For my family of origin, knowing where to go to camp has never involved any research, any decision-making, nor any comparison shopping, because there is no other camp than Camp Takodah. In 1921, a few years after the Cheshire County NH YMCA was formally organized, my maternal grandfather’s cousin (my cousin twice removed), Oscar Elwell,… Continue reading

In April 2022, neurographic art came onto my radar screen. Totally caught my attention. I was on the cusp of a trip to Virginia to visit Caroline and Emmy (and their parents ❤️), so I packed up some art supplies and decided we’d try our hands at this new-to-us artplay together. I remember the Hobby-Nook-like… Continue reading

I see photos posted online from Takodah—and I’m there! Nine years old, in Hobby Nook, sitting at a table crowded with fellow campers, summer air blowing in from windows on all sides of the building. I smell melted wax for candle-dipping, copper enamel baking on tie clips and clip-on earrings; hear laughter, chatter, muffled clatter… Continue reading

Artist MaryAnn Shupe recently wrote a blog post about her need to start somewhere, which led me to remember and share with her a painting I did nearly a decade ago with an embedded declaration that the point is to start!, which sparked questions and email conversation about the hand-lettering I’d incorporated, which took me… Continue reading

Singing at camp is The Best! All those voices in one place joined together in song. All those hand motions stirring the air. All the nonsense and hilarity or sentiment and sweetness of the lyrics touching a place deep inside us. All the clatter and clamor of everything going on in the dining hall providing… Continue reading

OK, listen to this: I discovered yesterday that when parents drop their child off for two weeks at Takodah, they can now also drop off letters and packages directly at camp. On opening day. Into bins marked by intended date of distribution to their child. I understand the thinking behind this idea—this option that didn’t… Continue reading

I have a bit of hardcore Yankee thrift in me that saves anything I think might be useful again in another circumstance. Ya just never know when snippets and scraps from one project might inspire a followup creation. Continue reading

Ben was a great believerin the gentle, scholarly artof letter writing.I still have his letters.I save all my correspondence. —from a novel by Daniel Hecht My family moved to London at the beginning of my senior year in high school in 1967. Suddenly I lived an ocean away from my friends in New Jersey. The… Continue reading