Fencing Masters Champion. The event will include <em>dinner, cocktails, an interactive expo, and special performances.</em> The producers of <em>Fencing Masters NYC</em> have pulled out all the stops to make this an elegant, high-quality, memorable event. It will be a night of top-caliber fencing, special tributes, and above all, fun and excitement!</p>
<p>Spearheaded by members of the fencing community, <em>Fencing Masters NYC</em> is an important and much needed event for the sport. For too long, fencing has stood on the margins of professional-caliber athletics. Those who have taken up an epee, foil, or sabre already know what a dynamic and engaging  sport fencing is, and the aim of <em>Fencing Masters NYC </em>is to broadcast  these qualities to the public on a national scale. Indeed, <em>Fencing Masters NYC</em> has single-handedly changed the way the media looks at the sport! For the first time since 1980, fencing will be televised outside the Olympics. The event will be syndicated to 14.5 million homes in the tri-state area thanks to a partnership with SNY, television home of the NY Mets.</p>
<p><em>Fencing Masters NYC</em> is first and foremost a vehicle for garnering  financial and moral support for 2012 Olympic hopefuls. Fencing, while amateur in the United States, is a professional sport. American athletes striving for London 2012 pursue full-time training schedules and drop thousands of dollars annually on travel and related expenses. Despite historic medal wins in 2004 and 2008, fencers still lack major corporate sponsorship to support their Olympic dreams.  As a  not-for-profit organization, proceeds from the <em>Fencing Masters NYC</em> Hammerstein event will go  to sponsored fencers on Team USA.</p>
<p>Interested in joining us? You should! Check out the Fencing Masters NYC website for a complete roster of competitors and ticket information.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Click here: <a href="http://www.fencingmastersnyc.com/">Fencing Masters NYC</a></p>
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		<title>Ben Franklin Lied to Me</title>
		<link>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/ben-franklin-lied-to-me/</link>
		<comments>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/ben-franklin-lied-to-me/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:34:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kathleen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/?p=939</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This has nothing to do with the early worm. Ben Franklin lied to me when he told me &#8220;In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.&#8221; He conveniently failed to mention &#8220;writing job application cover letters&#8221; and &#8220;health insurance screw-ups.&#8221; Taxes are somewhat avoidable if I&#8217;m incomeless (thank you, refunds!).  But since I [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7683638&amp;post=939&amp;subd=meetmeinthedrawingroom&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 272px"><img class=" " src="http://www.aasd.k12.wi.us/staff/boldtkatherine/images/benfranklin.gif" alt="" width="262" height="333" /><p class="wp-caption-text">What IS the big idea Ben Franklin?</p></div>
<p>This has nothing to do with the early worm.</p>
<p>Ben Franklin lied to me when he told me &#8220;In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.&#8221; He conveniently failed to mention &#8220;writing job application cover letters&#8221; and &#8220;health insurance screw-ups.&#8221;</p>
<p>Taxes are somewhat avoidable if I&#8217;m incomeless (thank you, refunds!).  But since I <em>do </em>want to have some Ben Franklins to pay taxes on (read: to buy <a href="http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/catalog/prod.jhtml?itemId=prod108930189&amp;parentId=cat13030763&amp;masterId=cat14210731&amp;index=23&amp;cmCat=cat000000cat000141cat14210731cat13030763">shoes</a> with) then I need a job, which means I need to write catchy yet professional cover letters. I have a natural aptitude for self-deprecation, but apparently, when you apply for a job, self-promotion is a more useful skill.</p>
<p>&#8220;To Whom It May Concern:</p>
<p>There isn&#8217;t a photocopier I can&#8217;t conquer, a triple-half-caf-soy-latte I can&#8217;t perfect, or a database I can&#8217;t manage&#8230; I also know lots about John Singer Sargent&#8230;etc.&#8221;</p>
<p>With each completed cover letter and packaged resume comes a  mini-celebration and the glint of hope. I do a little shimmy, walk away  from my computer with a self-satisfied smirk, and imagine the  possibilities. Maybe this week I&#8217;ll get to put on my &#8220;interview outfit.&#8217;  Maybe next week there will be a contract and the promise of a paycheck.  Maybe before the month is out, there will be a new kayak and an apartment  upgrade&#8230; Yes, with each application the possibility of a new future&#8230;and the promise of free health insurance.</p>
<p>Death is more certain than taxes, but since I want to stave off this certainty for as long as possible, I need health insurance. It may not be a catch-22, but it&#8217;s a catch-of-some-number.</p>
<p>In 24 hours, I will be officially uninsured again. My university extension plan ends and there will be a month gap before my new coverage kicks in. As an <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9YKO0vf97s">accident-prone athlete with a predisposition for sinus infections</a>, health insurance is a necessity. In theory, under the new health care laws, as a 25 year old in flux, I&#8217;m eligible  to become a dependent on my parents&#8217; insurance plan. But for a number of  ridiculous reasons, that can&#8217;t happen for me until April &#8212; my 26th birthday is in July, leaving me with 4 months of coverage. Atena Fail. So in an attempt to find an affordable alternative, I&#8217;ve put upwards of 20 hours into health insurance related inquiries. Now, I have applications to complete and processing time to wait out.</p>
