Camp ’22 (Part 1)

August 15

We now no longer camp as for a night, but have settled down on earth and forgotten heaven. ~ Henry David Thoreau

June bugs in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Under the June bug code of ethics, what happens in Sheboygan stays in Sheboygan . . .

This was our annual trip to Camp Brosius, the Indiana University camp in (and on) Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. We always go the first week in August (the 8th and last week of camp which turns over 100 campers a week), unfortunately competing with the Resorters Golf Tournament at the same time in Alexandria. ~ Me

It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent. ~ Dave Barry

July 30

Camp is a solvent of morality. It neutralizes moral indignation, sponsors playfulness. ~ Susan Sontag

[This may seem to be a rather ordinary picture. But I thrive on the ordinary. Every year on the way to camp we pass Owen, Wisconsin. We have to take this photo because . . . see the following photo . . . ]

[Because this is Crazy Dave Owen, famed in song and story. We were sorry to see his town was “closed” on this day . . . ]

[Driving by the mountains of Wausau, Wisconsin . . . ]

[On close inspection, one can see the downhill ski trails . . . ]

[Our first stop, at the Culver’s in “War-sore” . . . ]

SHEBOYGAN, WE ARE HERE! 473 miles, 7 hours and 45 minutes with lunch and gas stops. Tomorrow we go to Camp Brosius, 20 miles from here, needing proof of 4 vaccinations, a negative COVID test, and fumigation for bugs, ticks, ear wax, and boll weevils. The annual opening event is optional coed skinnydipping, which through the years has drawn no participants but many campers become camera ready . . .

[Our royal suite at the Fountain Park Motel in Sheboygan . . . ]

[It was connected to a huge restaurant that is allegedly the favorite breakfast place for Sheboyganites . . . ]

[Thousands of miles from an ocean, yet we could view humpback whales from our motel windown . . . ]

[The Sheboygan River, hard by Lake Michigan . . . ]

[Fine dining at Parker John’s BBQ & Pizza on the Sheboygan waterfront. Since one needs a scorecard to know the players, across from Ruthie is Ed Hatch, father of Chris, who is married to Ruthie’s sister Rita’s daughter Beth. You’ll be quizzed on this later in the semester . . . ]

[Beth, incidentally, ordered a rather tasty dish of frickles . . . ]

[It was on this very same waterway on August 8, 2008, we saw and photographed Ivana Trump’s yacht. And as you’ll recall from your readings, August 8 is also the date Nixon resigned and the day the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, a date that will live in infamy . . . ]

[We did not see Ivana, but it was our understanding that she cruised the Great Lakes in summers to support things environmental . . . ]

July 31

Murals in restaurants are on a par with the food in museums. ~ Peter De Vries

[The following morning our humpbacks were still there . . . ]

[As a condition for campdom, we had to show proof of four vaccines and a negative COVID test, which the Super and I passed that morning in the motel . . . ]

[The Fountain Park Hotel was appropriately enough right across the street from Fountain Park . . . ]

[We spend Saturday nights in Sheboygan every year because it is a 7 1/2 hour drive from Alexandria, and we cannot check into Camp Brosius until 1:00 on Sunday. So now as a matter of custom we visit the Sheboygan lake front on Sunday mornings . . . ]

[This is Sheboygan Peace Park, and peace is generally considered to be a good thing . . . ]

[Just some McMansions scattered along the waterfront . . . ]

Don’t go to a museum with a destination. Museums are wormholes to other worlds. They are ecstasy machines. Follow your eyes to wherever they lead you…and the world should begin to change for you. ~ Jerry Saltz

[And every year before heading off to Elkhart Lake we visit the John Michael Kohler Arts Center for an hour or two . . . ]

A country that has few museums is both materially poor and spiritually poor … museums, like theatres and libraries, are a means to freedom. ~ Wendy Beckett

It’s not a museum. It’s not a place of artifacts; it’s a place of ideas. ~ Jeanie Kahnke

[Through the arch and across the street is the outdoor music park . . . ]

A people without knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture are like a tree without roots. ~ Marcus Garvey

The only way to understand painting is to go and look at it. And if out of a million visitors, there is even one to whom art means something, that is enough to justify museums. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

[Looking back at the Arts Center through the arch, i.e., making my own art (?) . . . ]

A museum has to renew its collection to be alive, but that does not mean we give on important old works. ~ David Rockefeller

[See the photo at the top of this page . . . ]

[Ruthie & I arrived first and here comes the rest of the group . . . ]

The best introduction to art is to stroll through a museum. The more art you see, the more you’ll learn to define your own taste. ~ Jeanne Frank

[Beth, Elke (Ed’s wife), and Rita, like all the ladies every year, enjoy a trip to the men’s room. When you first come in the Arts Center you must first visit the two restrooms, which are signature works of art in among themselves . . . ]

If Picasso drips, I drip. ~ Arshile Gorky

You can’t do a painting without a drip. ~ Andy Warhol

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man. ~ Heraclitus

[And without further adieu, the ladies’ room . . . ]

For every joy, there is a price to be paid. ~ Ancient Egyptian Proverb

If you really want to seriously think about life, and therefore take painting very seriously… and take seriously the joys that it can bring to one, then you want to go to museums. You want to study the greats of the past. ~ Nelson Shanks

Art has always had as its test in the long term the ability to speak to our innermost selves. People have experiences in art museums today that they used to have in the church. ~ Bill Viola

When in a museum, walk slowly but keep walking. ~ Gertrude Stein

The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second, and throughout nature, this primary figure is repeated without end. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. ~ Socrates

[And now into the art display areas . . . ]

[A selfie in an acolyte mirror – I have no idea if I win a prize for that or not . . . ]

[And now the left turn . . . ]

That’s why we have the Museum, Matty, to remind us of how we came, and why: to start fresh, and begin a new place from what we had learned and carried from the old. ~ Lois Lowry

[From inside the gallery, through the arch, to the outdoor music park . . . ]

I love doing normal things … I also love to go to art and history museums. ~ Christina Aguilera

A visit to a museum is a search for beauty, truth, and meaning in our lives. Go to museums as often as you can. ~ Maira Kalman

[Our guide, when one was necessary, which was often . . . ]

The only way to understand painting is to go and look at it. And if out of a million visitors there is even one to whom art means something, that is enough to justify museums. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir