Cambridge Life: Doing the Turkey Trot Cambridge Life: Doing the Turkey Trot

A sure sign that the seasons are moving along far to quickly. This rafter of turkeys, knowing it wasn't turkey season, came by to see if the bugs were better on this side of the road. Running to grab a camera, I managed to catch the gang as it crossed to the other side of East Main Street.

Is It Real or Is It Memorex #2 Is It Real or Is It Memorex #2

Siete Punto Uno (7.1)

"By weaving the powerful story-telling abilities of the narrative mural into the engaging impact of the life-size trompe l'oeil illusion artist John Pugh has created a stimulating and enlightening venue for both public and private art. His murals have been instrumental in revitalizing the trompe l'oeil genre as a vital mode of artistic expression that is both aesthetically and intellectually challenging."

That's what illusion-art has to say about Trompe L'oeil artist John Pugh. My friend Roy sent me this amazing image. Believe it or not, this is a mural that Pugh painted on a building in Los Gatos, CA.

The mural Siete Punto Uno is located on Main Street in the town of Los Gatos, California. Los Gatos was one of the communities that suffered the most significant damage from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Considered the propitiator of earthquakes, the Mayan jaguar god (as represented in the mural) is grafted with the "cats" of Los Gatos to become one of the key metaphors of this concept.


To read more about and see all of Trompe L'oeil artist John Pugh's amazing murals, visit his website at Illusion Art.

All Images Property of John Pugh Copyright 2004 John Pugh & Associates Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

An American Journey An American Journey

David Kaczynski sets out to tell the story of turning in the most sought after criminal in US history, his brother Ted, the notorious 'Unabomber'.

David's journey intersects with three others, Gary, Bud and Bill, who together put a face on the death penalty and unexpectedly place the American justice system on trial.

Follow these four men as they travel from New York to Texas, from Oklahoma to California on a road that takes them beyond crime and punishment and into their hearts and minds in An American Journey.

Cambridge -based filmmakers Debra Pearlman and John Carlson are producing this film with Videos For Change owner and the film's director Mike Camoin.

You can become a fan by visiting our Facebook page at An American Journey ...OR
Join their journey ~ make a tax-deductable donation to help complete this film: http://www.qofj.com/wmm.htm

Cambridge Life: Is it Real or is it Memorex? Cambridge Life: Is it Real or is it Memorex?

Following the antics of my two cats brings me endless amounts of fun. This morning, I could not resist taking some photos of my zucchini plants when McGillacutty stopped by for a visit. Here's my question to you...Is this where I found my cat or is this something else?

Just look at that sweet face, so crunchy and cute....but in my garden?

Give-up? Well, you probably guessed that this is a combination of two images. We used to call it a double exposure, now we call it Photoshop! Many of the wonderful images you see on the Cambridge Buzz are taken by professional photographers that have transitioned into the digital age. They generally start with a quality image and then may or may not manipulate that imges, just as they would in a darkroom, with the use of digital tools.

For the most part, what you see is what is real, but sometimes, when a shot seems too good to be true, you need to ask yourself, "Is it real or is it Memorex? (For those of you too young to remember the commercial for Memorex audio recording tape....well, let's just say they claimed you could not tell the difference).

Onto my shameless self-promotion....

For the past 3 months. I've been working on a series for Animal Planet called Wild Russia. The six part show took three years to shoot and three months to edit. The series premiered last night at 8 pm and will be shown several times throughout the following month. So tune in and enjoy.

A Taste of the Blues A Taste of the Blues

Dateline: Cambridge, NY - Thursday Night ~ July 23rd This reporter has learned that there is something a foot in the Village of Cambridge. Even though it's racing season, all bets are off when searching for great food and entertainment. Now you don't have to go all the way to Saratoga to hear great music and eat good food. You can go to our own "house of blues" at The Rice Mansion Inn.