<p>In the meantime, I&#8217;m going to move into a bubble. I&#8217;ll have my cellphone with me, you know, just in case Sotheby&#8217;s wants to talk to me about that CEO position I applied for&#8230;</p>
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		<title>No, I Wasn&#8217;t Drunk When I Bought That&#8230; I Was Just on Vacation.</title>
		<link>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/no-i-wasnt-drunk-when-i-bought-that-i-was-just-on-vacation/</link>
		<comments>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/no-i-wasnt-drunk-when-i-bought-that-i-was-just-on-vacation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:17:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kathleen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[my life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newfoundland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shopping]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/?p=916</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was reaching for my grandmother&#8217;s ancient but effective hedge trimmers when all of a sudden a crash, a clatter, and a bang left a gaping gash in my big toe. I scolded myself for not changing out of my flip-flops and into my hiking boots, as was the norm for my gardening days. Any [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7683638&amp;post=916&amp;subd=meetmeinthedrawingroom&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 249px"><img src="http://www.rrtraders.com/images/zulu-shield-8c.jpg" alt="" width="239" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text">My parents bought a set like this home from South Africa</p></div>
<p>I was reaching for my grandmother&#8217;s ancient but effective hedge trimmers when all of a sudden a crash, a clatter, and a bang left a gaping gash in my big toe. I scolded myself for not changing out of my flip-flops and into my hiking boots, as was the norm for my gardening days. Any one of a number of standard home-care tools could have caused the puddle of blood to form on my garage floor, but to my surprise it wasn&#8217;t one of the 4 axes or 8 saws formerly hanging on the wall (is there an army of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zey8567bcg">lumberjacks</a> living in my  basement that I don&#8217;t know about?). No, the culprit was far less expected &#8212; it was a spear.</p>
<p>I hobbled out of the garage waving the spear over head like some crazed primal warrior. Where the hell did this come from, I shouted to my mother who was nursing a wound of her own &#8212; she had just lost a vicious fight with a rose bush.</p>
<p>&#8220;Oh! I didn&#8217;t know it survived!&#8221; She cried joyfully, grabbing it from me. &#8220;It&#8217;s a Zulu spear! I bought it back from South Africa when I visited your father&#8217;s family for the first time. There was a shield and knob-carry too, but the shield shed&#8230; er, it was made from cow.&#8221;</p>
<div id="attachment_925" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 219px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1894.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-925 " title="IMG_1894" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1894.jpg?w=209&#038;h=300" alt="" width="209" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Camilo, Che, &amp; Fidel -- Cuba&#039;s  revolutionaries... now in technicolor on my dining room wall.</p></div>
<p>Apparently, 40 years ago a Zulu spear and shield could be carry-on and didn&#8217;t raise an eyebrow at customs. Man, have times changed.</p>
<p>Oh! the things you&#8217;ll purchase to remember your travels by!</p>
<p>Those flip-flop cocktail coasters I bought in South Beach were such a good idea at the time.</p>
<p>Have you ever heard of a zither? Until one weekend at Lake George, NY, I hadn&#8217;t either. Now there&#8217;s one sitting next to my fireplace gathering dust.  It&#8217;s a musical instrument, by the way. Kind of like a guitar in that it has strings and you strum it. It&#8217;s common in Austria and Hungry, so I don&#8217;t know why there was one at an antique shop in Bolton&#8217;s Landing. Why did I buy it? Because someone told me that when you&#8217;re in &#8220;upstate&#8221; vacation towns, you&#8217;re supposed to go antiquing.</p>
<p>When I went to Cuba 2 years ago, there was a lot of stuff I wanted to buy as souvenirs. Even though I was in the country legally, the US Treasury letter granting me permission to travel in Cuba forbade me from spending any money on the island. Silly embargo. Of course, I did acquire a trinket or two (errr&#8230; or dozen). There&#8217;s a photo of Fidel Castro playing baseball next to my computer, a giant framed silk-screen poster of revolutionary Camil0 Cienfuegos on my dining room wall, and about 8 more silkscreen posters in a closet upstairs awaiting frames.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m not a communist. I just have a thing for brightly-colored novelties, particularly of the artistic kind.</p>
<div id="attachment_930" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/moose-antlers.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-930" title="moose antlers" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/moose-antlers.jpg?w=300&#038;h=196" alt="" width="300" height="196" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">everyone needs a set of foam moose antlers... I have 2.</p></div>
