Norman Rockwell

Due to bad weather, we had a change in plans for this weekend. I took advantage of the opportunity and accomplished another item on my things to do list: visit the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA.

I was fortunate to get a free pass from our local library. It took about 1.5-2 hours for Richard and me to drive there. We took the back roads rather than highways in order to have a more scenic drive. My dad would've been proud.

The weather was sunny and oppressively hot. So it felt good to be in air conditioning. The museum is divided into 2 buildings. We spent most of the time in the main building (see above) looking at the paintings and magazine covers. The web site for the museum has an immense amount of material (but it is not the same as actually being there) if you want to learn more about Norman Rockwell.

The other building is Rockwell's studio (see above). We caught up with a docent/guide there. At the time of our visit, the inside was set up to resemble when he was creating his famous painting, Golden Rule (see the cover of the brochure above). This is is a favorite of mine, in part because I have had a reproduction mounted in my place for years. My sister Susan gave it to me years ago; I believe her husband Mark "made" it.

Richard's favorite painting in the museum was Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas.

We had a delightful ham & cheese sandwich afterwards on the patio (under a tent) to tide us over.

Before driving home, we drove north because I hoped to see the famous round Shaker barn at Hancock Shaker Village. We got to see it but the place had just closed for the day.

While driving around looking for a good place to eat, we got stuck in a traffic jam at Tanglewood.

We ended up having supper at Barrington Brewery & Restaurant. Richard had the after 5 special: "Steak & Cake" (7 oz. N.Y. strip steak and 2 crab cakes, onion rings, and salad). I had a "Brewer's Pocket" (spinach, smoked turkey, bacon, sprouts, onion, blue cheese dressing, melted Swiss on pita bread). No beer since I was driving.

On the way home we stopped at a Dairy Queen in Winsted, CT. We walked around while eating our ice cream and found a sports complex where we watched a girl in a batting cage, and go-karts. We also visited the local Civil War monument.