Spoonful Catering is supplying the eats, and Sue and Tim pride themselves on preparing the finest foods gathered from local farms and regional producers. Roadside Blues Band is handling the music. In the spirit of full disclosure, the menu (with pricing) and farm sources are listed below. What can I say....Baby Rock on!

Spoonful Small Plate ~ Full Glass Event at the Rice Mansion Inn
appetizer style plates paired with wine & beer
Food & Beverage 6pm- 9pm
Music 7pm-9pm

MENU:
Savory
Smoked Brisket, Red Beans, Cilantro $11
Malbec or Cotes de Rhone $5

King Salmon, lemon-shallot butter, warm Green Bean & Potato Salad $11
Sauvignon Blanc $5

Buckwheat Crepe with Summer Vegetables, Caramelized Onion & Bronson Hill Bier Meck $11
Heffe $4

Omnivore Salad Plate or Herbivore Salad Plate $10
Roast Chicken Salad or Sesame Quinoa Salad Roast Carrots, Beets, Mixed Greens, Red Wine Vinaigrette

Mixed Greens Vinaigrette $8
wedge of soft, bloomy “Kunik”, bread

Sweet
Blueberry Pie, Ice Cream $6
Cornmeal Cake with lemon verbena, raspberries, whipped cream $6
Help Yourself to Decaffeinated Coffee & Tea $2

Details
Payment can be made by check or in cash ~ $2 per plate has been added to pay the band

Farm sources for this menu
3-Corner Field Farm, Shushan; Boulderdash Farm, Greenwich; Cabot Creamery, VT; Crandall’s Corners, Schaghticoke; Champlain Valley Milling, Westport; Moses Farm, Eagle Bridge; Ryancroft, Greenwich; Slack Hollow Farm, Argyle
--
Spoonful Catering and The Rice Mansion Inn: Connecting People to Place One Bite at a Time

Looking for a good Weekend Get Away? Looking for a good Weekend Get Away?

The Place to be this weekend:

The Battenkill Valley, Washington County, New York

Look at all you can do in and around Cambirdge, NY:

Thursday, July 16, 2009

The Georgi Museum in Shushan
7:00 pm - Kevin Warren’s Origainal Chamber Music
Tickets $5 per person, $10 per family

Friday, July 17, 2009

The Georgi Museum
Noon - Children's Native American Class (Holito!)
FREE performance

L.Wicks Fine Art Gallery
468 Broadway, 2nd Floor - Saratoga Springs, NY - Tel: 518-573-8017
Gallery opening featuring Cambridge Artist Adriano Manocchia

Curiosity Forum
7:00 pm - Hubbard Hall
Hubbard Hall Beacon Feed Building (behind Hubbard Hall)
25 East Main Street, Cambridge
Tel. (518) 677-2495
Hearing is Seeing: Synesthesia and the Arts
Presented by Hubbard Hall's Curiosity Forum and Music from Salem
Do you see sounds, taste words or hear colors? Join Dr. Mark Buckholtz and a cross-disciplinary panel of artists for an introduction and demonstration of synesthesia and how it affects artists and inspires the creative process.
FREE - No reservations required.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Wine Reception
5:00 – 7:00 pm
Rice Mansion Inn ~ 16 West Main Street, Cambridge
Tel. (518) 677-5741

After a day on the road, share notes with fellow travelers over a glass of wine at the Rice Mansion Inn in Cambridge.
Sponsored by Glens Falls National Bank of Cambridge and the Rice Mansion Inn.

MfS GALA at Gallery 668
4:00 p.m.
$30 per person.

In partnership with Gallery 668, Music from Salem invites you to a festive art opening celebrating the connections between music and art. This unique fundraising exhibit will highlight work by over 40 artists inspired by Franz Schubert's String Quintet in C Major, D. 956 and will include live music, a beautifully catered buffet, and an open bar.