<p>Unpacking after my Newfoundland adventure I realized that my suitcase had gained several pounds in mementos. The <a href="http://www.thisrockrocks.com/home_new.html">&#8220;This Rock Rocks&#8221;</a> t-shirt was a must have, as where the other <a href="http://www.cows.ca/womens/ladies_long_sleeve_ts/moomoolemon-ladies-long-sleeve/">tourist-targeted tees</a> and shot-glasses that sneaked into my Delsey. The Alexander Keith&#8217;s green foam moose antlers I picked up at the George Street Festival were trivial in comparison to the collection of rocks I had amassed while hiking. Did you know the Tablelands of Gros Morne National Park are really Earth&#8217;s mantle exposed? Yea, you bet I threw an 8lb piece of that in my backpack.</p>
<p>I think, though, of all the things I bought back with me from Newfoundland there&#8217;s only one thing that&#8217;s thoroughly useless &#8212; the bottle of Cross &amp; Blackwell&#8217;s Fish and Chips Vinegar.</p>
<p>In Newfoundland, if you wanted fish you <em>had</em> to get fish and chips &#8211;  I could argue it was a sensible purchase at the time. Then again, as my father reminded me at checkout, restaurants usually carry their own supply of malt vinegar. As for home use? While I&#8217;ve broiled, baked, poached, grilled, and sauteed many a fish in my time, I&#8217;ve never battered and fried a fillet&#8230; nor do I plan to. In fact, come to think of it, before Newfoundland, it had been 5 years since I even <em>ate</em> fish and chips.</p>
<p>Considering I&#8217;m not going to carry a 24 ounce bottle of vinegar in my purse on the off-chance I find myself at a fish and chip joint in Manhattan, what am I going to do with it?</p>
<p>Homemade malt-vinaigrette, anyone?</p>
<p>I guess it&#8217;s a good thing they talked me down from the puffin chair&#8230;</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">
<div id="attachment_933" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 255px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/puffin-chair.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-933   " title="puffin chair" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/puffin-chair.jpg?w=245&#038;h=473" alt="" width="245" height="473" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">I think this would have looked stellar on my front porch</p></div>
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		<title>Newfoundland Stories from August 5</title>
		<link>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/08/07/newfoundland-stories-from-august-5/</link>
		<comments>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/08/07/newfoundland-stories-from-august-5/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Aug 2010 01:45:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kathleen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Canada travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family vacation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newfoundland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[summer vacation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/?p=887</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Channel-Port aux Basques is nicknamed the &#8220;Entry&#8221; city. It&#8217;s here most people grab the ferry to the mainland or drive through as they exit the docked ship. It&#8217;s a colorful little port that is celebrating Come Home Year this week with colorful flags and concerts&#8230; Port aux Basques is a stay-one-night-leave-the-next- morning kind of village. [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7683638&amp;post=887&amp;subd=meetmeinthedrawingroom&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Channel-Port aux Basques is nicknamed the &#8220;Entry&#8221; city. It&#8217;s here most people grab the ferry to the mainland or drive through as they exit the docked ship. It&#8217;s a colorful little port that is celebrating <a href="http://www.candicedoestheworld.com/2010/07/reconnection-and-celebrating-a-newfoundland-come-home-year/">Come Home Year</a> this week with colorful flags and concerts&#8230;</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">
<div id="attachment_888" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 440px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1753.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-888  " title="IMG_1753" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1753.jpg?w=430&#038;h=286" alt="" width="430" height="286" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">along the Port aux Basques Harbour</p></div>
<p style="text-align:center;">
<div id="attachment_891" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 483px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1763.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-891   " title="IMG_1763" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1763.jpg?w=473&#038;h=315" alt="" width="473" height="315" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">the locals waiting for the concert to start</p></div>
<p>Port aux Basques is a stay-one-night-leave-the-next- morning kind of village. The Trans  Canada Highway starts and ends at its  ferry terminal, stretching only  north west towards the northern peninsula before turning east towards  St. John&#8217;s, where it begins and ends again. Most visitors to the island don&#8217;t realize there are signs of life east of Port aux Basques. We arrived early at the St. Christopher, giving us a good half day to fill with something. It was suggested that we take Route-470, head east 40km and explore the town of Rose Blanche and its lighthouse.</p>
