The 100 year old museum is the largest museum in America devoted to the history of the American whaling industry and its greatest port, New Bedford.

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On my way to the Adirondacks, I made an overnight stop in Burlington, and at the last minute made reservations for breakfast Friday morning at Shelburne Farms. Check out my photos and first impressions on this special spot.

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As part of my trip across New England last weekend, I made a quick coffee stop in Montpelier. There I noticed a fun temporary public art project- Sculptcycle 2008. The unique art partnership has brought the work of more than 20 Vermont Artists to the streets of the state capital. Check out some pictures I took of the sculptures on my trip.

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Not Our Problem Dude - Seen at a the Barrister’s Gallery in New Orleans. The story is that the NOPD is known to say, Not Our Problem Dude. The signs are cut out of sheet metal from junk cars and assembled into messages of all sorts. Artist Unknown

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Peter and I are staying for a few days at Meg and Dave’s lovely new home in Bartlett NH. They built the house from scratch over the last year or so, from 100% non-toxic materials (no plywood, glues, formaldehyde’s, etc)– many of our regular readers are familiar with the house already.
Curious enough to come to [...]

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It is still winter up at Wildcat Mountain which reports receiving 212 inches of snow this season - that’s like over 17 feet. Of course you will not find 17 feet on the ground, unless you head across the street. Mount Washington sits in the background.

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A huge collection of Edward Hopper prints, oil paintings, and watercolors are on exhibit until January 21st at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Sally, Lucy, Bill and I took the train in from Baltimore during the holiday madness, the show was packed of course, but well worth it.
The National Gallery [...]

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Last Friday I attended a slide lecture and art show at the Slayards Center for the Arts in Conway, New Hampshire. The event titled, The Art of Climbing was organized by the Kismet Rock Foundation, which is a non-profit that works with children in the outdoors. The slide lecture featured climber Mark Synnott.
For those of [...]

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One of the highlights of my weekend in Austin was the moment when I zeroed in on a cool-looking silk screened poster, and noticed 1) that it was for the indie craft fair Stitch and 2) that it was going to happen when I was in town. I was thrilled.
Another highlight was the fair itself. [...]

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The IBIZ Districts in Austin are a program of the Austin Independent Business Alliance, a fellow member of AMIBA, and host to the AMIBA leadership gathering I attended this weekend.
The first thing I noticed about the AIBA, is that their message “Keep Austin Weird” was catchy and pervasive enough that I saw mugs with their [...]

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I am in Austin this weekend for the first annual leadership gathering of the American Independent Business Alliance (or AMIBA), the national organization that the Portland Buy Local Campaign is a member and affiliate of. I really really like Austin.
In Austin it is illegal to cut down a tree (even in your own yard) that [...]

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I was in Providence last weekend for the RISD Alumni weekend among other things. I walked over there from Olneyville and was a little surprised to see the old Police and Fire Station reduced to little more than a pile of dust. It was kind of a neat old historic building.

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It was a hot one in B-more this weekend. Time for the classic Baltimore summer treat– the Snow Cone! My favorite flavor is Egg Custard. Really sends me back.
We hit the farmers’ market on Sunday. Got a ton of peaches to do some canning (and had a miserable late night over a hot stove as [...]

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A few weeks ago in Berkeley (”Beserk-lee”) California, The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) hosted its Fifth Annual Conference. In attendance were more than 700 business owners, community activists, economists, government officials, and network leaders from all around the country and Canada.
The conference actually started two days before we arrived, with a day-long [...]

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Another inspiring shopping find by Sally - Lotus Bleu in Hayes Valley is a boutique retail shop created by designer Jeannie Fraise. Her store is filled with Vietnamese textiles and artwork ranging from paintings to fabric tablecloths to reupholstered chairs. The store is part showroom for her interior design business and part showcase for [...]

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Last week I was in New York and took a few pictures of a public art installation in Madison Square Park, just a few blocks from my mom’s office. Madison Square Park has a great public art program. Often, as with this exhibit, they display sculpture that is on loan from galleries or other collections. [...]

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One of the breakout sessions at the 2007 BALLE Conference was on local investing. Entitled “New Vehicles for Local Investing”, it discussed a few potential avenues for people in the US to invest in local companies or projects. Don Schaffer, Executive Director of BALLE, moderated the panel which featured Mark Finser of RSF and John [...]

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Finding the hidden gems in neighborhoods where you have never been before is always very exciting. Sally and I ran across From Somewhere, somewhere in the Notting Hill neighborhood. We didn’t get two-steps past the display window before we were totally intrigued. Expressing excitement about our find to the young shopkeeper helped break the ice. [...]

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The Bankside Power Station, which once generated power for London’s industrial past has been home to the Tate Modern since early 2000. With over 2 million visitors a year the Tate Modern is an iconic and economically significant institution. The building was original built in 1947 and designed by architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott
The Tate [...]

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