Please R.S.V.P. by July 13 to MfS, 25 East Main St. Cambridge, NY 12816.
For more information: info@musicfromsalem.org or 518.232.2347

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Battenkill Books at the Cambridge Farmers' Market
10:30 am & 1:30 pm
Elizabeth and Barton Cockey
Meet-the-Author and book signing event
The Cockeys will discuss their recent book "Upstate New York: Towns That We Love".

All Weekend Events:

Washington County, New York is home to a rich, vibrant artist community. Farmhouses, barns and old factories have been converted into studios where artists paint, sculpt, weave and create works of art that are exhibited throughout U.S. as well as internationally.

Open Studios Tour
July 18 & 19, 2009 (Saturday & Sunday)
Our renoun professional artists will once again open their doors for the juried biennial Open Studios of Washington County, offering a glimpse into their creative lifestyle, and the unique opportunity to purchase great art and fine craft directly from their studios.
MAP

ARTISTS
Cambridge Buzz post from July 13th

Fort Salem Theater
CORN! The Musical
July 17-18-19
Friday, Saturday at 8 PM / Sunday at 2 PM.
World Premiere of locally inspired original story of an established farm family struggling with the economic issues of twenty-first century farming, with a book by Al Budde and songs by Jay Kerr, the team that created last year's Breakfast Epiphanies.

Explore Our Area:

During the Open Studio Tour be sure to stop and enjoy the tastes of Washington County. Gardenworks and Sheldon Farm located in Salem have a selection of locally grown and produced food products perfect for a picnic along the Battenkill. Pat at Sheldons tells us they even have Corn! Yum. Stop by Green Pea Market in Greenwich your hometown, downtown local market and café providing organic, natural, and local food. Including dips and spreads from Spoonful Catering.
On Sunday a great starting point for your Open Studio Tour is the Cambridge Farmers' Market. Open 10a-2p

Cool off with a float down the Battenkill with Battenkill Valley Outdoors and don't miss out on a stroll through the Towns and Villages of the Battenkill Valley. Our Main Street retail shops and galleries await you with interesting and unique gift items, treasures and original handcrafted items.

This weekend is overflowing with events including theater, music, art, tours, meet the author and corn is in at Sheldons!

Life is good in the Battenkill Valley. You should come check it out!

For a full rundown on area happenings visit The Towns and Villages of the Battenkill Valley


All Images courtesy of TVOBV

Cultural Wealth Cultural Wealth

WASHINGTON COUNTY, NY – The second Open Studios of Washington County Tour will take place Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19 from 10am-5pm.

Tucked away in farmhouses, barns and old factories throughout the rural villages of Salem, Cambridge and Greenwich, NY, twelve of the area’s finest professional artists invite the public into their studios for this free, self-guided tour. Carousel-style rocking horses, fine gourdwork, bronze sculpture, textiles, mixed media constructions, folk art, paintings and pastels highlight the cultural wealth of this vibrant artist community.



New to this year’s tour is renowned folk artist Will Moses, painter Jeri Macdonald and multi-media artist Hannie Varosy. Returning artists are Joan Duff-Bohrer, Ed Hepp, Serena Kovalosky, Adriano Manocchia, Anastasia Lee Nute, Leslie Parke, Leslie Anne Peck, Virginia McNeice, and Gyula Varosy.



The first Open Studios event took place in 2007, drawing visitors and art collectors from as far away as New Zealand. “People were visibly inspired by the beauty of our rural landscape and impressed with the quality and professionalism of the artists on the tour,” says artist and Open Studios director Serena Kovalosky. “The relaxed atmosphere and intimacy of each studio made it easy for visitors to fully appreciate the artwork and strike up conversations with the
artists.”



“When we opened the doors to our studios two years ago,” says painter and co-director Adriano Manocchia, “we were rewarded by the genuine interest of collectors who were eager to get an intimate view of the creative environment typical of a certain artist. What they took back from this visit was an insight into an artist’s technique and personality.