<p>Having visited the lighthouses atop the gusty Lobster Head Cove and the far-easterly point of Cape Spear, we didn&#8217;t have very high expectations. Yet, as we drove along the twisting road, through undulating hills coated in a fuzzy green shrub and speckled with marbled granite boulders, we decided this might be one of the most stunning places on the island.</p>
<p>Rose Blanche was a lovely spot and its reconstructed, historical granite lighthouse a more than worthwhile excursion&#8230;</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">
<div id="attachment_893" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 501px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1701.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-893  " title="IMG_1701" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1701.jpg?w=491&#038;h=327" alt="" width="491" height="327" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">a view onto the Rose Blanche Lighthouse, an amazing setting</p></div>
<p style="text-align:center;">
<div id="attachment_894" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 501px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1727.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-894  " title="IMG_1727" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1727.jpg?w=491&#038;h=327" alt="" width="491" height="327" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">a cluster of homes in Rose Blanche</p></div>
<p style="text-align:center;">
<p style="text-align:left;">Appropriately, we found our final dinner at the Friendly Fisherman Cafe, a small family-run place overlooking the fishing boats at Rose Blanche. Fish and Chips and fishcakes. yum, yum yum.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">
<div id="attachment_900" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 378px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1739.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-900  " title="IMG_1739" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1739.jpg?w=368&#038;h=245" alt="" width="368" height="245" /></a></p>
<div class="mceTemp mceIEcenter">
<dl class="wp-caption aligncenter">
<dt class="wp-caption-dt"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1740.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-901  " title="IMG_1740" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1740.jpg?w=368&#038;h=245" alt="" width="368" height="245" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">my &quot;healthier&quot; fishcakes, made from bacaloa. note the frozen veggies</p></div>
</dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd">a final plate of Fish and chips for the father</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<p>The fog thundered in as we began the drive back to our hotel in Port aux Basques. The wind picked up and the rain clashed against the windshield. Our ferry was due to pull out of the dock at 8:30AM, Newfoundland time. Check-in was at 6:30, and so with lots of cod in our bellies, and warm memories playing through our minds, we trundled off to bed early, not in any hurry to leave the island that had taken hold of our hearts.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">We may have said good-bye to Newfoundland, but there still lay 1,600 miles of road between the ferry terminal in Nova Scotia and our driveway. There was still some vacation left&#8230;</p>
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		<title>Newfoundland Stories of August 4</title>
		<link>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/newfoundland-stories-of-august-4/</link>
		<comments>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/newfoundland-stories-of-august-4/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Aug 2010 13:40:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kathleen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Canadian Hockey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hockey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newfoundland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[St. John's Regatta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[summer vacation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vacation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/?p=882</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As the Sheraton elevator hauled my half asleep butt up to the 6th floor for breakfast, I noticed I was surrounded by a pod of 6-foot tall, middle-aged men all wearing black Under Armour polos with red maple leafs over their left pectoral. My, how patriotic, I thought. After rubbing the previous night&#8217;s George Street [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7683638&amp;post=882&amp;subd=meetmeinthedrawingroom&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 370px"><img class=" " src="http://www.thetelegram.com/media/photos/unis/2010/08/04/photo_1125194_resize.jpg" alt="" width="360" height="238" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Photo of Canadian Junior National Hockey Team hopefuls, courtesy of &quot;The Telegram,&quot; St. John&#039;s newspaper</p></div>
<p>As the Sheraton elevator hauled my half asleep butt up to the 6th floor for breakfast, I noticed I was surrounded by a pod of 6-foot tall, middle-aged men all wearing black Under Armour polos with red maple leafs over their left pectoral. My, how patriotic, I thought. After rubbing the previous night&#8217;s George Street Festival mascara out of my eyes, I noticed the silhouette of a hockey player set against the bright red of the leaf. They looked official. As I turned from the elevators and made my way down the hall, 4 tall, Abercrombie and Fitch-esque, barely-legal aged young men chirped well-synchronized hellos in my uncaffeinated, still bed-headed direction. I may not have been awake enough to use a hair brush, but I was awake enough to know a good-looking guy when I saw one. I confess, I did a double take, watched them until they turned the corner, and in the process, walked smack into wall.</p>
<p>Later, I found out the <a href="http://www.thetelegram.com/Sports/Hockey/2010-08-06/article-1653848/Former-Leafs-assistant-coach-relishes-challenge/1">Canadian Junior National Men&#8217;s Hockey Team</a> was in town for a training/development/selection camp and were using our hotel as home base. Every guy staying at the hotel wanted to know where the boys were playing. Every woman wanted to know how if the players were of legal age yet&#8230;</p>
<p>The first Wednesday of August is the famous Royal St. John&#8217;s Regatta &#8212; the longest running sports contest on the continent. Fixed-seat, coxswained skulls of 6 or more rowers hit Quidi Vidi lake at 9AM and race all day until 9PM. In the morning, the officials check the weather. If it&#8217;s a good day, the Regatta is a Go and the city of St. John&#8217;s shuts down &#8212; Regatta day is a civic holiday with a rain-date.</p>
<p>Sunny with scattered clouds, the 4th was a perfect day to watch a boat race, but we opted out of a day a local said &#8220;means sunburn and bratty kids with cotton candy&#8221; and headed for Springdale &#8212; a midway stop between the capital on the east and the entry/exit town of Port aux Basques, where our ferry to Nova Scotia was scheduled to depart on Friday morning. Springdale boasted a 4.5-star luxury establishment called the Riverwood Inn and it seemed like the ideal place to begin the end of our vacation. The Inn&#8217;s website displayed pictures of beaches and boat tours, gourmet picnic baskets and luscious views of an expansive river and picturesque harbour. The photographer for the Riverwood Inn&#8217;s restaurant deserved an award for spin-master of the year.</p>
<p>The river was a creek. There were no kayaks or boat tours. There was no restaurant in the hotel to make our picnic basket. The whole surrounding area was under development, with construction workers tromping through the inn&#8217;s small yard. The &#8220;beautiful village of Springdale&#8221; was several miles away. The Inn was located a quarter mile from lumber yards and gravel pits. The nearest restaurant was at a dingy-looking motel next to one of the aforementioned gravel pits.</p>
<p>We didn&#8217;t stay at the Riverwood Inn.</p>
<p>Nor did we stay at the Marble Inn &#8220;Resort&#8221; two hours down the Trans Canada Highway.</p>
<p>My mum and I travel often together, and whenever I call home, the first question my father asks is not &#8220;how are you,&#8221; but rather &#8220;Has your mother changed rooms yet?&#8221; It&#8217;s a running joke in the family. Well not only did we change rooms twice today, we changed hotels&#8230; not once, not twice, but 3 times.</p>
<p>The three Recklings finally found ourselves in Corner Brook at a less-than-the-Holiday-Inn motel named the Mamateek Inn. Outside the door, some bikers were passing a joint and a heard of ATVs grumbled and bounced into the parking lot. The motel was nondescript, but the guests had character.</p>
<p>The door keys didn&#8217;t work. Then when we did get working keys, the door was wedged closed and required excessive quantities of shoulder-shoving to get it open.</p>
<p>We may have just checked in to the worst hotel on our Newfoundland vacation, but we were about to have the best dinner since leaving home.</p>
<p>The Bay of Islands Bistro is a small house restaurant that prides itself on using local organic ingredients (apparently, they DO grow lettuce in Newfoundland). Fresh, clean, and delicious, everything on the menu was something I wanted to order. We were thankful for the lobster cakes and the smoked spare ribs, grateful for a piece of fish that wasn&#8217;t fried. Don&#8217;t get me wrong, the fish and chips have been well-worth the calories, but after a long day of driving, mishaps, and shanty-shacks, the gourmet finish to the day was much deserved.</p>
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		<title>Newfoundland Stories (Aug. 3)</title>
		<link>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/newfoundland-stories-aug-3/</link>
		<comments>http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/newfoundland-stories-aug-3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Aug 2010 01:55:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kathleen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[celtic music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George Street Festival]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kilkenny Krew]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newfoundland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[St. John's Newfoundland]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com/?p=869</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[And so as Tuesday rolled in, so did our final day in St. John&#8217;s. I was awaken near 6AM by a call from the front desk &#8212; could I move my car? Republic of Doyle was filming in the parking lot and my car was in the shot&#8230; The early morning was cloudy and unpromising, [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=meetmeinthedrawingroom.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7683638&amp;post=869&amp;subd=meetmeinthedrawingroom&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>And so as Tuesday rolled in, so did our final day in St. John&#8217;s. I was awaken near 6AM by a call from the front desk &#8212; could I move my car? <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/republicofdoyle/">Republic of Doyle</a> was filming in the parking lot and my car was in the shot&#8230;</p>