What they left behind was a renewed creative energy in the artist spurred by their enthusiasm and encouragement. Their fascination with the diverse artistic expressions they encountered in the tour, was equaled only by the discovery of the picturesque beauty of Washington County, a little gem hidden in the heart of New York State and jealously guarded.”



The Open Studios Tour is funded in part by a matching grant from the Washington County Tourism Association. “The Open Studios event helps put Washington County on the map as a cultural destination,” says executive director Marge Mohn. “It's the perfect day trip/weekend excursion, where people can enjoy a quality cultural experience in a rural atmosphere, and also discover the area's fine restaurants and cozy inns.“



Also included in the tour's cultural offerings is a free pre-tour lecture on the creative process, Hearing is Seeing, scheduled for Friday, July 17 at 7pm at Hubbard Hall in Cambridge. On Saturday, July 18, after a day on the road, visitors are invited to share notes with fellow travelers over a glass of wine at a free Open Studios Reception from 5- 7pm at the Rice Mansion Inn, Cambridge. Sponsored by Glens Falls National Bank in Cambridge and the Rice Mansion.



The Open Studios of Washington County Tour will be held from 10am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday, July 18 & 19, 2009. Brochures and travel information will be available at the Rice Mansion in Cambridge prior to and throughout the tour. Order a brochure online or download a map from the Open Studios website.



For more information, visit: www.OpenStudiosWashingtonCounty.com or call (518) 282-9202

Cambridge Life: 7/13/09 Cambridge Life: 7/13/09

Photos by John Carlson and June Mohan

Wow! What a weekend. It all started with the visit of my sister (with her new puppy) and my cousin John (from the other Cambridge, Cambridge, Mass). Now you all know that I have two very large cats, BW & McGillacutty. They were none too pleased with me for allowing a dog into our feline domain.

BW made it perfectly clear who was the alpha animal, and the puppy learned that if you play with cats, you may get swatted....hard!

Peace was established and we enjoyed a weekend of family, gardening and an unbelievable concert at Hubbard Hall.


For those of you who have not had the pleasure of hearing Music From Salem in concert, I urge you to try to see them this summer. Saturday they played the remarkable program of the Haydn - Piano Trio, Pärt - Spiegel im Spiegel (an amazing duet with piano and cello that brough my friend Katy to tears), and my personal favorite, Schubert - String Quintet in C Major, D. 956. I'd never heard the Schubert performed live. Boy what a treat. Here in little ol' Cambridge, NY....world class chamber music performed in a small intimate space. You'll have three more chances to hear MFS at Hubbard Hall, July 26, August 8 and August 16.

So we went to the concert, saw old and new friends, and then went home to wonderful berry cobbler...thank you very much! Sunday saw us pruning trees and going to the Farmers' Market. The weather was amazing and walking about was the way to enjoy it.

I hope you all had as wonderful a weekend as I did here in Cambridge, NY.

HAPPY JULY 4, 2009 HAPPY JULY 4, 2009

Just in time for our nation's birthday, the tiara of the Statue of Liberty has been re-opened. If you've never made the climb to the top of Lady Liberty, I say...Go for it. To be able to climb inside an iconic statue for 354 stairs and then get that view...AMAZING! You will never see New York Harbor's magnificence anywhere like this.

Ever wonder why her crown has those spikes? The Statue of Liberty tiara or crown actually consists of seven spikes that represent the seven continents and oceans that we have on this planet.

Not going to Lady Liberty for this July 4th? Me neither. My plans are to hope we don't have any more rain so the grill can be fired-up.


Hamburgers, chicken, kabobs, hot dogs, brats...whatever you choose it's always tastier on the grill. July 4th seems to be a time for neighbors and friends to gather together and celebrate. But remember what we are celebrating and let's hope the rain holds off so we can watch some nice fireworks tonight.







Rain or shine, Cambridge, NY will be celebrating our collective Birthday!

Happy July 4, 2009.....

Happy July 4th Happy July 4th