<div id="attachment_870" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1460.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-870" title="IMG_1460" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1460.jpg?w=300&#038;h=200" alt="" width="300" height="200" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">parking lot set</p></div>
<div id="attachment_871" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1609.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-871" title="IMG_1609" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1609.jpg?w=300&#038;h=199" alt="" width="300" height="199" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">paparazzi style... Sean McGinley, one of the stars of the Republic of Doyle</p></div>
<p>The early morning was cloudy and unpromising, so we were slow to move. A quick stop at the Quidi Vidi brewery to pick up a case of Honey Brown. Provisions were needed for tomorrow&#8217;s long drive to Springdale and were found at Bidgoods, just south of St. John&#8217;s in Goulds. Some local specialties, like seal flipper pie and caribou stew, were passed over while others, such as frozen partridge berries, made our mouths water&#8230;</p>
<div id="attachment_872" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1480.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-872" title="IMG_1480" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1480.jpg?w=300&#038;h=200" alt="" width="300" height="200" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">boiled flipper? </p></div>
<div id="attachment_873" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1486.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-873" title="IMG_1486" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1486.jpg?w=300&#038;h=200" alt="" width="300" height="200" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">the berries are more my style</p></div>
<p>As we walked out of the grocery store, the clouds parted and slivers of blue turned into mostly open skies. We drove off and made our way to Signal Hill to take in the stunning panoramas of St. John&#8217;s and its harbour&#8230;</p>
<div id="attachment_874" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 501px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1511.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-874" title="IMG_1511" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1511.jpg?w=491&#038;h=327" alt="" width="491" height="327" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">st. John&#039;s from above</p></div>
<p>With light on our side and the air dry, we wandered around St. John&#8217;s, dodging in and out of shops and taking in the urban landscape&#8230;</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">
<div id="attachment_877" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 452px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1566.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-877   " title="IMG_1566" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1566.jpg?w=442&#038;h=294" alt="" width="442" height="294" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">George Street, daytime</p></div>
<div id="attachment_878" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 501px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1573.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-878  " title="IMG_1573" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_1573.jpg?w=491&#038;h=327" alt="" width="491" height="327" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">those famous clapboard houses. </p></div>
<p style="text-align:left;">The George Street Festival, one of Canada&#8217;s best-known music fests, kicked off over the weekend. It&#8217;s one big celebration of music leading up to the famous Royal Regatta with upwards of 4,000 people attending the concerts. Given that it was the last night and the Celtic theme, we were quick to buy tickets&#8230;</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">
<div id="attachment_879" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 440px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_3250.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-879  " title="IMG_3250" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_3250.jpg?w=430&#038;h=323" alt="" width="430" height="323" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Kilkenny Krew kicks off the night&#039;s round of music</p></div>
<div id="attachment_880" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_3251.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-880" title="IMG_3251" src="http://meetmeinthedrawingroom.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_3251.jpg?w=300&#038;h=200" alt="" width="300" height="200" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">waiting for some music!</p></div>
<p>The close of the George Street Festival marked the close of our stay in St. John&#8217;s. We could stay and watch the rowers battle it out on Quidi Vidi Lake along with the entire population of St. John&#8217;s (regatta day is a civic holiday), but we thought, given the 13 hour drive between St. John&#8217;s and the Port aux Basques ferry, it was best begin the trek home&#8230;as we found out the next evening, it would have been wiser to join the festivities at the Regatta&#8230;</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">
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